Beauty Is Pain: Indian Mica

In India, makeup industry is estimated at 950 million USD (i.e. Rs. 66,14,75,50, 000) and growing 15%-20% every year. Makeup trends of 2018 and 2019 calls for blinding highlights which reach for the gods and much-pigmented colors.

It’s not Maybelline, its Mica.

What is Mica?

Mica is a mineral used in cosmetics, daily household goods and mechanical uses.

·Cosmetics- More shimmery and glittery.

·Common Goods – Toothpaste, to make it appearbrighter

·Mechanical- Excellent Insulator

It is primarily resourced from India and specifically from Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan where labor wages are extremely low but the worst is yet to come.

Mica Mining exploits child labor, where children as young as five come to work in the mines. This, in turn, restricts the right to education and the possibility of a normal and happy childhood.

Our demand for high shimmering highlighters pushes these kids to work till they are exhausted, dehydrated or in worst case scenario dead. Dead? You heard it right. The traders turn a blind eye towards them and fail to provide them with safety gears or a net. Due to the mining activities and an unstable cave, some toddlers get buried alive or suffocated under the rocks until they are dead.

Furthermore, there are many mines banned in India due to environmental reasons like deforestation, damage to roads and collapsing of grounds etc and social reasons like a conflict with tribes for land rights.

Now why, hasn’t this been brought to attention? Simple, the company gets richer and richer and the poor get poorer and poorer. This phenomenon is very apparent in the last 4 years. The source of mica is gone as soon as it’s shipped which leads to no accountability.

Why is nothing been done?

When the ministry of child development and woman’s affairs were confronted by a beauty journalist from Refinery29, they refused any knowledge about such minings.This is not a small case of child exploitation by one company. India takes more than 50% percent share in the global supply chain of Mica.

If you can ignore such knowledge about an enormous supply chain which India dominates, then it’s up to the consumers to be responsible and buy products from brands which are ethical in nature.

Beauty is pain but for these kids, your beauty is their survival.Start to hold brands accountable for their greedy actions and question the authority because the government needs to do better rather than building statues; it’s time for them to rebuild people’s lives.