Workers have the biggest role in the development of any country. It is the laborers whose blood and sweat symbolizes the development of skyscrapers. It is these laborers who work in the fields to brighten up a luxurious building. Despite all this, from the government and administration to society, do not think about them. These are also mostly ignored in the budget. Political parties also make big promises at the time of elections, but forget all as soon as they come to power. Due to lack of employment, people have to leave their ancestral villages and towns and move to remote areas. Away from their families, these laborers are forced to live in extremely pathetic condition.
Millions of people from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh come to Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and the National Capital Territories of Central India in search of employment. Some of these people work in small and big factories here, while some do their own small business. Some run a rickshaw, some sell fruits and vegetables, some work as laborers. All of them have only one aim to earn some money and send it to their home. Sadly, most outside workers do not even have a whereabouts to live.
There are thousands of laborers in Delhi who live on the streets, wherever they find a place, they just sleep there. In winter they have shelter of night shelters. But sometimes there is such a crowd that the place cannot be found. In such a situation, they seek shelter under a bridge. On summer nights, the shade of a tree is cut under the pavement. In the same way, they find a place to hide their heads somewhere in the rain.
The condition of laborers working in factories is also not good. Despite working hard all day in the factory, they get very little salary. That’s why most workers work overtime. Many laborers live in small coiled rooms. Appointments are through contractors, so they are not given any facility. Not only this, his job also depends on the will of the contractor, he can remove them whenever he wants. Often layoffs also occur in factories. When work is scarce, workers are fired. In such a situation, once again a crisis of livelihood arises in front of them.
The condition of the workers engaged in building construction is worse. Thousands of laborers die every year in the country during work. While working in government, semi-government or other similar institutions, people or their dependents who have been injured may get some compensation late in the morning, but the daily laborers do not get anything. At first, they hardly get work and even if they get it, then very few days. If laborers crash during work, then they are not even getting compensation. There are so many families in the country, whose earning members have been disabled by accident or have died, but now no one is going to take care of them.
According to a United Nations report, about 2.2 million workers are killed every year due to work related accidents and illnesses worldwide. Of these, about 40 thousand deaths occur in India alone, but in India report this figure is only 222 deaths every year. A United Nations report also says that the number of people who die from accidents and diseases in the world every year may be more than 22 lakhs, because in many developing countries, due to surface studies it is not quite right. Finds.
According to the Director General of the International Labor Organization, we are far from the goal of proper security arrangements at workplaces. Even today, five thousand women and men are killed every day due to work related accidents and diseases. This number is higher in industrialized countries, especially Asian countries. Along with the advice of good and safe work in the report, it is also informed that apart from infectious diseases at work sites in developing countries, diseases like malaria and cancer are proving deadly. Generally, facilities like first aid, drinking water and toilets are severely lacking at work sites, which adversely affects workers’ health.
Needless to say how safe our workplaces are. Workers climbing high buildings are not provided with safety belts. Workers engaged in work such as fireworks factories, chemical factories and ship breaking, lose their lives in accidents due to lack of safety equipment. During the construction of the building, the news of the death of the laborers is published in the newspapers. Despite all this, no attention is paid to the safety of the workers.
In fact, the huge amount of cheap labor available in the domestic market attracts foreign investors to invest in the Indian market. Also, due to the flexibility of labor laws, they want to earn maximum profits by exploiting the workers. According to economist Ricardo, if wages and facilities offered to them increase, then the share of profits to industrialists will be less. The industrialists of our country are following the same policy. Industrialization promoted bonded wages. There are many such kilns and other industries in the country, where the laborers are forced to work hard by bonding them and are given nominal money in lieu of wages, so that they do not get enough bread for two times.
Sadly, despite knowing everything, the administration remains a silent spectator in these matters, but when organizations like Bandhu Mukti Morcha pressurize the administration through the media, the officials are sleepy and raided in some places They perform the ritual. Laborer Surendra says that workers have to bear the arbitrariness of contractors. They cannot find work everyday, so they turn to brick kilns in search of work, but here also they have to work in inhuman condition. If a laborer becomes ill, then he is not allowed to take rest even if he is given medicine.
Indeed, the land settlement system implemented during the British rule provided the basis for the bonded labor system in India. Till then, the owner of the land used to plow the land. The kings and their vassals had no claim on the ownership of the land. They used to get what was their rightful title and it was one percent of the total yield. During the Hindu rule, the farmers were the owners of the land. Although the real owner of the land was the king. Yet once she was ready for plowing, she owned the farmer.
There was no dispute of any kind between the king’s ownership of the kingdom and the farmer. Raja and kingship changed over time, but the ownership of the land of the farmers was never affected. There was no middleman between the king and the farmer. The king used to appoint the head of the villages to run the land administration properly, but this changed with time and the landowner farmer became a mere agricultural laborer.
It is a matter of regret that even after so many years of independence, the condition of laborers in our country is extremely pathetic. Although there were many schemes in the name of the welfare of the workers, but their benefit did not reach the workers. When the laborer is well healed, he takes care of himself and his family by working as a laborer, but by accident or ill, he is unable to work, he gets a mountain of troubles. The government should provide the workers with all the basic facilities that they need. We should not forget that till the laborer of the country is not happy, it is meaningless to appreciate the prosperity of the country.
