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2nd March, 2009
Dear Mr.
Prime Minister,
The National Knowledge Commission considers it imperative to ensure that the applications of knowledge are used for the well-being of common people, especially in rural areas. Our consultations with a working group of experts involved with grassroots organizations helped identify some workable ideas and existing projects that have potential for scaling up. One of the pilot projects selected for implementation after discussions focused on the urgent requirement for ergonomic tools, especially among NREGA workers. This project recognises the enormous skills involved in manual work and aims to give workers tools that will help them carry out their task in a more specific and less physically taxing manner. The findings from this project form the basis for our policy suggestions. In this letter, key issues discussed pertain to designing ergonomic tools as a means of improving dignity of labour, encouraging energy efficiency, reducing workloads for women, reducing drudgery, increasing skillful engagement and improving productivity.
MAEER MIT Institute of Design (MITID), Pune in collaboration with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Rajasthan were identified by NKC as ?host institutions? to conceptualize fresh perspectives in tool design. Based on consultations and feedback received, we suggest the following steps to enable a qualitative improvement in general working conditions in occupations involving manual labour:
1. Improve Dignity of Labour: Creating a people-based development process is essential to improve working conditions and ensure dignity of labour. Large-scale government schemes which generate employment opportunities for those involved in manual labour should incorporate necessary processes and incentives for providing appropriate work environment, facilities and ergonomic tools to workers. Dignity of labour will be enhanced if basic facilities for water, shade, first-aid and child-care are also provided at the work site. Also pertinent here is the need to define appropriate work hours, productivity norms and mechanisms for grievance redressal to address issues of harassment and exploitation.
2. Modernize Tools and Technology: Redesigning low-cost tools for greater efficiency and modernizing tool kits needs to take into account India-specific factors such as the geographical and cultural diversity of the country. These factors include land, terrain, clothing, social conditions, traditional practices in tool-use and significantly, specific problems faced by women workers. There is also an urgent need to recognize that the tools currently used are of a very basic nature and involve low appropriate technology, minimum production complexity and local production. Also, these tools are often multi-purpose in nature and therefore unable to deliver efficiency in specialized tasks. For example, it is recognized that digging trenches for irrigation and digging for road development have become very specialized tasks, requiring special energy efficient tools. While traditionally single tools have served the purpose of multiple tasks, there is increasing realization now on the need to design a variety of specialized tools. The following suggestions will help address such issues:
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