In Rajasthan, widows of stone miners who died of silicosis have no choice but to return to mining In many cases, the women end up in a vicious cycle of loans for treatment of ailments or simply to survive. Kamala Bhil, an Adivasi woman, who lost her husband to silicosis. | MLPC/ Mongabay “What is the alternative?” said Kamala Bhil, whose husband died of silicosis and one of her sons is suffering after being diagnosed with the lung disease. “Where is it? Four of my sons work in the stone mines even as they know they will contract silicosis. But what is the alternative to earn a livelihood? None.”