38 year old Prabhat Sinha, from Assam, carries a load of coal weighing 60kg's, supported by a head-strap, as he ascends the staircase of a coal mine on April 16, 2011 near the village of Khliehriat, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. The Jaintia hills, located in India's far North East state of Meghalaya, miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders. Children and adults squeeze into rat hole like tunnels in thousands of privately owned and unregulated mines, extracting coal with their hands or primitive tools and no safety equipment. Workers can earn as much as 150 USD per week or 30,000 Rupees per month, significantly higher than the national average of 15 USD per day. After traversing treacherous mountain roads, the coal is delivered to neighbouring Bangladesh and to Assam from where it is distributed all over India, to be used primarily for power generation and as a source of fuel in cement plants. Many workers leave homes in neighbouring states, and countries, like Bangladesh and Nepal, hoping to escape poverty and improve their quality of life. Some send money back to loved ones at home, whilst many others squander their earnings on alcohol, drugs and prostitution in the dusty, coal mining towns like Lad Rymbai. Some of the labor is forced, and an Indian NGO group, Impulse, estimates that 5,000 privately-owned coal mines in Jaintia Hills employed some 70,000 child miners. The government of Meghalaya refuted this figure, claiming that the mines had only 222 minor workers. Despite the ever present dangers and hardships, children, migrants and locals flock to the mines hoping to strike it rich in India's wild east. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A young boy named Fight, believed to be 8 years old, shovels coal at a depot on April 15, 2011 near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. Local schools in the area, providing free tuition, find it difficult to convince parents of the benefits of education, as children are seen as sources of income. The lure of the mines is stronger than that of the classroom. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

School children cross the road on their way home home from school near to a coal depot on April 14, 2011 near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jiantia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

People gather outside of wine store on market day on April 15, 2011 in Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. Market days, a non working day, in towns like Lad Rymbai, are a well-known respite for workers. Towns are lined with stalls selling latest fashions, wine shops, brothels and gambling dens. Teenagers, truck drivers drive up to shop doors as they receive window service for their alcoholic needs. Many are driven to boozing because of the long hours and dangerous conditions. The alcohol is an escape for many. So many, that one wine shop owner in Lad Rymbai, said that he sells on average 15,000 bottles a day, to locals, miners and passing truckers. Lad Rymbai is home to 30 wine shops. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Coal trucks make their way through town on April 14, 2011 in Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Workers load coal onto a truck at a coal depot on April 14, 2011 near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jiantia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Inebriated workers loiter at the site of a coal depot on April 14, 2011 in Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

People gamble on a local game of dice in a market on April 15, 2011 in Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Drunk coal workers dance with their Sardar, a mine manager, while celebrating a harvest fest on April 15, 2011 in Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Workers load coal onto trucks at a coal depot on April 16, 2011 near to Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

20 year old Anil Basnet pushes a coal cart, as he and a fellow worker pull coal out from the rat hole tunnel 300 ft below the surface on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Coal miners wash themselves off as they break for lunch at a coal mine on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jiantia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A miner unloads tools after being hoisted 300ft from the depths of a coal mine for his lunch break on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

An miner looks back as he makes his way through a tunnel, 300 ft below the surface on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A boy works at a coal depot on April 16, 2011 near to Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A coal miner sits for a portrait, as he takes a break from digging out coal, using hands and a pick to get at the seams of coal that lay 300 ft below the surface at a coal mine on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

22 year old Shyam Rai from Nepal sits for a portrait, as he takes a break from digging out coal, using hands and a pick to get at the seams of coal that lay 300 ft below the surface at a coal mine on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

45 year old Sujit Das from Assam pauses for a photograph at the end of a working day at a coal mine on April 16, 2011 near the village of Khliehriat, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

12 year old Abdul Kayum from Assam pauses for a portrait, whilst working at a coal depot carrying coal to be crushed on April 15, 2011 near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

16 year old Rafaqui Islam, from Assam, poses for a portrait, whilst working at a coal depot shovelling coal to be crushed on April 15, 2011 near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

22 year old Shyam Rai from Nepal pauses as he works, digging out coal, using hands and a pick to get at the seams of coal that lay 300 ft below the surface at a coal mine on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A coal miner sits for a portrait, as he takes a break from digging out coal, using hands and a pick to get at the seams of coal that lay 300 ft below the surface at a coal mine on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

20 year old Anil Basnet, sits for a portrait, 300ft above the coal mine where he works on April 13, 2011 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jiantia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)