Problem of Silicosis in Rajasthan :

Rajasthan’s mining industry is far from the modernised operation one expects it to be. Rajasthan prides itself on its rich reserves of minerals, with mining being second to agriculture. As many as 42 major minerals and 23 minor ones are extracted in over 35,000 mines (Department of Mines and Geology, Rajasthan, 2015) that employ roughly 2.5 million workers.

Silicosis is a lung disease. It usually happens in jobs where you breathe in dust that contains silica. That's a tiny crystal found in sand, rock, or mineral ores like quartz. Over time, silica can build up in your lungs and breathing passages. This leads to scarring that makes it hard to breathe.

India has an enormous tuberculosis problem. According to the World Health Organisation, 2.79 million Indians contracted TB in 2017, nearly a quarter of all the cases in the world. Only 1.8 million cases were notified. Nearly a million cases are not notified, and inadequately diagnosed and treated.

Rajasthan has the highest number of the poorest mine workers – more than 1.65 families who work in its stone quarries and mines for casual wages. They are in the grip of a silicosis epidemic.

Develop TB and lung diseases :

Workers in mines and stone-crushing units inhale hazardous levels of silica, which corrodes lung tissue and reduces their immunity to bacterial infections like TB. Those infections can then spread to co-workers and family. Yet their employers deny any responsibility, and refuse to adopt even the simplest preventive measures.

Safety Issue :

Sandstone from Rajasthan is in great demand internationally, for cobbles and tiles. Bijolia, in Bhilwara, is one of the top sites of production. Despite the international markets, the work here is done with primitive technology. Stone is carved and processed manually, with hammers and chisels, and there is little safety oversight.

Marginal farmers and workers migrate to Bhilwara after Diwali every year to seek temporary work in the mines, and many described how they were losing weight, growing weaker and having trouble breathing. Mine workers have trouble even finding out if they have tuberculosis or silicosis – which they call “pathar ki bimaari”.

Women miners are relegated to the lowest paying jobs:

Sorting debris, carrying head-loads and working as transport labour on a piece-rate basis. Majority of women started work in the quarries after their husbands were injured or died of respiratory diseases.

Difficult in Diagnosis :

Silicosis makes it difficult to diagnose TB. The symptoms of the two diseases – cough, chest pain and difficulty in breathing – are similar. Silicosis-scarred lung tissue is harder to examine for TB in chest X-rays. It also reduces the discharge of TB bacilli in saliva, which makes it difficult to detect TB in a sputum test, the most common test. Silicosis has been an occupational hazard for decades, but misdiagnosis still remains a threat to its treatment.

Silicosis is curable when detected at the first of its 10 stages, but any delay worsens the situation.Silicosis is among the list of occupational diseases recognised by labour laws such as the Factories Act and the Employees Compensation Act (ECA). The law mandates that employers pay compensation to workers who suffer from it.

Lack of accountability of employers :

Wet drilling equipment costs less than Rs 15,000, a fraction of mining profits. But mine owners were reluctant to use them, as they claimed that wet drills slowed down production and increased costs. According to the labour laws in place, employers must assign a particular uniform and equipment to workers frequently exposed to silica dust.

No proper System for relief :

To avail the relief, one needs to submit their Aadhaar Card and Bhamashah Card, a state-based direct benefit transfer scheme under which health insurance and medical treatment facilities are provided to beneficiaries. Then, a form has to be filled and a card is given to the patient to avail the amount. However, agents meddle in the process and ask for money to get this card made. Some doctors are also hand in glove with these agents and ask for as much as Rs 30,000 for the card. In Jaipur and other cities, agents ask for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 fill the form online through the state government's e-mitra portal.

Government baby steps to solve the issue :

Rajasthan has no accurate data on silicosis, thanks to poor health infrastructure to diagnose the disease and regulate unchecked mining and quarrying. On the basis of a coal mining report, silicosis was first made noticeable under the Factories Act and later the Workmen Compensation Act 1923, Rajasthan Silicosis Rules, 1955 was established.

In 2012, a Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission scheme announced a compensation of ?1 lakh to workers certified with silicosis by government hospital boards and ?3 lakh to families of those who died post diagnosis.

District Mining Fund( DMF) :  DMF fund, companies mining major minerals (such as copper, tungsten and coal) must pay an amount equivalent to 30% of the royalty of a mine leased before 2015, and mines leased after 2015 as well as those mining minor minerals (such as marble and granite) must pay 10% of the royalty. This scheme empowers mining districts to levy a charge on all mining operations to create a fund that would be used to mitigate harmful effects of mining and to benefit local people

It is important to be noted that mine workers have a right to know their risks, protective equipment must be mandatory and companies should be liable to penalty in case of default.