The severely malnourished child was on the verge of death. I quickly set up an IV to give him much needed nutrition and other supplements.

Hours later when he was stable I turned in anger upon the illiterate parents. " Why are you starving this child? He needs proper food! "

Tears dropped down the broken, skeletal man who stood before me with folded hands. "Look around you, Doctor Sahib, the land is dead. We have no food."

Driving home that afternoon, I couldn't shake those words from my head. The land is dead. Really? It was then that I remembered reading an article about the effects of mining on agriculture.

Quickly putting in for a couple of days leave, I set out the next morning to find out more. After all, having no food is one thing, but dead land to grow it on is another.

I met countless people, poured over thousands of records, drove all over the countryside the next few days. And everything pointed to one thing. Greed.

Fresh streams diverted to wash out the earth, the run-off allowed to wash into fields. Armed guards that dealt with the villagers with brute force. Whole mountains disappearing to feed the barges that carried the ore to the port downstream. The rape of a beautiful land.

It has been going on for a century. Temporarily stopped, it's going to begin again. And there will be more children who will starve. While the fat, get fatter.