Working Class Hero

THREE years to a brand new century, and primitive working conditions are still a painful reality. The worker still doesn’t know of his right to a healthy environment and a host of factors sustain this conspiracy of ignorance. A case in point is that of Ahmedabad’s textile workers, suffering silently in dark, dank workshops— grim reminders of 19th century Manchester. For years they were oblivious about byssinosis, a debilitating respiratory disease first detected in 18th century England, that had been gnawing at their lungs. What’s more, scientists, bureaucrats and the management were aware of the implications but chose to ignore them.

Not any longer. Haushala Prasad Mishra, a 44-year-old mill worker, has blown the whistle on the powers that be. Mishra who hails from Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, had joined the Kaiser- e - Hind mill in 1979 at 26 as an apprentice. By 1986 byssinosis had caught up with him. He recalls: "I was often short of breath and wheezed like an asthmatic. But I discovered the problem was widespread."

"Byssinosis," explains J.D. Parekh, a researcher at the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) who first detected this affliction among Ahmedabad’s mill workers in 1987, "is a disease that mostly affects workers in the blow room and cardroom in textile mills. The air is thick with dust and wisps of cotton in these sections." Mishra complains that the management ignored safety precautions and hygiene standards.

Though Mishra began campaigning against poor working conditions in the late ’80s, he was unaware of byssinosis till 1991, when the results of the NIOH survey were made public at a union meeting. To their surprise, the workers discovered that it wasn’t asthma or tuberculosis they were suffering from, as diagnosed by generations of doctors. Says Manik Lal, one of the mill workers who finally received compensation: "I was very angry and sad that all these years I had been taking drugs for tuberculosis. Had it not been for Mishraji, we would still be suffering unnecessarily."

By this time Mishra had gained influence with the mill’s Joint Management Council which provided the perfect platform for him to launch his struggle. Says Mishra: "Once I knew all about the disease, I vowed to fight for our right to compensation and a healthy working environment."

And succeed he did. In 1991, nine workers from three textile mills were awarded compensation for byssinosis. The success spurred Mishra to intensify his campaign in collaboration with the national campaign on dust-related lung diseases begun by the Delhi-based Participatory Research in Asia (P R I A). He persuaded the management to take a serious look at workers’ environment. So far five mills have fallen in line and are dust-free. Mishra declares ambitiously: "My aim is to get compensation for the 8,000 mill workers, from closed and running mills, suspected to be suffering from this disease."

Mishra’s crusade was not without impediments. Callous bureaucracy, wily management and fatalistic mill-workers, and uninformed doctors— all conspired to sabotage his efforts. He had a tough time persuading trade unions of the gravity of the situation.

"I felt discouraged, but I didn’t give up," he says. Harsh Jaitley of PRIA echoes Mishra’s sentiments: "Even though the report was sent to the chief inspector of factories, nothing came of it. He is supposed to take action to reduce dust levels and recommend compensation, as byssinosis is a compensable disease under the Employees State Insurance Act and the Workmen’s Compensation Act. "

MISHRA’S next ordeal was to fight for compensation. The route was a tortuous one. Armed with 15 cases he met the labour officer who directed him to the Employees State Insurance Corporation (E S I C). There he was told to fill up a 16-A form. As expected, it was not available. Mishra somehow obtained one, printed copies and submitted the 15 claims. An E S I doctor recommended the cases to E S I’s chest hospital in Narora for various tests. The results were sent back to the E S I where the compensation claim was perused by a board of doctors flown in from E S I’s headquarters in Delhi. This arrived after six months. The reward at the end of the journey from one official corridor to another did not satisfy the workers who filed are view petition asking for compensation from 1987 and not 1991.

Mishra is optimistic though. A disciple of Baba Jai Gurudev Acharya (he is known as ‘Kantadhari’ because he always wears jute, the official dress of Baba Jai Gurudev’s followers), Mishra believes that with the media’s help he can achieve anything. "I don’t think I would have succeeded without help from the press. It was only after newspapers and magazines wrote about byssinosis that the authorities sat up and took notice." Mishra staged some dramatic performances to attract the media’s attention. "In 1994," he recalls with boyish glee, "we took out massive matador rallies for eight days in succession. The matadors went through different parts of the city with the workers shouting ‘Bachao, byssinosis se bachao ’. " On another occasion, the campaigner launched a massive rally that gathered at Gandhi Chowk to submit hundreds of applications to Bapuji’s statue as "the Government was blind to our grievances."

This campaign, targeted at workers, management, factory inspectors, doctors and policy makers— with a different sales pitch for each— paid off. Says Jaitely: "Mishra’s crusade has caused the killer disease hiding in medical textbooks and surveys to leapfrog onto the agenda of the textile industry. Workers are now beginning to fight for a healthy working environment."

"But I still have to fish out the rest of the workers entitled to compensation," says Mishra. For the last two years he has located about 654 suspected victims." The trouble is, workers laid off by mills that closed down (25 in all) are still not eligible for compensation. The labour commissioner promised me that if I produce them with proper records, he will ensure they also get their dues. But finding them is dif ficult as many were migrants."

Mishra’s passionate fight for human rights is not confined to the textile industry alone. His leadership acumen led to government funding of a Sanskrit village school he got recognised in 1976. Last year, Mishra was awarded the Ashoka fellowship, a lifelong grant of Rs 3,500 per month awarded by a US organisation, for his byssinosis crusade. Says Mishra: "I was getting Rs 1,600 after 13 years of work! Now with this award I can pursue my mission unhindered."

For Mishra is not sitting on his laurels. The former mill worker has turned full-time social activist. He runs an NGO called Kamdar Swasthya Suraksha Mandal from a dilapidated little shack, donated to him by a good samaritan. And says: "I want to devote my life to fighting for workers’ right to a healthy environment."