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AICRP on ESA
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Survey of accidents in Indian Agriculture

To develop safer equipment and to pursue measures for minimizing accidents in agriculture, realistic data on these accidents are essential. Therefore, an agricultural accident survey was carried out during 2004-07 and 2012-13 in collaboration with Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi in a large sample of village based on statistical considerations for a period of one year in seven states namely Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal.

Of the total accidents reported during a period of one year, 30.5% accidents were due to farm machines, 34.2% accidents were due to hand tools and the remaining 35.3% were due other sources (like snake bites, drowning in well/ponds, animal bites, lighting, etc.)

Survey of accidents in Indian Agriculture Survey of accidents in Indian Agriculture Survey of accidents in Indian AgricultureSurvey of accidents in Indian Agriculture

Under the farm machinery category about 31% of accidents were due to tractors and tractor operated equipment, 22% due to animal drawn equipment, 14% due to threshers, 12 % due to electric motor/pump sets, 9 % due to chaff cutters, 6% due to power tiller, 4% due to sprayers and 2% due to other machine. Therefore, the equipment which need immediate attention are tractors, threshers, electrical motors and pump sets, chaff cutters, power tillers, sprayers and animal drawn equipment. Among other sources, snake bites were observed to be one of the major sources of fatal accidents and necessary action for educating workers and making anti-venom injections available at village level health centres are needed. Of the total accidents, 5.5% were fatal whereas 94.5% were non-fatal in nature. The overall incidence rate per year was 334 accidents per lakh workers whereas the fatality rate was 18.3 per lakh workers. The data collected in this survey are being used to formulate accident minimization programmes in these states and develop safe gadget for identified machinery.