Workers/labour movements

Story hook

It is 31 October 1920, Empire Theatre, Bombay. Lala Lajpat Rai opens the first session of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) — India's first national trade union federation, with N M Joshi as General Secretary and a delegate list including B P Wadia (Madras), Joseph Baptista (Bombay), and Diwan Chaman Lal. The session represents 64 unions + ~1,40,000 workers. Within 8 years, AITUC will become the labour wing of the freedom struggle — linking trade unionism + nationalism + early communism.

For UPSC, trade unions + workers' movements are a niche but recurring Prelims chunk — and gain Mains weight whenever labour reforms (4 Labour Codes 2019-20) are in the news.

Why this matters for UPSC

For UPSC:

• Prelims: AITUC founding 31 Oct 1920 + key strikes + ILO 1919 + Bombay Mill Strike + Workers' Welfare Acts 1881-1936 + INTUC + Communist Party formation 1925 Kanpur.
• Mains GS-I + GS-III: Industrial labour movement + role in nationalism + post-1947 labour legislation.
• Interview: 4 Labour Codes 2019-20 in light of historical arc.