Hadoti Hast Shlip Sansthan

In 2008, Marshalls is continuing to fund the work of Hadoti Hast Shlip Sansthan, an NGO helping to transform the lives of desperately poor migrant workers in some of the most remote rural areas of India. Hadoti helps migrant workers to implement sustainable development programmes in the mining region of Rajasthan, thus helping to improve the lives of vulnerable families working in the quarries around Bhundi and Kota.

Marshalls’ sole supplier in India, Stoneshippers India, has been independently audited on the Ethical Trading Initiative base code to ensure that quarry workers and their communities receive a fair deal. However, Marshalls is well aware that one supplier alone cannot change the working practices of centuries. Labour exploitation is likely to be happening just down the road at another site. These violations of human rights simply cannot be ignored by any socially responsible company working in the area.

Families of migrant workers suffer from widespread exploitation and are vulnerable to many hazardous diseases. With Marshalls’ funding, Hadoti’s immediate priorities will be providing medical aid through a mobile clinic offering doctors, medicines and equipment, including kits for the treatment of TB.

The second major priority for Marshalls’ funding of Hadoti is the financial security of migrant labourers. With match-funding from the Indian Government, Marshalls is paying for labourers’ social security insurance. A premium of just 200 rupees per labourer per year would provide a payout of 35,000 to 75,000 rupees in the case of a disabling or fatal accident, providing a financial lifeline to the family of a labourer who could no longer work. This funding is not for workers at Stoneshippers India, who already receive insurance as part of their pay deal. It is for other migrant labourers in the region, who are paid on a daily basis by unscrupulous quarry owners, earning barely enough to live on, let alone save for their family’s security. Hadoti is now working to identify workers who would benefit from such insurance funded by Marshalls.

Marshalls’ investment in Hadoti has already made a substantial impact. The clinics have offered routine check-ups, free medicines and vaccinations and treated diseases like TB, asthma, malaria and skin conditions rife amongst workers. So far, the clinics have reached over 500 workers and their families. Since 2007, Marshalls has enabled Hadoti to provide insurance to over 200 workers.

This year, Hadoti aims to make education universal for children and encourage more girls to go to school. In particular, Hadoti will focus on training, employment and development plans for women.