Who is credited with organising the labour movement in India?
2021
Who is credited with organising the labour movement in India?
Answer: B. Narayan Meghaji Lokhande — CONCEPTEarly labour movements are identified by the institutions that transformed scattered worker grievances into organised collective demands. In colonial…
- A.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- B.
Narayan Meghaji Lokhande
- C.
N. M. Joshi
- D.
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Attempted by 37 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
CONCEPT
Early labour movements are identified by the institutions that transformed scattered worker grievances into organised collective demands. In colonial India, forming worker associations and campaigning for factory reform marked this transition.
APPLICATION
Narayan Meghaji Lokhande organised Bombay mill workers in the 1880s around working hours, weekly rest, wages, and workplace conditions, and he led the Bombay Mill Hands Association. This sustained institutional work is why he is credited with organising the labour movement in India.
CONTRAST
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a nationalist leader known for political mobilisation, the Kesari newspaper, and the Home Rule movement.
N. M. Joshi became an important trade-union organiser in the twentieth century and helped found the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920.
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati organised peasants and led the All India Kisan Sabha rather than the pioneering Bombay mill-workers association.
CROSS-CHECK
A Government of India account describes Lokhande as the Father of the Trade Union Movement in India and credits his workers’ association with institutionalising the labour movement.
RESULT
Therefore, the credited organiser is Narayan Meghaji Lokhande.