Working in a safe, secure environment isn't a given in many places across India. For example, poor conditions in India's mines mean workers are regularly exposed to silica dust leading to silicosis, a chronic disease of the lungs. Unfortunately, for many poor migrant workers, it's a risk they are willing to take.
Jansing Bhuriya is one such worker. Back in 2001, the summer drought, as usual, left the people of Kalakhet and Sardarpur, villages in Jhabua, without any work or food to eat. Along with a hundred of his neighbours, Bhuriya migrated to Godhra in Gujarat in search of employment – which they found at an industrial establishment owned by Hindustan Mineral Products, a manufacturer and exporter of quartz sand, quartz chips, quartz silica flour and pebbles. Unfortunately, the lack of even basic safety measures for employees meant they inhaled silica dust regularly as they worked. A year later, when they returned home to their villages, they were suffering from silicosis, a chronic and debilitating disease that also predisposes them to tuberculosis.
People with silicosis, such as Bhuriya, are stigmatised and avoided by other villagers. The disease is a silent killer precisely because it remains an unknown quantity among villagers and employees in mining and industrial establishments.There is little data about the disease and its effects in India. However, awareness of the problem is growing, and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in India are petitioning the government to take urgent action to help workers and patients. . Last year, the National Human Rights Commission also submitted a special report on the prevalence of silicosis to parliament.
Jacob John, a technical consultant with The Union South-East Asia Office who is supporting Project Axshya's ACSM activities in Madhya Pradesh, recently brought a group of local NGO representatives to visit a rock phosphate mine a short distance from Kalakhet. The mine employs 250 tribal workers from surrounding villages, but these NGOs working on tuberculosis in the area had ever entered the mine or the rock-crushing businesses in Jhabua.
John introduced himself and the other NGO representatives to the mine's manager. Fortunately, he was interested in learning about the disease himself and allowed representatives not only to enter the mine, but also to hold an impromptu meeting with the workers present. The workers had many questions and their strong response to the information they were given shows both need to distribute this information more widely and the necessity of establishing occupational safety measures to protect workers and prevent silicosis.