The death of the four workers and injury to two others on 12 May 2015 in Karnataka brings to the forefront the harsh and unsafe working conditions under which the workers “contracted” under the private “Field Agency,” Vimarsh, worked and continue to work for the Fourth Round of the National Family Health Survey. The NFHS-4 is being conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, serving as the nodal agency for field operations. There is an urgent need to set up an independent process for investigating labour violations as well as the quality of data collected through such contractual arrangements with private FAs in the ongoing NFHS-4.
