UPSC Prelims 2017 Question:

Consider the following statements

1. The Factories Act, 1881 was passed with a view to fix the wages of industrial workers and to allow the workers to form trade unions. 
2. N. M. Lokhande was a pioneer in organizing the labor movement in British India.
   
   

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

Explanation: 

• The Factories Act, 1881 was passed and adopted during the tenureship of Lord Ripon. It aimed at achieving better and improving working conditions of laborers in the Indian Factories. The major achievement of the act was to regulate and fix working hours for children below the age of twelve. However, there was no mention of allowing the workers to form trade unions. So, statement 1 is not correct.
  
  
• N.M Lokhande was a pioneer in organizing labor movements in British India. He advocated better working conditions for mill workers . So, statement 2 is correct.
  • Trade union movement in India took birth in Maharashtra. N.M. Lokhande of the Satya Shodhak Movement was the founder of the organised labour movement not only in Maharashtra but in India. 
  • He organised the Bombay Mill-hands Association which was the first of its kind and he was elected as the President of this association. 
  • The first working class newspaper, the Dinabandhu, was also established by Lokhande to bring to the notice of the authorities and the employers the legitimate grievances of workers.
    
    

Therefore, option (2) is the correct answer.

Subject: History | Miscellaneous(hist)