With harvest season in full swing, agricultural labourers suffer major accidents with power threshers

Operation a thresher: Dangerous workOver the next few weeks, with the harvest season in full swing, approximately 1,000 agricultural labourers will suffer major accidents with power threshers. Most of them will lose a leg or an arm, thus disqualifying them from active employment in the agricultural sector. That frightening prediction is based on the average number of such incidents recorded each year ever since power threshers replaced the traditional manually-operated machines in the early '50s.A study conducted by the Punjab Agricultural University in 1976 revealed that there were on an average two accidents per 100 threshers in the state while a similar study by the Haryana Agricultural University found 25 accidents per 1,000 machines. (In 1976, 294 labourers were permanently disabled in Punjab alone). Chaudhary Ran Singh, 40, of Hissar district, is one of the victims of a thresher accident. He lost his left hand to a power thresher last year, and, in his own words, "for a farmer who cannot use his hands, there is no more interest in life".Each year, the increase in the number of threshers in use (Punjab and Haryana, two important agricultural states, have an estimated three lakh in use at present) leads to a corresponding hike in the number of accidents. And each year, the casualty figures are stored away in a musty file at Krishi Bhavan till the next harvest season comes around and a new set of statistics replaces them.Sub-standard: Ignorance may be bliss for the Agriculture Ministry but broken down into more human terms, the statistics tell a chilling story. Farm studies show, for instance, that 13 per cent of all thresher accidents are caused by faulty and badly-produced machines. The cheaper brands are constructed of sub-standard material and have a faulty crop feeding system. A majority of the threshers currently on sale ignore the basic safety requirements. For example, the feeding system is required to be of a minimum length of 90 cm, but in almost all threshers this minimum is ignored.A recent study by the Department of Agriculture, Haryana Government, shows that a majority of the thresher accidents (44 per cent) in the state was the result of farmers using drum threshers which were not in accordance with ISI specifications. In national terms, however, 73 per cent of all thresher accidents are the result of human error encouraged, more often than not, by the financial requirements of the vast army of unskilled labourers which converges on agricultural holdings during the harvesting season.Because of their penury, most of them work round the clock to earn enough to see them through the lean months, leading, predictably, to loss of concentration. Al-mostall of them use one form of intoxicant or another to keep awake, thereby increasing the danger of accidents. Another danger factor is the crowded conditions they are forced to work in and the inadequate lighting conditions at night.Paltry Compensation: The tragedy is that since most of the labourers are illiterate, they are not organised into unions. As a result, their pleas for minimum safety standards and adequate compensation have fallen on barren ground (under the Workmen's Compensation Act a worker earning between Rs 300 and Rs 400 a month is entitled to Rs 16,128 for the loss of an arm).Under the same act, thresher owners are required to maintain a register of labourers engaged on the thresher and deposit a fixed amount as insurance for each person. The Act is seldom, if ever, implemented. Very few farmers take the trouble of providing training to thresher operators and simply employ whoever is available. The state governments, in their wisdom, circulate leaflets and instruction manuals for thresher operation - sometimes in English, ignoring the fact that the operators are illiterate.Meanwhile, the farmers, who are as responsible for the accidents as the labourers who, in their ignorance, make a near-fatal miscalculation, continue to buy up sub-standard threshers in large quantities, indirectly adding to the growing accident rate.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 21, 2014 08:26 IST--- ENDS ---

Download App

Get 37% off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine

With harvest season in full swing, agricultural labourers suffer major accidents with power threshers

Over the next few weeks, with the harvest season in full swing, approximately 1,000 agricultural labourers will suffer major accidents with power threshers.

PUBLICATIONS

TELEVISION

EVENTS

RADIO

GAMING

USEFUL LINKS

PRINTING

WELFARE

DISTRIBUTION

SYNDICATIONS

WEBSITES

EDUCATION