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The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will release a Commemorative Postage Stamp on Narayan Meghaji Lokhande, a renowned Labour Movement leader, here tomorrow. The stamp in the denomination of rupees five is brought out by the Department of Posts. An ardent follower of Jyotirao Phule, the founder of 'Satyashodhak Samaj', Shri Narayan Meghaji Lokhande devoted his life in fighting the social ills and improving the status of women and downtrodden. As Chief Editor of 'Deenbandhu', he wrote for Hindu-Muslim unity in those days.
Born in the year 1848 in Thane, Lokhande started his career with the Railways and Postal Department after which he joined the Mandavi Textile Mills as a Store Keeper. It was this hard and struggled life which he underwent during his Mill-life days which made him to fight for ensuring basic rights of the workers and against all forms of exploitation. His tireless efforts resulted in the establishment of the first Labour union under the banner of 'Mills Hands Association' in 1884. Lokhande rose to the level of getting an appointment in the Factory Labour Commission which was established in 1890. Following this, the Factory Act of 1891 came into being w.e.f. January 1892. All these activities gave him recognition as the Father of Indian Labour Movement.
Not only this, Lokhande started Maratha Hospital at Byculla to provide medical facilities to the poor and the under-privileged, when epidemic of plague struck Bombay and its suburbans in 1896. His tireless work in the epidemic-affected area itself made him to succumb to it on 9th February 1897.
RM/AMA- 020505 Lokhande Stamp
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