The thrown out factory workers end up as small traders or as daily-wages labourers. Some of them find work in smaller production units, where the conditions of work are more exploitative and the enforcement of laws is weaker.

The worth of an Indian worker is perceived to be low as one worker can easily be replaced by another. Since there is so much unemployment, there are many workers who are willing to work in unsafe conditions in return for low wages. Making use of the workers' vulnerability, employers ignore safety at workplaces. Thus, even so many years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, there are regular reports of accidents at construction sites, mines or factories due to the callous attitude of the employers.

The Bhopal gas tragedy was not an accident. Union Carbide had deliberately ignored the essential safety measures in order to cut costs. Much before the Bhopal disaster in 1984, there had been incidents of gas leak killing a worker and injuring several others.

various roles of the government are as follows:
1. Provide public facilities for a decent standard of living of all citizens.
2. Make laws for the protection of people from exploitation by the market.
3. Enforce laws to ensure their proper implementation and punish those who flout the rules/disobey the laws.

We need a law on minimum wages to ensure that workers are duly paid and not exploited by their employers.

The government is responsible for making and implementing sound safety laws in the country for the protection of its citizens and upholding the Fundamental Right to Life. However, the Bhopal gas tragedy was a tragic proof of government's failure in fulfilling this responsibility. First, the safety laws were lax in India. Second, even these weak safety laws were not fully enforced.
The government officials refused to recognise the Bhopal plant as hazardous and allowed it to come up in a populated locality. Despite objections, the government insisted that clean technologies and safer procedures were notJUs an option because the state needed jobs and investment. The government thus failed in its responsibility to protect the interests of the people and seriously compromised on their safety.

According to the 2001 census, over 12 million children in India, aged between 5 and 14 years work in various occupations including hazardous ones. In October 2006, the government amended the Child Labour Protection Act, banning children under 14 years of age from working as domestic servants or as workers in dhabas, restaurants, tea shops etc. It made employing these children a punishable offence. Anyone found violating the ban must be penalised with a punishment ranging from a jail term of three months to two years and/or fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. The central government has asked state governments to develop plans to rescue and rehabilitate children who are working as domestic servants.