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MANIBEN who had her education in England in 1920's,
remained unmarried and dedicated her entire life to
the upliftment of the working class especially the women
folk. On her return to India, she was very much influenced
by M. N. Roy and became a Royist. She joined SEVA MANDIR
where she was moved by the pitiable conditions of the
municipal workers. That prompted her to gather them
and form a union. Her untiring work was appreciated
by them and the rest of the people who joined in and
got her elected to the Bombay Municipal Corporation.
In 1932 she was arrested and imprisoned for leading
the struggle for the working class.
Soon she became a national leader and was elected to
the prestigous position as The President of ALL INDIA
TRADE UNION CONGRESS in 1936. She was also elected as
the president of the INDIAN FEDERATION of labour and
Hind Mazdoor Sabha in the year 1944 and 1951 respectively.
Further she became the President of the Western Railway
Employees Union and also of the powerful All India Railway
Employees Federation.
In Recognition of her selfless service in the cause
for the downtrodden she was honoured by the International
Transport Workers Federation through a Gold Medal, while
the Government of India conferred her with "PADAMSHREE"
and nominated her to the Women Committee. MANIBEN was
active on the International front and held important
portfolios in many world bodies of workers. She was
a Member of the Indian delegation to I.L.O., and worked
on the Executive Board of International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions.
MANIBEN was of the firm view that the Trade Unions ought
to help the workers in their domestic problems while
bargaining for their demands with the employers. She
was also concerned about the education of workers and
their children and undertook many a projects for them.
Taking the cue from this thought and action of MANIBEN
KARA, a Trade Union Education and Research Institute
called MANIBEN KARA INSTITUTE was founded by Hind Mazdoor
Sabha in her Memory in 1980 after her demise in October
1979. Similarly Western Railway Employees Union set
up MANIBEN KARA FOUNDATION to undertake education and
welfare activities for the Railway Employees and their
Family Members.
Institute's Infrastructure Despite constraints
of space in a city like Mumbai, the Institute is well-equipped
in many ways. It has a very good reference library containing
over 5000 publications including all major publications
of ILO, rare reports of various government and International
committees/commissions, books, articles, clippings,
etc. on a wide range of labour topics. It also has computers
with all their accessories, Xerox machine, fax machine,
overhead projector, slides projector, megaphone, etc.
It also provides facilities like Email, Internet, Website,
etc.
Research work in Hind Mazdoor
Sabha (HMS) started with the foundation of Maniben Kara
Institute (MKI) in the year 1980. Before taking any
research work in hand, MKI held a workshop of the national
working committee members of HMS in Delhi in the year
1980. The office bearers of MKI/HMS gave a brief report
on the objectives of founding the MKI and sought from
the participants their views and suggestions on the
topics to be covered for research. The workshop recommended
a few need-based areas like preparation of manuals on
various topics in simple language meant for HMS activists,
compilation of minimum wages in the Indian States, booklets
on statistical data and so on. Accordingly in the years
that followed, MKI prepared manuals on the following
subjects.
1. Workers education,
2. Components of Wages,
3.
Social Security,
4. Fringe benefits,
5. Statistical data,
6. Labour laws,
7. Productivity,
8. Consumer Price Index,
9. Labour laws for women workers |
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