UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Working of factories in Bombay
Q1. The annual factory report of the Bombay Presidency for 1925 attributed the fall in child employment partly to legislation then pending that would penalise parents or guardians for the 'double employment' of children. In this context, double employment referred to:
- A. A child being engaged in two different factories on the same day, so as to work beyond the hours legally permitted in any one of them
- B. A child being engaged in the same factory alongside a parent or guardian, both working under a single registered work ticket
- C. A child being engaged in factory work during the day and in the same employer's agricultural or domestic establishment at night
- D. A child being certified fit for factory employment by two different certifying surgeons within the course of a single calendar year
Q2. According to the annual factory report of the Bombay Presidency for 1925, how many children were employed in factories in the Presidency in that year?
- A. 7,624
- B. 8,460
- C. 9,779
- D. 10,779
Q3. Consider the following statements comparing successive Indian Factories Acts of the colonial period:
1. The Act of 1891 reduced the maximum daily working hours of children from nine to seven, the nine-hour cap having been set by the Act of 1881.
2. The Act of 1911, which came into force from 1 July 1912, limited adult male working hours to twelve a day, and the amending Act of 1922 brought this down to eleven a day.
3. The Act of 1881 first extended statutory coverage to factories employing fifty or more workers, a threshold that the Act of 1891 subsequently raised to one hundred.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The Act of 1891 reduced the maximum daily working hours of children from nine to seven, the nine-hour cap having been set by the Act of 1881.
- The Act of 1911, which came into force from 1 July 1912, limited adult male working hours to twelve a day, and the amending Act of 1922 brought this down to eleven a day.
- The Act of 1881 first extended statutory coverage to factories employing fifty or more workers, a threshold that the Act of 1891 subsequently raised to one hundred.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q4. The first Indian Factories Act, which introduced statutory regulation of factory labour in British India, was enacted during the viceroyalty of:
- A. Lord Lytton (Viceroy, 1876–80)
- B. Lord Ripon (Viceroy, 1880–84)
- C. Lord Dufferin (Viceroy, 1884–88)
- D. Lord Curzon (Viceroy, 1899–1905)
Q5. Which one of the following correctly describes the position of children under the first Indian Factories Act of 1881?
- A. Employment below the age of seven was barred, and children aged seven to twelve could be worked up to nine hours a day
- B. Employment below the age of nine was barred, and children aged nine to fourteen could be worked up to seven hours a day
- C. Employment below the age of twelve was barred, and children aged twelve to fifteen could be worked up to eleven hours a day
- D. Employment below the age of fourteen was barred, and adolescents aged fourteen to eighteen could be worked up to six hours a day
Q6. The amendment of the Indian Factories Act in 1922 was undertaken principally in order to give effect to conventions adopted at:
- A. The first session of the Royal Commission on Labour in India, known as the Whitley Commission
- B. The concluding session of the Indian Industrial Commission, presided over by Sir Thomas Holland
- C. The first session of the International Labour Conference
- D. The first session of the Factory Labour Commission appointed by the Government of India
Q7. Restrictions on the night work of women in Indian factories, together with a mandatory requirement of rest intervals, were first introduced by which one of the following?
- A. The Indian Factories Act, 1881
- B. The Indian Factories Act, 1891
- C. The Indian Factories Act, 1911
- D. The Factories Act, 1948
Q8. Consider the following statements regarding the position of women workers under India's four Labour Codes, which were brought into force in November 2025:
1. Women may be employed in all types of establishments, including those carrying on hazardous processes.
2. Women may be deployed on night shifts, that is, before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m., only with their consent and where the employer makes adequate arrangements for safety and transportation.
3. An establishment employing fifty or more workers must provide a creche for children below six years of age, which the mother is allowed to visit four times a day.
4. An employer may differentiate in wages between men and women engaged in work of a similar nature, provided the establishment is a factory.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Women may be employed in all types of establishments, including those carrying on hazardous processes.
- Women may be deployed on night shifts, that is, before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m., only with their consent and where the employer makes adequate arrangements for safety and transportation.
- An establishment employing fifty or more workers must provide a creche for children below six years of age, which the mother is allowed to visit four times a day.
- An employer may differentiate in wages between men and women engaged in work of a similar nature, provided the establishment is a factory.
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 3
- D. 2, 3 and 4
Q9. In the late nineteenth century, the Empress Mill — a leading Indian cotton mill owned by Jamsetji N. Tata and competing directly with Lancashire mills for the Indian market — was in operation at:
- A. Sholapur
- B. Ahmedabad
- C. Nagpur
- D. Kanpur
Q10. Consider the following statements regarding the growth of Bombay and the Bombay Presidency as a colonial industrial centre:
1. By 1860 Bombay had become the largest cotton market in India.
2. The American Civil War of 1861–65, and the resulting interruption of cotton supplies to Britain, produced a great trade boom in Bombay.
3. By the late nineteenth century Bombay's textile industry had developed more than eighty power mills.
4. In 1925 the Bombay Presidency accounted for roughly one-half of all factories and factory operatives in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- By 1860 Bombay had become the largest cotton market in India.
- The American Civil War of 1861–65, and the resulting interruption of cotton supplies to Britain, produced a great trade boom in Bombay.
- By the late nineteenth century Bombay's textile industry had developed more than eighty power mills.
- In 1925 the Bombay Presidency accounted for roughly one-half of all factories and factory operatives in India.
- A. 1, 2 and 3
- B. 1 and 4
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 3 and 4 only
Q11. Consider the following statements comparing the Factories Act, 1948 with the colonial-era legislation that preceded it and the labour law that has since replaced it:
1. The Factories Act, 1948 remained the governing statute for factory labour welfare until it was subsumed by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, brought into force on 21 November 2025.
2. Where the amending Act of 1922 had capped adult working hours at eleven a day and sixty a week, the Factories Act, 1948 required overtime wages beyond nine hours a day and forty-eight hours a week.
3. The Factories Act, 1948 restricted the employment of women in factories at night, a restriction since relaxed to permit night work with the woman's consent and with employer-provided safeguards.
4. The Factories Act, 1948 required a canteen in every factory employing seventy-five or more workers, a threshold carried forward unchanged from the Act of 1891.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The Factories Act, 1948 remained the governing statute for factory labour welfare until it was subsumed by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, brought into force on 21 November 2025.
- Where the amending Act of 1922 had capped adult working hours at eleven a day and sixty a week, the Factories Act, 1948 required overtime wages beyond nine hours a day and forty-eight hours a week.
- The Factories Act, 1948 restricted the employment of women in factories at night, a restriction since relaxed to permit night work with the woman's consent and with employer-provided safeguards.
- The Factories Act, 1948 required a canteen in every factory employing seventy-five or more workers, a threshold carried forward unchanged from the Act of 1891.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 1, 2 and 3
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 1 and 4 only
Q12. Under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, brought into force on 21 November 2025, premises on which a manufacturing process is carried on constitute a 'factory' where the number of workers employed is at least:
- A. Ten where power is used, and twenty where power is not used
- B. Twenty where power is used, and forty where power is not used
- C. Ten in every case, whether or not power is used in the manufacturing process
- D. Fifty where power is used, and one hundred where power is not used