Question

Q. With reference to the Factory Act 1891, consider the following statements:

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

• A. 1 and 2 only
• B. 2 and 3 only
• C. 1 and 3 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Answer 1

The correct option is B 2 and 3 only

Explanation:

Statement 1 is incorrect as this was the feature of Factory Act 1881 (not 1891) significant provisions of the Factory Act 1881 were:

• employment of children under 7 years of age prohibited,
• working hours, restricted to 9 hours per day for children,
• children to get 4 holidays in a month,
• hazardous machinery to be properly fenced off.

Factory Act 1891

• Increased the minimum age (from 7 to 9 years) & the maximum (from 12 to 14 years) for children
• Reduced maximum working hours for children to 7 hours a day,
• Fixed maximum working hours for women at 11 hours per day with an one &-a-half hour interval (working hours for men were left unregulated),
• Provided a weekly holiday for all.
• The Act made the requirements for fencing machinery more stringent.
• Prohibition on employers to employ women within 4 weeks after confinement;
• This was an answer by the Government to the pathetic conditions of the workers in the factory, wherein, only when a labourer was exhausted, a new labourer was to take his / her place.
• Royal Commission on Labor was appointed in 1892
• But these laws did not apply to British-owned tea & coffee plantations where the labour was exploited ruthlessly & treated like slaves.