The first Factories Act in India, which regulated the working hours of children, was passed during Lord Ripon's time in:

The first Factories Act in India was passed in 1881, during the viceroyalty of Lord Ripon.

About the Factories Act of 1881:

• It applied to factories that used mechanical power and employed 100 or more workers.
• It prohibited the employment of children below the age of 7 years in factories.
• It limited the working hours of children between 7 and 12 years to 9 hours a day.
• Children were to be given one hour of rest during the day and four holidays in a month.
• Dangerous machinery had to be properly fenced.
• Inspectors were to be appointed to enforce the law.

Limitations:

• It did not regulate the working hours of adult workers, including women.
• It applied only to large factories.

Why it was passed:

• Factory owners in Lancashire (Britain), who competed with the growing Indian textile mills, pressed for factory laws in India, partly to raise the costs of Indian mills.
• Humanitarian concerns about the condition of workers, especially children, also played a part.
• Social reformers in Bombay, such as Sorabji Shapurji Bengali, campaigned for better conditions for workers.

Later Factories Acts:

The Factories Act of 1891: prohibited the employment of children below 9 years, limited the working hours of children (9-14 years) to 7 hours, and limited the working hours of women to 11 hours a day, with a weekly holiday.

The Factories Act of 1911: limited the working hours of adult men in textile mills to 12 hours a day.

The Factories Act of 1922: introduced the 60-hour week.

Early labour movements:

• M. Lokhande formed the Bombay Mill Hands Association (1890), one of the first labour organisations in India.
• The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was founded in 1920.

Why not the other options?

• ✗1872 was not the year of the first Factories Act.
• ✗1891 and 1911 were the years of later Factories Acts.