Great Bombay Textile The Great Bombay Textile Strike was a textile strike called on 18 January 1982 by the

mill workers of Bombay under trade union leader Dutta Samant. The purpose of the strike was to obtain bonus and wage increases. Nearly 250,000 workers and more than 50 textile mills went on strike in Bombay.[1] History of Mills in Bombay[edit source | editbeta] Built in 1887, Swadeshi was Bombay's first textile mill, the first of the factories that spread over Girangaon, popularly nicknamed as Bombay's "village of mills", in the next decades. By 1982, when Datta Samant led the textile strike, over 240,000 people worked in Girangaon.

Protests[edit source | editbeta] In late 1981, Dutta Samant was chosen by a large group of Bombay mill workers to lead them in a precarious conflict between the Bombay Millowners Association and the unions, thus rejecting the INTUC-affiliated Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh which had represented the mill workers for decades. Samant planned a massive strike forcing the entire industry of the city to be shut down for over a year.[3] It was estimated that nearly 250,000 workers went on strike and more than 50 textile mills were shut in Bombay. In August 1982, the city police briefly went on strike, apparently in sympathy with the workers resulting into the army and Border Security Force to be called in to control the unrest.[1] Samant demanded that, along with wage hikes, the government scrap theBombay Industrial Act of 1947 and that the RMMS would not longer be the only official union of the city industry. While fighting for greater pay and better conditions for workers, Samant and his allies also sought to capitalize and establish their power on the trade union scene in Mumbai. Although Samant had links with the Congress and Maharashtra politician Abdul Rehman Antulay,Prime Minister Indira Gandhi considered him a serious political threat. Samant's control of the mill workers made Gandhi and other Congress leaders fear that his influence would spread to the port and dock workers and make him the most powerful union leader in India's commercial capital. Thus the government took a firm stance of rejecting Samant's demands and refusing to budge despite the severe economic losses suffered by the city and the industry. As the strike progressed through the months, Samant's militancy in the face of government obstinacy led to the failure of any attempts at negotiation. Disunity and dissatisfaction over the strike soon became apparent, and many textile mill owners began moving their plants outside the city. After a prolonged and destabilizing confrontation, the strike collapsed with no concessions having been obtained for the workers. The closure of textile mills across the city left tens of thousands of mill workers unemployed and, in the succeeding years, most of the industry moved away from Bombay after decades of being plagued by rising costs and union militancy. Although Samant remained popular with a large block of union activists, his clout and control over Bombay trade unions disappeared.[3] Consequences[edit source | editbeta] The majority of the over 80 mills in Central Mumbai closed during and after the strike, leaving more than 150,000 workers unemployed.[4] Textile industry in Mumbai has largely disappeared, reducing labour migration after the strikes.[5] Popular culture[edit source | editbeta] The city was remade by the Dutta Samant-led textile strike.[6] Many Bollywood film directors started making politically relevant films on textile strikes in Bombay, and textile mill strikes have become an important theme of modern day Indian films. Producer Sangeeta Ahir, daughter-in-law of Bombays underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawlis sister, is making a film on the Great Bombay Textile Strike worker movement of the city.[7] Bombay Dyeing (full name: The Bombay Dyeing & Mfg. Co. Ltd., established 1879) is the flagship company of the Wadia Group, engaged mainly into the business of Textiles. Bombay Dyeing is one of India's largest producers of textiles.[1] Its current chairman is Nusli Wadia.[2] In March 2011, Jeh Wadia (36), the younger son of Nusli, has been named the managing director of Wadia Group's flagship, Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company, while the elder son, Ness (38) has resigned from the post of joint MD of the company.[3]Ratan Tata, the

ex-chairman of Tata group was on the board of directors till 2013. He resigned and Cyrus Mistry took over.[4] Bombay Dyeing was often in the news, apart from other things, for various controversies surrounding its tussle with the late Dhirubhai Ambani ofReliance Industries Limited and with Calcutta based jute baron late Arun Bajoria.[5] Lackadaisical management has ensured that the company, which was ranked 68 in the Business India Super 100 list in 1997 has steadily lost ground and by 2010 ranked 300 in the ET 500 list. The company sponsors many events, including Bombay Dyeing Gladrags Mrs. India contest. History[edit source | editbeta]

Map of handilooms in India, 1985 The archaeological surveys and studies have found that the people of Harappan civilization[3] knew weaving and the spinning of cotton four thousand years ago.Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature also. There was textile trade in India during the early centuries.A block printed and resist-dyed fabrics, whose origin is from Gujarat is found in tombs of Fostat, Egypt.[3] This proves that Indian export of cotton textiles to the Egypt or the Nile Civilization in medieval times were to a large extent.Large quantity of north Indian silk were traded through the silk route in China[4] to the western countries. The Indian silk were often exchanged with the western countries for their spices in the barter system. During the late 17th and 18th century there were large export of the Indian cotton to the western countries to meet the need of the European industries during industrial revolution. Consequently there was development of nationalist movement like the famous Swadeshi movement which was headed by the Aurobindo Ghosh. There was also export of Indian silk, Muslin cloth of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to other countries by the East Indian company. Bhilwara is known as textile city. Production[edit source | editbeta] India is the second largest producer of fibre in the world and the major fibre produced is cotton. Other fibres produced in India include silk, jute, wool, and man-made fibers. 60% of the Indian textile Industry is cotton based. The strong domestic demand and the revival of the Economic markets by 2009 has led to huge growth of the Indian textile industry. In December 2010, the domestic cotton price was up by 50% as compared to the December 2009 prices. The causes behind high cotton price are due to the floods in Pakistan and China.India projected a high production of textile (325 lakh bales for 2010 -11).[5] There has been increase in India's share of global textile trading to seven percent in five years.[5] The rising prices are the major concern of the domestic producers of the country.

Man Made Fibers: These includes manufacturing of clothes using fiber or filament synthetic yarns. It is produced in the large power loom factories. They account for the largest sector of the textile production in India.This sector has a share of 62% of the India's total production and provides employment to about 4.8 million people.[6] The Cotton Sector: It is the second most developed sector in the Indian Textile industries. It provides employment to huge amount of people but its productions and employment is seasonal depending upon the seasonal nature of the production. The Handloom Sector: It is well developed and is mainly dependent on the SHGs for their funds. Its market share is 13%.[6] of the total cloth produced in India. The Woolen Sector: India is the 7th largest producer.[6] of the wool in the world. India also produces 1.8% of the world's total wool. The Jute Sector: The jute or the golden fiber in India is mainly produced in the Eastern states of India like Assam and West Bengal. Indian is the 3rd largest producer of jute in the world.

The Sericulture and Silk Sector: India is the 2nd largest producer of silk in the world. India produces 18% of the world's total silk. Mulberry, Eri, Tasar, and Muga are the main types of silk produced in the country. It is a labor-intensive sector. Indian Textile Policy[edit source | editbeta] Government of India passed the National Textile Policy in 2000 Textile Organisation[edit source | editbeta] The Indian Textile industries is mainly dominated by some government, semi government and private institutions. The major functions of the ministry of Textile are:

Textile Policy & Coordination Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, New Delhi Handloom Export Promotion Council, Chennai Indian Silk Export Promotion Council, Mumbai Power loom Development & Export Promotion Council, Mumbai Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council, Mumbai Wool & Woolen Export Promotion Council, New Delhi

Other autonomous bodies in this industry are:

Central Wool Development Board, Jodhpur National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi National Centre for Jute Diversification

The textile Research Associations are: South India Textiles Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore Ahmedabad Textiles Industrys Research Association Bombay Textiles Research Association, Mumbai Indian Jute Industries Research association, Kolkata Man-made Textiles Research Association, Surat Synthetic and art silk Mills Research Association, Mumbai Wool Research Association, Thane Northern India Textiles Research Association, Ghaziabad Organized sector[edit source | editbeta] According to Kearneys Retail Apparel Index India ranked as the fourth most promising market for apparel retailers in 2009.[7] There is large scope of improvement in the textile industry of India as there is a huge increase in personal disposable income among the Indians after the 1991 liberalisation. There is also a large growth of the organised sector in the Indian textile industries.The foreign brands along with the collaboration of the Indian companies established business in India. Some of these are Puma,Armani, Benetton, Esprit, Levi Strauss, Hugo Boss, Liz Claiborne, Crocs etc. The major Indian Industries include Bombay Dyeing, Fabindia, Grasim Industries, JCT Limited, Lakshmi Machine Works, Lakshmi Mills and Mysore Silk Factory.