Deadly dust: the Indian village where silicosis made 90% of the women widows
India’s Rajasthan state produces 70 percent of the country’s sandstone, with much of it exported overseas to countries like Germany and the United Kingdom for use in construction and landscaping.
But many of the labourers who work in Rajasthan’s sandstone mines have paid a deadly price. In the village of Budhpura, the majority of men have died from a lung disease called silicosis, with the place becoming known as the “village of widows”.