Read the statement given below and choose the option with the correct…

Read the statement given below and choose the option with the correct sequence of events:

(A) Mill land being sold to real estate dealers to build luxury apartments

(B) Workers went back to work as they needed money

(D) Government refused to entertain their demands

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → (C), (D), (B), (A)

(C) Bombay Textile strike of 1982 — The strike began in 1982, led by the trade union leader Dr. Datta Samant, and affected nearly a quarter of a million workers; they wanted better wages and the right to form their own union.

(D) Government refused to entertain their demands — During the strike the approved union, the RMMS, helped to break it, and the Government also refused to listen to the workers’ demands.

(B) Workers went back to work as they needed money — Slowly, after two years, people started going back to work because they were desperate; nearly one lakh workers lost their jobs.

(A) Mill land being sold to real estate dealers to build luxury apartments — This is the present-day end of the story: today the mill owners are trying to sell off the mill land to real estate dealers to build luxury apartments.

Note: The lines on the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, the approved union and the Government’s refusal to listen to the workers’ demands, in the account of the Bombay Textile strike in the chapter ‘Change and Development in Industrial Society’, were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. These lines have been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its account of the strike are still there.

NCERT (2025-26): “5.7 Strikes and unions … Let us look at one famous strike, the Bombay Textile strike of 1982, which was led by the trade union leader, Dr. Datta Samant, and affected nearly a quarter of a million workers and their families. The strike lasted nearly two years. The workers wanted better wages and also wanted the right to form their own union. Slowly after two years, people started going back to work because they were desperate. Nearly one lakh workers lost their jobs and went back to their villages, or took up casual labour, others moved to smaller towns, like Bhiwandi, Malegaon and Icchalkaranji, to work in the powerloom sector. Mill owners did not invest in machinery and modernisation. Today, they are trying to sell off the mill land to real estate dealers to build luxury apartments, leading to a battle over who will define the future of Mumbai – the workers who built it or the mill owners and real estate agents.…”

NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “…According to the Bombay Industrial Relations Act (BIRA), a union had to be ‘approved’ and the only way it could be ‘approved’ was if it gave up the idea of strikes. The Congress-led Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS) was the only approved union and it helped to break the strike by bringing in other workers. The Government also refused to listen to the worker’s demands.…”