Hard Hats And Human Dignity: “Rethinking Occupational Safety And Social Security In A Changing World"
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Anshika Dhingra, LLB (Hons.), National Forensic Sciences University Gandhinagar
“The labour of the human body, and the work of the hands, is not a commodity. It is the foundation of all wealth, and the cornerstone of any just legal order.”
— Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer
The Silent Crisis on the Shop Floor
Occupational safety and social security are no longer just policy buzzwords—they are the very lifelines of equitable development in an economy striving for inclusivity. In the vast and diverse Indian labour market, ranging from metropolitan tech hubs to rural industrial belts, workers form the backbone of productivity and progress. Yet, millions still work in conditions that are unsafe, uncertain, and unrewarding.
Despite legislative frameworks and constitutional ideals promising the right to life and dignity under Article 21, the reality for many workers remains grim. India reports thousands of industrial accidents every year—be it the tragic 1Vizag gas leak in 2020, the illegal mining collapses in Jharkhand, or the recurring deaths of sanitation workers due to manual scavenging, often unreported and unacknowledged.
In the relentless churn of economic growth, it is often the calloused hands of the worker that bear the weight of development. From dusty construction sites to gleaming data centers, occupational hazards persist—not always visible, but ever-present. While the promise of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution extends the right to life with dignity, for millions of workers, particularly in informal sectors, that right remains elusive in the face of unsafe working conditions, precarious employment, and weak access to social security. The time has come to treat occupational safety and social protection not as administrative obligations, but as foundational to human dignity and equitable progress.
