I am a master in India

Chapter 363 Pattern
Despite the large number of private mines in Danbad, not all coal mine owners have to defer to Yadav.

Some of these families have controlled the mines for decades, much longer than Badaf has been in power.

They initially worked for the British, assisting British companies in developing the Danbad coal mine.

After the British left, they used bribery, coercion, fighting, and other means to obtain mining rights for small mines in the surrounding area.

They began to exert more control over Danbad, not only having a large number of miners under their command, but also starting to participate in regional elections.

Yadav's ability to maintain stability in Danbad depends to some extent on their attitude or their cooperation.

Of course, these local families would also send money to Yadav when needed.

Overall, the two sides have a cooperative relationship and generally get along quite well.

Companies like Coal India, Indian Steel, and Tata Steel are examples. Yadav wouldn't dare mess with them.

This is why he, as the Chief Minister, was so poor.

Looking around, you can't mess with big companies, and you can't beat big families either.

In the end, they could only wholesale some small mines to private owners in exchange for small bribes.

“If you start a mine here in the future, the worst thing you can do is mess with Wasep to the south,” Yadav’s son advised.

"The mine there is owned now?"

"Yes, some are not on the government's books, but don't get your hands on those mines."

“I’m a legitimate businessman,” Ron shrugged.

"That would be great. And the Jaliyah coalfield, you know which companies are the biggest ones, right?"

"Coal India, Tata Steel, Birla Group, Tapa family."

“You know very well, Mr. Sue,” Yadav’s son shook his head.

Ron has been reviewing the information over the past few days. There are only four major forces in Danbad that are publicly known.

Coal India Limited is a state-owned enterprise, while the other three are conglomerates.

"The coal company is the largest here, and also the easiest to talk to. The others are much more reasonable, especially the private mines."

“I understand. Anyone who can do business in a place like this is very shrewd.” Ron emphasized the last word.

"Yes, that's it."

“So, where is the mine I want?” Ron asked.

“Over there,” Yadav’s son pointed northwest, “there are several mines of good quality that haven’t been announced yet.”

Yadav was kind enough that he arranged a mine for Ron that was far away from the south, near Wassep.

That place is chaotic, and there's already a lot of unrest between the various families. If a large corporation were to be brought in, it could easily cause conflict.

Although the northwest direction is far from the city of Danbad, it is also far from conflict.

It is precisely because of its remote location that the newly discovered coalfield went unnoticed.

Bihar officials are now highly secretive about the new coalfield, using it as leverage to gain significant benefits at crucial moments.

Suer Electric has a great reputation, and Yadav believes that Ron has the capability to develop medium to large-scale coalfields. He specifically asked his son to take them to see for themselves.

Ten thousand tons of coal, with a monthly income of 80 rupees, is still too little.

As the owner of Suer Electric Appliances, consuming 100,000 tons of food every month is befitting his status.

Ron could vaguely sense these thoughts, but his attention was focused on the open field in front of him.

One after another, large black pits stretched to the horizon, and thick ruts turned up the soil, looking like ditches from a distance.

Strangely, this place is deserted and completely barren.

“These are all abandoned private mines,” Yadav’s son explained.

"Has all the coal been mined out?"

"No, it's just that the surface mining is finished."

"The surface?"

"Yes, those small mine owners rely entirely on manual labor for mining. They don't have the capacity to dig very deep, so once the open-pit coalfields are completely plundered, they'll move on to another location."

"So you're saying there's still coal deep inside these mines?"

“Who knows, nobody cares.” Yadav’s son shrugged. “There’s too much coal in Danbad, there’s no way we can mine it all.”

Ron took a deep breath. What a savage place.

This is true from the grassroots to the government; there is no management, no planning, and no supervision.

However, this is also good, as it facilitates the large-scale expansion of Suer Mining.

“Look, there’s a private mine over there that’s being mined,” Yadav’s son pointed to a small mine shaft.

Ron looked up and saw something swaying faintly on the black, undulating hills.

As their off-road vehicles drew closer, it became clear that a large group of people were carrying bamboo baskets and picking up coal from the mine pile.

They were hunched over, bare-handed and barefoot, like snails, buried in the black coal pile.

Not far away, there was a clanging sound. The miners were shirtless, their backs shiny and black, it was hard to tell whether it was coal dust or their natural skin color.

The people working in the coal mine include men, women, young and old; the older ones have gray hair, and the younger ones are just learning to walk.

"Are these all workers?" Ron asked. "Yes."

"Children too?"

“In Danbad, no matter how old he is, he can’t live without coal, or he will starve to death.”

Yadav's son said that most of the miners were villagers from the Danbad area, homeless villagers.

They used to have their own houses and their own village, right in the heart of the coalfield.

However, they were later evicted from their ancestral home by the government under the pretext of "managing dangerous areas" without any compensation.

After becoming homeless overnight, they also went to work in big cities.

But whether in New Delhi or Mumbai, those without skills and education cannot find work and can only do some low-level temporary porter jobs, which are not only hard but also require them to sleep on the streets.

When they were desperate, they heard that someone in Danbad had obtained a "private mining permit" through bribery and was recruiting coal miners, so many people returned to their hometowns.

They made a living from these mines, doing all sorts of manual labor.

Seeing that Ron seemed interested, Yadav's son simply told the driver to stop the car and then waved over a worker from the roadside.

His name is Giris, and he is a driver who transports coking coal at the mine, a rare skilled job.

In these private mines, the only thing that can be called mechanized operation is the coal trucks.

Girish was responsible for transporting the manually mined coal to a distribution center more than ten kilometers away, and then sending it by train to areas outside Danbad.

Girish is also from Danbad; his village was right here on this land when he was a child.

His father became one of the earliest miners. After he grew up, he used his father's connections to switch from working underground to working above ground. He worked at least 12 hours a day and could only sleep 4 hours a day when he was busy.

He pointed to the workers in the distance and said that there are generally four types of workers in the Danbad coal mine.

The first type is temporary workers in state-owned enterprises who have medical and accident insurance. They work 8 hours a day, are provided with one meal, and have 2 days off per month. Their monthly salary is 5100-6500 rupees.

In other words, the workers employed by Coal India and the Steel Authority of India are not officially employed and remain temporary workers.

However, being a state-owned enterprise, it offers a full range of benefits, including insurance.

Of course, in addition to temporary workers, Indian state-owned enterprises also have a significant number of permanent workers, as many as 50,000.

Their benefits are better; not only are their salaries significantly higher, but they also have a dedicated employee community in Danbad to solve their housing problems.

However, without reliable connections, such a formal position is out of the question.

Most Danbad residents have to bribe their way into becoming temporary workers at state-owned enterprises.

The second type of job is machine operator and driver. These workers have the highest salaries, and the income of private coal miners is about 50% higher than that of state-owned enterprises.

Take Girish for example. He currently earns 1.2 rupees a month, while he would only earn around 8000 rupees if he worked for a state-owned enterprise.

The reason is that private coal mines have long overtime hours and do not pay for all sorts of miscellaneous insurance for their employees.

Of course, this only applies to skilled workers.

The third type is the coal miners in private coal mines. They have no insurance, medical care, or meals provided. They are paid 50 rupees a day, with additional subsidies for work exceeding the permitted workload.

For example, a ground chiselman would receive an extra 5 rupees for every 100 kilograms of work exceeding the limit, a porter would receive 3 rupees for every 50 kilograms exceeding the limit, and so on.

Private coal mines cannot afford large-scale mining equipment and can only mine by hand and then transport the coal to trucks.

This kind of work is very dangerous; landslides can happen at any time and people die. That's why the pay is slightly higher than other jobs, otherwise no one would do it.

Danbad is never short of risk-takers; many are willing to go to private coal mines in order to make more money.

The other fourth category consists of unregistered personnel, namely the children Ron saw—child laborers.

There are no written agreements or verbal agreements; work is done on demand. Children under 10 years old can only carry broken coal, which costs 1 rupee per basin. Children aged 10 to 16 years old can use bamboo baskets, which cost 4 rupees for 50 kilograms.

Therefore, many children lie about their age just to earn an extra 2 rupees.

These children are all short. Some of the teenagers are already 17 years old, but they are less than 1.4 meters tall. The baskets stacked on their heads are half a meter high.

There are two brothers, around eighteen or nineteen years old, who grew up here and have been working as coal miners for over 10 years.

They had never been to a school and had no idea what the outside world was like. The most expensive gift the two brothers received was their coming-of-age ceremony, when their father bought them two pairs of jeans for 300 rupees.

If you ask them why they don't go to school, they'll tell you: Coal holds the lives of the people of Danbad; without coal, they'll starve.

To avoid starvation, everyone had to go down into the mines, regardless of gender or age.

Ron asked the dark-skinned boy curiously if he wanted to go out and see the world.

He turned to look at the coal on the ground, and after a long while replied, "This is what we are born to bear; we won't have to bear it in the next life."

The caste system is incredible!

The Danbad area is a long-standing "untouchable" area, where everyone born there is told: "Only by being obedient and atoning for your sins can you change your caste in the next life and become a high-caste person."

"Mr. Suer, are you going to mine by hand or by machine?" Yadav's son asked on the way.

"What do you suggest?"

“Labor is cheap, and you don’t need to spend a lot of money on mining equipment. If you need manpower, I can help you arrange it,” Yadav’s son said enthusiastically.

“Perhaps machinery would be more suitable, but let’s check out the mine first.” Ron didn’t say anything.

Yadav underestimated him; Suer Mining was not like those open-pit coal mine owners.

Whether he understands group-based operations or not, as long as the coalfield is suitable, he can become the sixth super-large factory in Danbad.

(End of this chapter)