Clothing practices and problems of workers engaged in cotton ginning

Abstract

In India, textile manufacturing is one of the oldest Indian industries and about20 million workers are involved in different processes. Cotton is one of the major cash crops grown in India. After harvesting it goes under various processes until the manufacturing of a fine fabric. Ginning is the first step in this direction. A large amount of fibre dust is released during ginning and workers engaged in this process are at a great risk of exposure to various health problems due to lack of protective clothing and other preventive measures. The present study was conducted to study the existing clothing practices and health problems encountered by the workers of ginning mill. The data collected from thirty respondents engaged in cotton ginning at mills of Hisar and Panipat revealed that the respondents wear casual dresses at work place. Due to lack of protective or functional clothing and long exposure to cotton dust and high level of noise, the respondents faced different health problems viz. eye irritation, running nose, coughing, headache, hearing and breathing problems, etc.