Good News: Thanks to your support and blessings!
Government's recognition of the worker-safety issue and related economic opportunity for India: We are proud to have our recommendations accepted and included in the Economic Survey 2024-25.
A significant step forward. First time, at least since the 90s, that Worker Safety has been included in the Economic Survey, and shown as a driver of Indian Labour Productivity (130th) and MSME Productivity (half of the global emerging market average) and therefore of business benefits.
Join Hands To Save Hands: We request everyone who believes that an improvement in working conditions in Indian manufacturing is good for all Indians AND for business, and would like to champion this cause, to contact us at team@safeinindia.org. We will happily discuss our findings and recommendations submitted to the Chief Economic Advisor, GOI. We welcome value-aligned champions (we do NOT support profit-maximizing partners so only CSOs/Social Enterprises please)
Expanding Reach with now 10,000 injured workers assisted with healthcare and compensation from ESIC and now also Haryana Labour Welfare Fund
We continued to expand our reach in erstwhile unpenetrated communities in worker colonies in Haryana and Maharashtra, through our four Worker Assistance Centres in Manesar, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Pune, reaching 2,500+ injured workers and their families in 2024 - our highest ever - with vital information about workplace safety and ESIC benefits, and assisting them.
In a new initiative starting late 2023, we started helping these disabled workers with Haryana Labour Welfare Fund (LWF) scheme that grants them Rs1-1.5 lacs (since increased to Rs 2 lacs) because when we asked 400+ of them, not one was aware of this scheme!
We now have a pipeline of 200+, of which 80+ have received this amount - a substantial sum for these workers who earn c.12,000 per month (average) and even less post-disability.
We learnt from this experience and recommended improvements and are really pleased that the application period, post-accident, for the workers has been doubled from one to two years.
Impact on Workers' Lives - 100+ crores compensation received and auto sector injuries in Haryana have started reducing (caution!)
We are grateful that our work has directly translated into tangible benefits for workers, including access to ESIC healthcare, disability benefits, and compensation. We've now helped 10,000+ workers and their families receive over 100+ Crores of rupees in ESIC benefits. A landmark!
Auto sector injuries in Haryana have finally started reducing! (but a word of caution)
Great to see this reduction after 5 years of efforts. Maruti, Honda, Hero and ISH Haryana should get credit for it! A word of caution though - we have anecdotal evidence that due to brands' pressure, some suppliers may not be sending their injured workers to ESIC or forcing them not to take our help. This is not just underreporting but worse for workers' healthcare and compensation. We are investigating.
First Participatory Research done by auto sector workers in their working conditions
500+ workers in Faridabad, under the leadership of 10 of them, with guidance from our team and our partner, Praxis, conducted the first ever Participatory Research in the auto sector and published it. The insights are overwhelming!
Please do see and hear them in the video below:
Manesar ESIC Hospital finally got its ultrasound machine working ....After two years of advocacy. Workers, especially women, were reportedly spending a cumulative of Rs1-2cr annually from their own pockets for this facility that should have been provided free, all along, by ESIC.
Change through evidence - Robust annual reporting and recommendations
Our two annual reports for worker injury reduction - SafetyNiti2024 (4th edition) and CRUSHED2024 (6th edition) were released as scheduled.
CRUSHED2024 covered accident/injury data and its analysis by each automobile brand, from Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
SafetyNiti2024 covered gaps, opportunities and best practices of OSH policies of the top 10 automobile brands for their supply chain.
Continued encouraging, though gradual, improvement in the OSH policies by the top 10 automobile brands. Examples:
Empowering workers through knowledge - Social Media and Community
We started a new Youtube Channel, Shramikpur, in Hindi for workers and a WhatsApp channel for them. Video views on all channels exceeded 125,000.
Partnerships and Collaborations
We continued working on our relationships with 100+ stakeholders, including the auto industry, ESIC, government bodies, CSOs, etc fostering a collaborative approach to workplace safety and social security.
9 of the top 10 automobile brands are not engaging with us, albeit in varying degrees, with some improving and others deteriorating. Mahindra Auto and TVS finally started engaging in 2024 though it’s a start. Only Ashok Leyland remains reticent and refuses to engage.
A new joint report with Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs IICA, under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs signed an MOU with us to do a joint report on Indian Automobile Sector ESG reporting through BRSRs submitted to SEBI. This report will be published in mid 2025.
ISH Haryana-Maruti-Honda-Hero-SII Platform continued though progress was lackluster in 2024.
A joint CSO effort to create a better OSH Ecosystem We are grateful that a number of great Worker-CSOs, namely: Aajeevika Bureau, CIVIDEP, Jan Sahas Foundation, Partners in Change, National Safety Council of India, Peoples Training & Research Centre, Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action, Social Compact, and Work Fair and Free Foundation, joined us to discuss developing an OSH ecosystem in the country. After a great day of discussion, a number of joint initiatives were agreed. We hope to progress at least one together. Watch the space :-)
A new partnership for radio outreach to 50,000 worker members of GramVaani on ESIC benefits started in 2024 and will continue through 2025.
Challenges (nothing new. We will keep at it)
Deep-Rooted Worker Safety Issues: Despite progress, workplace accidents remain a pervasive issue, necessitating ongoing efforts to change mindsets and practices. These are holding back not just our poor communities from growth and joining the consuming classes that are needed for GDP, but also holding India back from faster, better and more equitable growth.
Bureaucratic Hurdles: Workers continue to face challenges navigating the bureaucratic processes to access ESIC benefits and in their grievance redressal, highlighting the need for continued advocacy and support.
Funding
We take donations ONLY from Indians and India-registered companies/foundations and are fortunate to have very generous supporters: IIMA91 Giving Back, Azim Premji Foundation, Lal Family Foundation, Forbes Marshall, Tata Chemicals, IIT88 and many other invaluable supporters. We need many more to make the most of the potential we see!
We can promise you a 10x return in impact measured by just the worker compensation value, and much more direct and indirect impact.
Next Steps
Scaling Our Impact: Building on our experience, we aim to further scale our programs to double our worker reach to 25,000 and tangible impact to Rs 250 crore compensation by 2027. We will do this now in 3 years v/s the 8 years we have taken to get here. For this and for evidence for change, we need to set up new centres in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Strengthening Advocacy with evidence and with solution-focus: We'll continue to advocate constructively for policy changes and systemic improvements to ensure workers' safety and access to social security. In 2025, we will bring out CRUSHED2025, SafetyNiti2025, a new auto-sector report with IICA, a new report on ESIC ‘quality of services’ and a national survey on auto sector supply chain working conditions and ESIC services, and much more.
Empowering Workers: Our focus remains on empowering workers with knowledge and agency to demand safe working conditions and access their rightful benefits. In 2025, we will assist 5,000+ workers with healthcare and compensation, obtain another 75cr+ compensations for their families, train 2,500+ workers on workplace safety and social security and create awareness among 25,000+ workers through social media and community outreach.
A message to our supporters and stakeholders, with gratitude
Your support has been instrumental in our achievements. As we move forward, we're more determined than ever to create a safer and more equitable future for India's workforce. Together, we can make a difference! Thank you for all your support - financial, emotional, operational and strategic!
Stay safe and spread the word to your automobile sector and government contacts and please send us any feedback you have to help us do our job better at team@safeinindia.org.
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