The beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century heralded the entry of modern industry into India.
The thousands of hands employed in construction of railways were harbingers of the modern Indian working class.
The coal industry developed fast and employed a large working force.
Then came the cotton and the jute industries.
In 1870,Sasipada Banerjea started a workingmen’s club and newspaper Bharat Shramjeevi.
In 1878, Sorabjee Shapoorji Bengalee tried to get a bill, providing better working conditions to labour, passed in the Bombay Legislative Council.
In 1880,Narain Meghajee Lokhanday (Father of Trade Union Movement of India) started the newspaper Deenbandhu and set up the Bombay Mill and Millhands Association (First Indian Workers Association).
