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Combating the risk of Silicosis among the mine workers in Rajasthan: Policy Brief 2024.

Silicosis or “patthar ki bimari” (disease of the stone) as said in the local language of Rajasthan, is a lung disease which is caused due to the inhalation of silica dust, mostly prevalent among people working in mining and quarrying sectors. It is incurable and fatal, yet preventable with certain dust control measures. It is a notified and compensable disease under the Mines Act, 1952; Factories Act, 1948 & Buildings and Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. (Sishodiya, 2022).

Photo by alireza naseri on Unsplash

The first cases of silicosis in India were reported by Sikand and Pumra in 1949, in their study they found that around 52.4% of stone cutters and around 12.5% of the stone breakers were suffering from silicosis.

Presently, Rajasthan records the highest number of mining leases in the country which comprises 189 major, 15,245 minor and 17,688 quarry mining licenses across the state (GoR 2019); and majority of them comprise sandstone mining and are largely unorganized and scaled. Between 2018 and 2023, 11,462 cases were reported of silicosis in the Jodhpur district alone, while Rajasthan reported a total of 48,448 cases among which only 38,869 were certified, according to a report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), 2022.

Rajasthan’s Policy on Pneumoconiosis including Silicosis Detection, Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation, 2019 provided the scope for registration of all mines and stone-cutting industries with the Directorate General of Mines & Safety (DGMS) and notified them as hazardous industries to streamline the strategy to deal with pneumoconiosis. It is funded through District Mineral Foundation Trusts, Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund, State Budget and CSRs.

Although the policy was a commendable step by the Rajasthan Government and it made Rajasthan the second state in India after Haryana to have such a policy in place there still lies lots of gaps and loopholes in the implementation part, the unreliability of data on the detections & deaths of people from silicosis pose significant implementation challenges of the policy, and the neglect of the preventive steps in the policy and sole focus on the detection & monetary relief part is another shortcoming to focus upon. (Devarajan & Rajan, 2021).

 

Findings:

-        Many cases also go unreported because of inadequate health surveillance facilities: like chest radiography & lung function tests. High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) can detect silicosis at an earlier stage, but limited facilities and host costs make them largely inaccessible to people. (Sishodiya, 2022).

-        High Cases of Non-Payment of Compensation to silicosis victims: There are high cases of non-payment of compensation to silicosis victims due to the unavailability of proper documentation required for application & lack of awareness among people about the online registration processes. According to the report by RHRC, many cases were reported where widows of the victims were unable to procure the death certificate of their husband and hence were denied the compensation amount.

-        Compensation in the form of monetary relief alone is inadequate to help the victims and their dependents: most of the compensation amount (one-time pay of 3 lakh in case of diagnosis from silicosis and an additional 2 lakh to the dependent of the victim in case of death from the disease) is spent on repaying the debts taken for medical treatment in private hospitals due to lack of proper treatment in the governmental health facilities in the region and as a result, the family members (mostly widows & their children) engage in the same profession to sustain their household needs and to pay off debt. (NHRC, 2022).

-        Most of the mines remain unregistered and unregulated: leaving them outside of the purview of DGMS and allowing them the scope for regular violations of laws like maintaining the permissible dust levels in the workplaces.

 

Implications:

-        Child Labour is highly prevalent in the region resulting in their dropouts from the school and engaging in the mining works to support the financial needs of the family.

-        No social security & provident fund benefits to the workers: as they are mostly from the unorganized sector and are hired by middlemen on a contractual basis, the factory and mine owners are not legally liable for paying for the compensation to the victims.

-        Lack of alternate livelihood options: People in the region are engaged in mining & related works from an early age denying them the opportunity to gain other skills to change their profession and forcing them to work in those plants despite knowing the harms.

 

Recommendations:

-        Use of wet drilling method instead of dry drilling and provide the workers with proper safety equipment to reduce their exposure to fine silica dust.

-        Increase in the pay of mine workers to allow them to gain some financial security and discourage them from sending their children to work in mines. (successful intervention with the Jharkhand mine workers).

-        Strengthening the public health infrastructure to the PHC levels & Training Health Professionals for the diagnosis of Silicosis to prevent people from falling into the debt of medical bills in private hospitals, an efficient public health system is extremely crucial and trained health professionals and lab testing facilities are needed which could help in identification of the disease properly at an early stage instead of confusing it with tuberculosis, which happens quite frequently as reported by NHRC. 

-        Awareness among the workers and factory owners about the importance of safety equipment and laws made for the prevention of silicosis to ensure their proper implementation at the workplaces and an anonymous complaint mechanism for workers who could report these violations to the implementing authority i.e. DGMS in the case of Rajasthan.

-        Skill enhancement programs specially designed for the people working in these mines and factories to allow them the opportunity to choose alternate professions for them.

 



References:

-        Devarajan M.K., Rajan A. (2021). Silicosis in Rajasthan. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 56, Issue No. 23, 05 Jun, 2021. https://www.epw.in/journal/2021/23/special-articles/silicosis-rajasthan.html

-        GoR (2019). “Rajasthan Policy on Pneumoconiosis including Silicosis Detection, Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation,” Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur. https://sje.rajasthan.gov.in/siteadmin/Uploads/201911211545271328.pdf.

-        IndiaSpend. (2023). The price of stone: Children at risk of silicosis in Rajasthan’s quarries. https://www.indiaspend.com/rajasthan/the-price-of-stone-children-at-risk-of-silicosis-in-rajasthans-quarries-8499224

-        Sishodiya P. K. (2022). Silicosis-An Ancient Disease: Providing Succour to Silicosis Victims, Lessons from Rajasthan Model. Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 26(2), 57–61. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoem.ijoem_160_22

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