India is trying to become an industrial powerhouse, but is that coming at the cost of workers' safety?
are often most affected by industrial accidents. The victims are usually poor workers or migrants whose families don't have the resources to fight legal battles.
Rajesh Kashyap, a trade union activist in Delhi, alleges that many factories in the capital and its suburbs flout at least one industrial or safety law, but action is rarely taken. In response to allegations from labour activists that the initial investigation in these kinds of cases is often flawed, police say they try to ensure "immediate action against the culprits". But, they add, convictions may not occur in many cases due to a number of reasons, including delay in getting forensic results and opinions from technical experts, among others.
The BBC tried to contact families of the victims of a 2018 factory fire in Delhi in which 17 workers died, but almost all of them had left the city.Sangeeta Roy, 50, lost an arm while using a cardboard-cutting machine at her company three years ago. She says she didn't receive any compensation from her employers and had to wait for three years to get a government pension for injured workers.
The non-profit's founder, Sandeep Sachdeva, told the BBC that many states don't accurately report such cases.India has begun reforming its labour laws through four new labour codes that include provisions for occupational safety, health and working conditions.Image source,While the earlier law said that any company with 10 workers or more should have a safety committee, the proposed new law raises the number to 250.
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