Gujarat govt refuses compensation for serious occupational diseases causing permanent disability, death

By Our Representative
The labour and employment department, Government of Gujarat, in a letter to Vadodara-based NGO People’s Training and Research Centre (PTRC), has refused to give in the demand that musculoskeletal diseases (MSD) and the diseases caused due to exposure to polyacrylate should be considered occupational diseases. Gujarat’s premier occupation health NGO, PTRC had demanded that the schedule III of the Employees’ Compensation Act, should be amended to include these diseases in the list for which workers can demand compensation.
In its two-sentence letter to PTRC, the state government has stated that the director, industrial safety and health, had taken the opinion of the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, which has refused to recommend these as occupational diseases.
Polyacrylate is found several of applications of Gujarat’s pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, leading to serious lung diseases are caused on exposure to polyacrylate”. As for MSD, it is caused by to different types of workers, ranging from computer operators in printing industry, to construction workers, agriculture workers, workers in manufacturing, drivers, mine workers and others, who become prey to spondylitis and other disabilities.
In January 2012, PTRC represented to the Government of Gujarat to amend schedule III of the Act, which empowers the state government to make necessary changes in the list of occupational disease in schedule III, which lists diseases for which compensation may be claimed.
In a letter to the state labour minister, Jagdish Patel of the PTRC had said, since Gujarat is one of the most industrialized states, “safer and healthier workplace” should be one of the important prerequisites for its working population. It suggested that the state has so far failed to provide “legal protection for protection of health and safety at work for millions of workers in organized and unorganized sectors.”
“Millions of workers either die or get disabled in accidents or occupational disease each year even as they contribute to the gross domestic product (GDP) of our country. We badly need to review labour laws”, Patel said, adding, “Chemicals are important part of modern industry. Thousands of chemicals are handled by workers at work”.
He said, “Chemicals pollute the workplace exposing the workers to the hazards. Over a period time, depending up on the toxicity, concentration and period of exposure, exposed workers get affected. Schedule III of the Employees’ Compensation Act lists the diseases for which compensation can be claimed. The Act empowers the state governments to amend the list.”
Asking him to move to urgently “amend the list by adding two diseases to Part B of the list -- diseases occurring due to exposure to the dust in manufacturing polyacrylate and MSD”, the letter says, “polyacrylate is manufactured in Gujarat and finds wide application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.”
It points out, “Serious lung diseases are caused on exposure to polyacrylate”. It adds, “Several workers have fallen prey to it and have died within a short duration after exposure. The Gujarat High Court has filed a suo-moto PIL in this regard.(PIL 86 of 2011).”
Referring to the strike in General Motors plant in Halol in Gujarat in 2010, the letter says, as far as MSD are concerned, these have been “debated for since long and is a major cause of debilitating injury to millions of workers in a wide cross-section of occupations. Some time back, workers of an automobile unit in Gujarat went on strike and they represented before the National Human Rights Commission and the Gujarat High Court.”
Patel said, “Large numbers of workers cutting across wide variety of occupations suffer from musculoskeletal diseases due to work conditions. Computer operators in printing industry, construction workers, agriculture workers, workers in manufacturing, drivers, mine workers and others are exposed to vibrations or repetitive movements or awkward work positions or poor ergonomic situation at work can lead to diseases of fingers and wrist, back, shoulders, spinal cord, etc.”
He adds, “These diseases are known as spondilitis, tenocynovitis, lumbago etc. and are all musculoskeletal diseases. As a result of the diseases, workers need to go for expensive treatment, leave from job, decreased income. If the damage leads to permanent disability one has to leave the job and may not get alternate opportunity to earn livelihood. This is a serious issue which now need to be resolved when India claim to be a developed and strong country and Gujarat claim to be vibrant.”

Comments

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Examples of support to Hindu temples, scriptures, saints by 'Muslim' rulers galore

Siya Ram coin issued by Akbar By Bharat Dogra* At a time when the country as well as the world are passing through very difficult times leading to more urgent need for strengthening national unity for meeting several big challenges ahead, unfortunately disputes relating to religious places have been allowed to raise their ugly head once again. It is well-realized by now by many people that it is not historical facts but narrow considerations of political gain and spreading of fanatic ideas of intolerance which are behind such mischief, but due to the increasing threat of mob violence and patronage available at higher levels to groups spreading intolerance many people are reluctant to openly and fearlessly express their views. Hence there is urgent need for broad-based peace committees with wider social support to spread the message of communal harmony and to appeal against the dangers of spreading false messages regarding places of worship which can ultimate

Gyanvapi case: Use of 'illegal' lawfare to keep the communal pot simmering

By Venkatesh Narayanan, Bobby Ramakant, Manoj Sarang* With a steady drumbeat of bad news for the lives of ordinary citizens -- inflation at a multi-year high , rupee at an all-time low , negative job creation and when all forward indicators as seen by industry leaders point to recessionary clouds on the horizon , what’s a serially-incompetent government to do? Dust out their time-tested-citizen-distraction playbook. The Gyanvapi-Masjid case is all of this -- as a weapon of mass distraction. This zeitgeist of our times is best captured by a recent opinion piece : "The idea is to keep the pot on a perpetual boil, simmering at the top, whirling feverishly beneath. A restless society forever living precariously on the precipice arouses distrst, uneasiness, fear and discomfort, That is a toxic panoply for manufacturing rage, which can then be effortlessly mobilized at short notice. BJP is creating an eco-system of real-time instant delivery of hate-mongers. That is how we are sudde

Targeting mosques, churches: 'Roadmap' for 2025, RSS' centenary year?

416 years old Our Lady of Health Church, Sancoale, Goa By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Fascists use manipulative strategies aimed at whipping up sympathy and support from the majority community, to which they normally ‘belong’. They do so in a variety of insidious and subtle ways. In the past few months, they have gone overboard in their efforts to denigrate and demonize minorities in India, particularly Muslims and Christians. They have spewed hate and divisiveness through their venomous speeches; incited people to violence and have effectively used officialdom to further their vested interests. The results are there for all to see: greater polarisation of the majority community in a country which prided itself for its pluralism and diversity. Their meticulously planned agenda is in order to gain absolute power of the country in the 2024 national elections. More so it is also a roadmap towards 2025 when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will complete one hundred years of its existence.

Upholding labour rights, Nehruvian scientific temper, Rajni Patel opposed Emergency

By Harsh Thakor* Rajni Patel, who died 40 years ago, whatever his flaws, had one great quality: his human touch to offer selfless service and ability to galvanise or influence human beings from all walks of life. Few people would ever go out of the way to help someone or serve as selflessly without aim of personal gain. Rajni championed Nehruvian secular ideas and scientific temper. As a master in public relations he revealed utmost humility. As a barrister, he never appeared against the trade unions or workers. A Fabien Socialist he opposed liberal capitalism and radical socialism. Unlike most lawyers, he did not succumb to the lure of amassing wealth. Rajni was born in Sirsa, in Gujarat, on the very day Gandhi set foot on Indian soil, on 9th January, 1915. He gained his baptism through one of Gandhi's speeches calling for the boycott of foreign goods, which was the virtual turning point of his life. Rajni toed Gandhi to organise boycott of foreign goods. Rajni was able to cros

This varsity succumbed to extra-academic mobocracy, 'ignored' Hindutva archives

By Shamsul Islam* Open letter to Sharda University vice-chancellor Sub: Discarding a Question on Linkages of Hindutva with Nazism/Fascism is blatant Academic Dishonesty! Dear Professor Sibaram Khara Saheb, Namaskaar! According to your esteemed University’s portal: “The name of University, 'Sharda' is synonymous to 'Goddess of knowledge and learning-Saraswati'. She is identified with 'veena', an Indian musical instrument and the ‘lotus’, where she resides. The lotus in our logo symbolizes the seat of learning that the University is created for. "Variety of colours signify the variety of disciplines the university offers and the overlap between petals creating new colours demonstrate the ethos of collaboration between students and teachers of different programme, nationality, creed and colour working towards creating new knowledge…the University's cherished mission to provide education beyond boundaries and to facilitate the students and faculty to achie

Whither climate goal? Increasing reliance on coal 'likely to worsen' India's power crisis

By Shankar Sharma* Recent news articles, How to shock-proof India’s power sector and Power minister points finger at states for worsening electricity crisis , have highlighted a few current problems for the ongoing power sector issues as in April 2022. However, there is a lot more to it than a few temporary solutions as indicated in the articles. It should also be emphasised that it is techno-economically impossible to completely shock-proof a highly complex and geographically wide-spread vast power network, such as the one in India, which is only getting more and more complex with the passage of each year due to some irrational policies/ practices in the sector. A business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, wherein more and more of conventional technology power plants, including coal power plants, will be added in the near future, will also necessitate the increased complexity in the integrated national grid, and as a result the instances of power shortage/ disruptions can only escalate for

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A former Modi ally, Prashant Kishor wanted to enter Congress 'on contract, as trader'

By Anand Sahay* The Congress Party and the election campaigns specialist Prashant Kishor, whose company has done strategic communications for a host of political parties across ideology, should both count themselves lucky that they could not reach an agreement for Kishor to join the party. News reports suggest that the Congress rejected Kishor’s terms. This is not wholly unexpected. People join a party because they are attracted to it, and wish to serve it in any capacity that the party may see fit. But that isn’t Kishor at all. He gave the impression of entering into a contract, as a trader might. If news reports are to be believed, he sought freedom to report directly to party chief Sonia Gandhi, and sought untrammeled control over party communications. When such ideas did not find favour, the consultant withdrew. It is clear he has no particular love for the Congress, and its ideas, ideology and politics. In contrast, look at the key personae in G-23. They

Haven't done a good deed, inner soul is cursing me as sinner: Aurangzeb's last 'will'

Counterview Desk The Tomb of Aurangzeb, the last of the strong Mughal emperors, located in Khuldabad, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, has this epitaph inscribed on it: "Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! Bar mazaar e maa ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast" (the rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves. For the poor folks like me, the sky is enough to shelter my grave).

Counterview

Search This Blog