Sandstone mining and silicosis deaths in Rajasthan: a critical legal and policy analysis

Sandstone mining and silicosis deaths in Rajasthan: a critical legal and policy analysis Shamim Mohammad, Shivaraj Huchhanavar, Hifzur Rahman, Tariq Sultan Pasha International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- The extant literature underlines the inadequacies of legal and policy frameworks addressing the safety and health concerns of sandstone mineworkers in India. Notably, Rajasthan, a state renowned for its extractive industries, mirrors these concerns. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to critically evaluate the relevant legal and policy landscape, with an emphasis on the recent central statute: the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code of 2020 (OSHWCC). Given that the Code subsumes the key legislation pertaining to the safety and health of mineworkers, an in-depth critical analysis is essential to forge suitable policy interventions to address continued gross violations of human rights.The critical analysis of legal and policy frameworks on silicosis in sandstone mineworkers is based on a comprehensive reading of existing literature. The literature includes relevant laws, case law, reports of the Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission and National Human Rights Commission, publicly available data and key scholarly contributions in the field.Although the OSHWCC has made some changes to the existing regulatory architecture of mines in India, it has failed to safeguard the safety and health of minework...
Source: International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research