New Delhi, Oct. 17 -- The trade union movement in India may appear to be in retreat today, but for much of the 20th century it was a vital pillar of the country's industrial development. The man credited with helping give birth to this movement was Narayan Meghaji Lokhande.

The late 19th century saw the first textile mills, jute factories, railways and plantations spring up across the country. In those early years, there was little protection for the thousands of workers who thronged these workplaces to earn a livelihood. But unlike in many other industrializing countries, men such as Lokhande in Bombay and Sasipada Banerjee, who established a Working Men's Club in Calcutta in 1870, ensured that workers' rights in India could not be comp...