Desludging operations, Indian style: Observations in an Indian city
Abstract India, as a continuum of time and space for more than 5000 years old, has its own time-tested methods to deal with the harsh realities of everyday living. Present studies on sanitation across the country have not looked at, observed, recognized and acknowledged these methods. The paper began as a result of a Need Assessment Study to initiate a process of understanding various kinds of occupational safety and health related issues with desludging workers in a certain Indian city and comprehend how these hazards and risks can be minimized through addressal in protection, prevention and mitigation. The desludging workers belong to an unorganized business sector that is dominated by a certain caste, in the larger societal domain. Their technological understanding, entrepreneurial spirit, business traits, life philosophies, etc. have been very useful in understanding their responses towards hazards in the occupation. They are aware of the importance of safety gears, but ...