Socio-Economic Status and Health Risk Among the Carpet Workers: A Study Of Bhadohi City

Bhadohi is the centre of the carpet industry and has excellent employment potential in the carpet manufacturing process. In the year 2010, the carpets manufactured in Bhadohi belt received the Geographical Indication tag. This paper explores the socio-economic status and health risk of carpet manufacturing workers and highlights the significant problems the workers faced in the study area. The Bhadohi city is selected as the study area, located in district Sant Ravidas Nagar (Uttar Pradesh). The study of the carpet workers is based on both Primaries as well as Secondary sources of data. The survey results show that most carpet manufacturing workers work 10-12 hours daily in the study area, which is very much arduous and monotonous work. The study also reveals that most carpet workers experienced health problems in the workplace. The most commonly reported health problem are chest pain, skin irritation, eyes irritation, backache / joint ache, headache due to long hours of continuous sitting at one place. The researchers suggest that the Ministry of Textile, Government of India, should be given the Start-up finance to the Bhadohi city entrepreneurs to promote this industry, which may help in nation-building.