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AN ORGANISATION WITH FAITH (ASTHA) IN THE PEOPLE. 
Manas village, around 60 km from District Udaipur is mainly inhabited by tribal population and their subsistence depends upon small agriculture,livestock rearing and sale of forest wood from forest. Alkhu Bai,a tribal woman from village Manas, Block Jhadol,District Udaipur is an active woman leader .She has also become president of Forest Right Committee. Alkhu Bai and 12 other active women of the village realized that forest in and around her village is declining and villagers are responsible for this degradation and overuse of forest products like fuel, grass and other forest produce.
In the meanwhile Alkhu Devi used to attend various programme organized bY Astha Sansthan.She got leadership skills through various grass root intervention organized by Astha Sansthan in her village.Under her leadership the issue of declining forest area in and around her village has been raised. They took support of Astha Sansthan so that community action can be taken to restore depleting forest in and around their village. Astha Sansthan helped them in the formation of Forest Protection and Management committee. They came up with a plan where they took turn one by one to save their forest. Alkhu Bai and other women sensitized other villagers about forest protection and its conservation. They also negotiated with forest officials on norms and management and took control of the protection of their forest.
With the facilitation support of Astha Sansthan ,Alkhu Bai and her team also applied for Community Forest Right under Forest Right Act 2006 but claim was rejected. In 2023, they again applied and got support from Sarpanch,Sachiv and Patwari of their village. Once their claim was approved they made plan for forest Management with greater enthusiasm. All these efforts brought good result and they are now playing an active role in the protection and management of forest received under CFR. The collective effort has rebuilt the forest and its cover.
The case study illustrates tribal women actively managing and protecting forest who are mobilized to assert their traditional rights over forest resources and leading to community based forest management system where women played a significant role in decision making.
Shankar Lal from Indira Colony Sagwada , Dungarpur has been working in stone factory for last 35 years. This has been sole source of livelihood for him and his family which consist of his wife and 4 children. Along with him 400 other laborers were also working in the same factory. All the workers in the factory were working in very harsh conditions with heightened risk of dust related occupational lung disease. Three laborers have already been died due to Silicosis. Shankar Lal was not aware that he is also caught up with the deadly disease.
After recovering for a while, he returned to work, but his health worsened again after one and a half months. He was admitted to Sagwara Government Hospital for five days but showed no improvement. He was then referred to a hospital in Modasa, Gujarat, where he was treated for 10 days. When his condition didn’t improve, his cousin brought him back home.
When Astha staff heard about Lal Shankar’s situation, he visited his house and asked about his health. He replied that he was suffering severely from lung problems, struggling to eat, losing weight, and unable to walk. He suggested to his wife that Shankar Lal should get tested for silicosis. Astha worker informed them about a labor organization camp scheduled after five days and asked them to attend with his Aadhaar card. However, due to his poor health, they couldn’t attend the camp.
Astha staff visited their home again and asked why they didn’t come. They explained that his condition was too critical to travel. He was asked to attend the next camp after ten days, but again, they couldn’t come. So he was taken to an e-Mitra operator t and registered him for a silicosis test.
Fifteen days later, he was called for an X-ray test at the hospital. Many other laborers were also there for silicosis test. After receiving the X-ray report, they consulted the doctor, who confirmed that the X-ray showed clear signs of silicosis. His biometric details were recorded, but the test was delayed because the radiologist hadn’t certified it.
Due to his worsening health, Lal Shankar passed away before the test results were finalized. Through the labor organization, Field staff of Astha Sansthan met his family and explained that since his silicosis certification was pending, a postmortem was necessary to confirm the cause of death and ensure justice for his family. The family agreed to the postmortem after understanding its importance.filing an FIR at the police station, the postmortem was conducted. The doctor confirmed that Lal Shankar had died due to a lung-related issue. Lung samples were sent for further examination, and the report has been given to his family.
Apart from routine dust control measures by the employee, several initiatives can be undertaken to control Silicosis including raising awareness, building capacity, building health system, integrating silicosis control with tuberculosis control.
