Impact of Low Illumination and High Noise Level on Occupational Health of Indian Handloom Weavers: Special Reference to Bargarh District of Odisha A Thesis Submitted in partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Surendra Kumar (Roll No.-126105004) Under the Supervision of Dr. Sougata Karmakar Department of Design Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Guwahati - 781039, Assam, India TH-1904_126105004 Declaration Certificate 6th June 2018 I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “Impact of Low Illumination and High Noise Level on Occupational Health of Indian Handloom Weavers: Special Reference to Bargarh District of Odisha” being submitted in the partial fulfillment for the award of PhD degree, is an authentic work of my research work carried out during the period from July 2012 to May 2018 in the Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Sougata Karmakar. The thesis has not been submitted by me earlier for any other degree or diploma. Surendra Kumar Roll No.-126105004 Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati - 781039, Assam, India. i TH-1904_126105004 ii TH-1904_126105004 Date: 06.06.2018 Certificate This is to certify that the work contained in this thesis entitled “Impact of Low Illumination and High Noise Level on Occupational Health of Indian Handloom Weavers: Special Reference to Bargarh District of Odisha” presented herein by Mr. Surendra Kumar (Roll No.126105004) was undertaken under my guidance and supervision. The volume of work submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati was not submitted by him earlier for any other diploma or degree. He has undergone four specified courses and secured 9.48 C.P.I. (out of 10). He has fulfilled all the requirements as mentioned in the rules and regulations for submitting the thesis for the PhD degree of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Dr. Sougata Karmakar, Associate Professor, Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati- 781039, Assam, India. iii TH-1904_126105004 iv TH-1904_126105004 Preface After food, clothing is the basic necessity of human being. Since the Neolithic period, textiles and clothing have been embraced by the mankind on this globe. Textile Industry of India has been receiving commendation from all over the world. In Indian scenario, handloom industry is one of the most labour intensive small scale cottage production sectors. It is not only one of the important choices of livelihood but has been the guardian / rescuer of varied traditional skills which provide significant employment opportunities to the rural masses at lower capital cost next to agriculture sector. Handloom weaving, which has been inherited by the weavers over generations, is a distinctive and high-skill oriented process for manufacturing the intricate and exquisite products for its survival. Most of the works of the handloom textiles manufacturing sector involve manual labor and this sector is highly fragmented, having the promising growth potential and capabilities for a huge employment generation. This sector contributes a respectable share in the total cloth production of the country and towards the world’s hand-woven fabric. Occupational health is one of the basic critical issues for the handloom sector and ignorance towards these issues is highly prominent. Pervasiveness of occupational health issues (awkward working postures, repetitive activities, cognitive discomforts etc.) due to unfavorable indoor environmental conditions have been reported by various researchers in different sectors including textile and clothing. Moreover, these factors have not been given much thought while installing and commissioning the majority of handloom production units in India which in turn have repercussions on the weavers’ well-being. Inadequate attentions have been focused to explore the occupational health related issues in this sector. Owing to global reputation, the growth of this sector is tremendous which is substantiated in terms of output and demand in local as well as in the export market. In recent years this sector has been the victim of many challenges that have cropped up in the context of raw material prices, poor management of time and quality, marketing of finished product and indoor environmental conditions which are continuously affecting the livelihood and overall wellbeing of the weavers. Amongst the aforesaid factors environmental related problems are the most crucial / demanding problems for this sector in today’s scenario. Anticipating the remarkable growth potential of this sector in India and particularly in Eastern part of India, it is the right v TH-1904_126105004 moment to conduct investigations from occupational health perspective in the existing handloom sector. The study aims to analyze the impact of prevalent illumination and noise level on the occupational health of the weavers and puts forward the possible recommendations to alleviate the problems. This research is based on primary data collected through exploratory-cum-explanatory approach (comprising both qualitative and quantitative techniques) from 480 weavers residing in Bargarh district of Odisha in order to ascertain the influence of prevailing illumination and noise levels on physical, physiological and cognitive attributes of the weavers’ wellbeing. The result of this study reveals that the weavers are facing a number of challenges in terms of occupational health constraints and poor working conditions. vi TH-1904_126105004 Acknowledgement Primarily I would like to thank ‘God Almighty’ the giver of life, and the environment in whom we live, move, and have our being. I sincerely express thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Sougata Karmakar (Department of Design) for his constant unwearyingly supervision and continuous advice to me during the entire PhD program. I thankfully acknowledge the precious time, guidance and endeavor rendered by him for the completion of my PhD thesis. Special thanks also are due to my Doctoral Committee members, Prof. Debkumar Chakrabarti (Department of Design), Dr. D. Udaya kumar (Department of Design) and Dr. Sukhomoy Pal (Department of Mechanical Engineering); for their time, detailed observations and helpful instructions during the annual assessments and for granting approval to submit my PhD thesis. Special thanks to Prof. Debkumar Chakrabarti (Department of Design) for his expert suggestions and inputs that helped me to develop the method of measuring “Indoor environmental parameters”. My gratitude goes towards Dr. D. Udaya kumar (Department of Design) for his expert advice. I acknowledge contribution of Dr. Sukhomoy Pal (Department of Mechanical Engineering) for his constant support inspiration and noble mentorship. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the entire faculty and staff in the Department of Design, IIT Guwahati and especially Mr. Amitabh Bordoloi, for their encouragement and help in times of need. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Abhirup Chatterjee (Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Design), Mr. Thaneswer Patel (Research Scholar, Department of Design) Mr. Anirban Chowdhury (Research Scholar, Department of Design), Mr. Indresh Kumar Verma (Research Scholar, Department of Design) Mr. M. Arunachalam (Research Scholar, Department of Design), Mr. Chirapriya Mondal (Research Scholar, Department of Design), Ms. Sushmita Nath (Research Scholar, Department of Design) and Mr. Gurdeep Singh (Research Scholar, Department of Design) for their assistance through meaningful discussions and friendly support. I also thankfully acknowledge the help rendered by the office of the Director of handlooms, textiles and handicraft, Bhubaneswar; M.D. Sambalpuri Bastralaya, Bargarh; Assistant Director (Textile) office, Bargarh and all the weavers and handloom owners of Bargarh district. I would also like to express my thanks to all the weavers who volunteered during measurement and evaluation process. During my thesis work, I came across, many people who have directly or indirectly helped me a lot. I thank all of them vii TH-1904_126105004 for their support. I express my gratitude to all. I would like to respectfully acknowledge the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Additional Development Commissioner for Handlooms and all staff members and especially E-II section of the office of the Development Commissioner for handloom, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India for their encouragement and support towards completion of my PhD work. I express my gratitude to all my colleagues, staff members and students of Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Guwahati (IIHTG) and Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Bargarh (IIHTB) and especially to Mr. Arbind Kumar (SG-I), Mr. Sidheshwar Deheri for their assistance as and when required during the PhD thesis. I would specially like to thanks my PhD colleagues for their constant inspiration and cooperation in carrying out my thesis. I would like to dedicate my effort to my father Late Nihal Singh, mother Late Krishna Devi and express sincere appreciation to Dr. P.N.Varma, and Dr. Savitri Varma my in-laws for their inspiration and finally I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to my beloved wife Priti Kumar for her untiring, sacrificial and unconditional help in permitting me to be away from my wonderful children Abishek and Drishti as well as from family responsibilities and remain busy