The richest coal fields in India are also the most precarious for workers and those who live on them.
The threat of homes collapsing or burning down due to ground subsidence and coal fires — some of which have burned for a century — is a clear and present danger to thousands of people in Jharkand and Raniganj regions, around 300 kilometres northwest of Kolkata.
The risks of sudden death and injury frequently force people, in particular vulnerable migrant workers, into having to suddenly abandon everything and flee.
