The government must hurry to stop a deadly disease that claims the lives of thousands of workers every year
Long before COVID-19 hit, countless workers engaged in mines, construction and factories in India were silent die from exposure to dustExcessive exploitation and apathy. They continue to do so.
Leading model of Rajasthan
a state – Rajasthan – with the largest share of over 17% in the value of mineral production in the country and a long history of civil society activism, Rajasthan was the first to notify silicosis as an ‘epidemic’ in 2015 under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1957. In 2019, it announced a formal pneumoconiosis policy next only to Haryana.
Silicosis is part of the pneumoconiosis family of diseases, which are described by the policy as “occupational diseases caused by dust exposure … are incurable, cause permanent disability and are ‘totally preventable by available control measures and technology’. are’ (emphasis added)”. A ‘silicosis portal’ was hosted by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and a system of worker self-registration, diagnosis through district-level pneumoconiosis boards and compensation from funds from the District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT), to which the mine owners contribute. put in place. In just two years, the state More than 25,000 patients with silicosis officially certified and compensated, of which 5,500 have already died of the disease.
lag in the system
But even this ‘leading model’ stops where it matters most. In the mining sector alone, none of the diagnosed silicosis cases have been notified by mine owners or reported by the examining doctors to the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Ministry of Labor and Employment. But they are legally required to do so as per Section 25 of the erstwhile Mines Act, 1952 and Section 12 of the now effective Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code, 2020.
Why is it important to report cases to DGMS? Only this will change the paradigm from compensation to prevention, and shift the responsibility on mine owners, who are now walking away despite violating safety and preventive protocols. The DGMS, the sole enforcement authority for health and safety in mines, can take action against mine owners only if it knows who they are, and who they employ in return. But only 10%-20% of the over 33,100 mining leases and mine licenses in Rajasthan are DGMS-registered.
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The current system is therefore designed to ‘consume’ the worker and disburse with him a small compensation, while the mine owner sits back and continues to hire the next capable worker – an inhumane cycle, in which Government is involved.
labor code dilution
Persistent efforts to set the employer-worker relationship on record have drawn a blank, given that the mine-owning community is a major revenue contributor to the state. That said, the immediate impetus for the prevention of silicosis may come from two relevant places in the OSHWC Code.
Section 6 of the Code makes it mandatory for all employers to provide free annual health check-up to “such employees of such age or such class of establishments or establishments as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government”. Section 20 empowers the DGMS to conduct health and occupational surveys in mines.
Positive as they sound, these sections are seriously undermined by the provisions of the earlier Mines Act, which in turn were never enforced. In line with Section 6 of the Code, the draft Central Rule 6 prescribes an age limit of 45 years for workers in all establishments (including mines) to be eligible for these health check-ups, although rules 92 to 102 of Preliminary and Periodic Examination of all Mines provide for. workers since the time they joined – which is an anomaly. Second, Section 20 does not impose any obligation on the owner of the mine for any kind of rehabilitation in respect of alternative employment or for payment of disability allowance/ lump sum compensation to the worker found medically unfit. These paragraphs of the earlier Mines Act relating to the Workmen’s Compensation Act have been omitted.
Thus a ‘medically unfit’ worker is expected to quit the job and fend for himself or live on a compensation of ₹3 lakh provided by DMFT in Rajasthan – and that too, perhaps , in other states.
preventive measures
State governments need to be alert to these horrific regressions and use their powers to control the damage. Rajasthan can lead the way by establishing a robust system of preventive annual health check-ups as a real and regular feature of the Silicosis Prevention Plan.
One, prepare detailed guidelines for district-wise health surveys immediately, in close communication with the respective state departments, DGMS. State regulations under the OSHWC code must take care to ensure that health screening is provided to all workers in all establishments, regardless of their age. The State Advisory Board (Section 17 of the Code) should be constituted soon with technical committees involving the workers and their representatives.
Two, local manufacturers should be encouraged to design and develop low-cost dust-suppression and wet-drilling mechanisms, which can either be subsidized or provided free of charge to mine owners. Existing prototypes must be tested and expanded.
Third, DMFT funds are underutilized and fully spent informal Manner. a center for science and the environment report good It turns out that Rajasthan had ₹3,514 crore under DMFTs in 2020, of which only ₹750 crore was spent. Their haphazard allocation for non-mining-worker-related expenditures should be replaced by a well-organized and accountable system, with clearly defined budget heads such as prevention (including innovation funds and subsidies for wet drilling equipment), disability compensation. , is for the direct benefit of the mining workers under Solatium. administrative expenses and others. But this plan too would be incomplete without taking the identity of the employee-employer on record. A systematic identity ultimately lies in the hands of the authorities and in this regard arises their willingness to enforce the law and their rights among the workers.
No more time should be wasted in putting prevention at the center of pneumoconiosis policy.
Soumya Shivakumar is a freelance writer and has worked as a research consultant for the Mines Labor Protection Campaign, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
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