Making of industrial relations : the Ahmedabad textile industry 1918-1939

Industrial relations can be stormy in many parts of the world and are generally so in India. However, Ahmedabad, one of India's major industrial cities, presents a model of comparative industrial peace and a remarkably effective machinery for the settlement of disputes. Dr Sujata Patel shows how a unique system evolved in this city to resolve disagreements between capital and labour, and that it owes a great deal to the role played by Mahatma Gandhi. Both capital and labour took a common stance against British colonialism, which enabled Gandhi to

institutionalize a relationship between them that became one of the ideological precepts of the national movement. Ahmedabad's industrial relations have been

of considerable interest to both historians and sociologists. Dr Patel's study uses a combination of sociological and historical methodologies and brings alive a subject that is central to India's labour history.

Dr Sujata Patel is a member of the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This book is based on her doctoral dissertation done at the same University.