. >> k komal devi and her fe eartrth in search of m mica. the glittering minineral playsa vital rolele in this regegion's econonomy. for many people, mining the raw material is the only way to survive. children wororking for houourn the blistering s sun. in t the indian ststate of jharkhanand, it's nothing out f the ordinaryry. >> my children are so young, but there's no other way of making a living here. there's no farming, nothing. i can't afford to send them to school. they have to help me. they manage two toto two-and-a-half kilos a day. we work untitil 5:00 in thte evening. >> there used to be more than 700 official mica mines in northern india. but in 1980, a new law came into force banning deforestation. that made it almost impossible to access new sources of the mineral. the companies left, but the mines remained. today, some 50,000 adults and children work here illegally. almost all the workers are dalits, who occucupy the lowot rung in the indian caste sysm.m. ma arere memrs of f ingenous tribes who a are sociallyy marginalalized.