The Cost of ‘Ease of doing Business’
After the announcement of
the world bank’s assessment about
“Ease of doing Business”(EODB)
in India, the rulers of the center as
well of the concerned states that
are awarded with top ranks are
reveling about their so called
achievement. They are taking
some more steps with utmost zeal
for implementing the investor-
friendly atmosphere.
In their bid to create investor-
friendly atmosphere of ‘Ease of
doing business’ the rulers are
willfully disregarding and ignoring
the concept of industrial safety
which is crucial for promotion of
industries as well for the protection
of lives of the workers concerned.
But the rulers are wantonly ignoring
the safety of workers at the cost of
the lives of the workers.
Till now the factory officials and
labour officials used to inspect
even randomly to ensure the
implementation of safety norms
and regulations. Despite the fact
that these officials can be
influenced and corrupted by the
industrial managements, still the
managements fear to float the
safety norms indiscriminately and
to some extent they oblige to
implement the safety norms and
safety regulations, nominally.
But presently with the sole
objective that the investors should
find no trouble in the form of so-
called bureaucratic hurdles to get
various licenses and corruption the
rulers are changing the systems of
inspection for the compliance of all
standard safety norms.
The Andhra Pradesh govern-
ment that topped in implementation
of “Ease of doing business’’ has
introduced a so-called jumbling
system, that will fix which official
should inspect which factory
located in which place and at what
time through a computer generated
programme. According to the
system once a factory is inspected,
November - 2018
it will be scheduled for inspection
again after five or ten years and
not by the one who inspected it
earlier as no officials are permitted
to inspect a factory twice.
Earlier surprise inspections on
factories used to be carried out
following complaints of lapses and
managements also used to be
compelled to comply with all
standard safety norms and
periodical awareness programmes
used to be carried out on safety
norms to avoid accidents and
mishaps. The officials used to ask
the industrial managements to take
up corrective measures and later
used to carry out a follow up
whether their directions are
complied with.
Now with the initiation of this
jumbling system the industrial
managements hardly care to
comply with safety norms and thus
cut costs in pursuance of super-
profits, taking away the lives of
workers at the altar of industrial
human sacrifice.
Added to this jumbling system
the A.P. State government is
mooting to introduce third party
(private) inspection on industrial
units, which naturally have every
scope to compromise the safety of
industrial units having no
accountability for the accidents
causing loss of life, of workers and
property.
With such a system the law-
enforcing agencies are denied
access to inspect industries
whether they are complying with all
standard safety norms or not.
Even before the introduction of
new system, many workers at
various industries in A.P. have lost
their lives in work-place industrial
accidents due to the non
implementation of safety norms.
In July, 2018, at Tadipatri in an
industrial mishap at a steel factory
six workers were killed, due to
leakage of carbon monoxide. Lack
of periodical inspection on its day
to day functioning and non-
implementation of safety norms is
the cause for the mishap and killing
of workers.
Again 12 workers were killed
due to an explosion at a granite
quarry at Hatti Belagal village in Alur
mandal of Kurnool district in A.P. in
the 1 st week of August 2018. 5
workers are critically injured.
These workers belong to
Jharkhand and Odisha states. The
explosion of gelatin sticks not
stored according to the safety
norms and procedures is the cause
of the horrendous accident killing
the workers.
And again 9 workers were
critically injured in an explosion at
steel mill at Hindupur of Anantapur
district in A.P on Aug.19, 2018. The
injured workers belong to Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha states.
While they are working at a furnace
for melting steel, the explosion
occurred.
In the first week of August
(2018); six workers were killed
when an under-construction
structure meant to store lime stone
fell on this at Shree cement factory
in kolla village in Sedam Taluk of
Kalburgi district of Karnataka state.
All these killed workers belong to
Bihar state hired on contract.
These are some incidents of
many such incidents occurred
throughout our India in the month
of August this year, taking away the
lives of workers due to willful
criminal negligence of industrial
managements in implementing
safety norms, standards and
regulations at the cost of the lives
of the workers.
In all these accident while the
common aspect has been the non
compliance of safety norms by the
industrial managements another
glaring fact is note-worthy. This is
a more serious aspect, in this
contd. on page 18
23