Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
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| Full name | Indian Workers Union |
|---|---|
| Native name | Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh |
| Founded | 23 July 1955 |
| Members | 11 million(2010) |
| Head union | Baji Nath Rai |
| Affiliation | Independent |
| Key people | Virjesh Upadhyay, General Secretary |
| Office location | New Delhi, India |
| Country | India |
| Website | www.bms.org.in |
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (translation: Indian Workers' Union) is the largest central trade union organization in India. It was founded by Dattopantji Thengdi on 23 July 1955, which also happens to be the anniversary of the birth date (23 July 1856) of Bal Gangadhar Tilak the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement.
The BMS itself claims to have more than 10 million members. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, the BMS had a membership of 6,215,797 in 2002. It can also be noted that the BMS is not affiliated to any International Trade Union Confederation. It is the labour wing of RSS.
Baij Nath Rai is the current president of the organization, and Virjesh Upadhyay is General Secretary.
BMS was founded on 23 July 1955 – the day being the birth anniversary of Lok Manya Bal Gangadhar Tilak – veteran of Freedom Movement. Two important aspects stand out in connection with this:
(a) Formation of BMS was not the result of split in the existing trade union organisations, unlike in the case of almost all other trade unions. Hence it had the formidable responsibility of building its organisational structure from the grass root level. It started from zero having no trade union, no membership, no activist (karyakarta), no office and no fund. (b) On the very first day it was visualised as a trade union whose base-sheet anchors – would be Nationalism, would work as a genuine trade union, keeping itself scrupulously away from party politics. This was also unlike other trade unions which were linked to one or the other political party, overtly or otherwise.
The aims and objectives of BMS are:
(a) To establish ultimately the Bharatiya order of society in which there shall be secured among other things:
i. Complete utilisation of manpower and resources leading to full employment and maximum production. ii. Replacement of profit motive by service motive and establishment of economic democracy resulting in equitable distribution of wealth to the best advantage of all individual citizens and of the national as a whole. iii. Development of autonomous industrial communities forming part and parcel of the nation, culminating in ‘Labourisation of industry’ iv. Provision of work with living wage to every individual through maximum industrialisation of the nation. (b) With a view to enable the workers to strive successfully for the ultimate realisation of the above objects and to strengthen them, in the meanwhile, to make their own contribution to the cause of protecting and promoting their interest consistent with those of the community:
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