Inside the cramped lanes of Noida’s Mamura village, life unfolds in quiet resilience. The small dark houses fill the air with anxiety of illness, rising expenses, and an uncertain future. A six-month pregnant woman sits cross-legged on the floor of one such house, her two young daughters beside her, waiting for their father, who works in a garment export company, to return with medicines.
The walls, stained and peeling, seem to echo the weight of her thoughts. Yet, amid it all, Sapna’s voice sounded steady as she said, “We are not worried about ourselves. The worry is about the daughters, their education, safety and the daily requirements. My husband has been earning Rs 15,000 for the past four years, and he has been hopeful that from next month he will get Rs 18,000, but there is no communication. All we can do is hope…”
Struggle for acknowledgement
What emerged from the densely packed settlements around Sector 62 and the industrial areas where demonstrations had occurred was not merely a story of wages and employment but of survival.
Long hours of work, fragile hopes, and silent compromises are synonymous with their everyday lives. In a dimly lit room, separated only by a worn-out curtain that seemed untouched by time, a 19-year-old Soniya prepares for her shift at a garment factory. Skilled in stitching, she has recently joined a unit that has promised her Rs 14,000 a month. The promise, however, carries uncertainty. Soniya stepped out of a windowless room that barely holds a bed and a few boxes.
There is no kitchen, no cupboard, not even a private washroom, only a shared facility a few metres away. Her mother works in Vishal Mega Mart and earns `11,000. Her father is a part-time labourer.
“I was working in an Orient company before this, and they paid Rs 12,000; this new company has promised me Rs 14,000. They have also promised extra pay for overtime,” she said.
She leaves home at about 8:15 am and comes back by 8:45 pm, with smaller breaks given during the day. Four of her siblings go to school, and the burden of rising house rent, electricity bills, and gas prices falls partly on her shoulders too. “The working conditions are hard, but for us, there is no other option. We are a family of seven and we have to survive,” she said.
Vishal, a class 4 student who didn’t know the name of his school, sat idly at the doorway of his home. “Both my parents are on duty; they leave in the morning...” he said. Left alone for most of the day, he navigates a world that expects him to grow up too soon.
Anxiety about the future
Then there was 16-year-old Sunder, who migrated from Bihar with her family four years ago. Education, for her, has been repeatedly deferred. At an age when she should have been nearing the end of school, she is preparing to begin again, delayed by circumstances beyond her control. At home, she cares for her younger brother while her mother and elder sibling work long hours in factories. Her father, too ill to move, lives in Bihar.
What is perhaps most striking is not just the hardship but the normalisation of it. To an outsider, the conditions appear harsh, even unbearable. Yet, none of the families described their lives as problematic. Adaptation has replaced expectation.
At the industrial units in Sector 63, where protests had recently erupted, workers gathered during lunch breaks shared similar concerns. Whether salaried or paid per piece, most spoke of inadequate wages and the constant struggle to send money back home. Many manage to save Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 each month, leaving almost nothing for themselves.
“I work overtime almost every day, and after work I walk back at 12 am or 1 am, but despite that, I do not get paid overtime,” says Sarvan, a factory worker from Bihar whose wife and eight-month-old daughter live in his village.
Another worker, Shamshad from Aligarh, points to a notice in his factory. “At my company, they have put up a poster saying that their rates have been revised and they will get paid that way from the upcoming month. Let’s hope for the best.”
He added, “As per the announcement, the rates were effective from April 1, and it says that unskilled labourers will get paid Rs 13,690, semi-skilled labourers will get Rs 15,059, and skilled labourers will get Rs 16,868.”
Yet, hope remains fragile. For many, even raising their voices carries risk. Another worker from a garment export unit, Mohammad Yasin, explained, “We are not in a position to even protest because it will not matter to the company. The moment we are on the road, we will be fired immediately, and there are hundreds of people like us waiting for the same job, so our lives don’t matter to these companies. We have to work for ourselves, for our families.”
Arun Kumar, an economist, highlighted how the CPI does not show what this labour class people are suffering from. The mustard oil prices are up by `10, the vegetable prices are soaring, the cylinder prices are already high, the gas is available at the cost of Rs 400 per kg, the education of the children is disturbed, and incomes are going down. There is a major poverty line struggle, and who will show this? The workers who are losing jobs are going back. The government data is masking poverty technically.”
He said, “The question is why the government suddenly announced the labour codes – because they wanted to depress the wages.” The overtime work is also very little. The government needs to come up with more labour-intensive projects. “The government should support the workers and subsidise the facilities which can be offered to them instead of only supporting the businesses. Collect from direct taxes. Inessential things should be taxed, and wealth taxation should be made efficient, and that will curb the black economy. The lives of the poor should never be affected,” he added.
Aspiration for survival
A few lanes away, 35-year-old Sangeeta was sitting with visible burn injuries on her neck and hands, feeding her one-and-a-half-year-old son. Her life, like many others, is a constant negotiation between need and limitation. “My husband is physically challenged, which is why many companies do not give him a job.
He has been working at a hardware store, and he gets Rs 12,000 monthly, which goes to room rent of Rs 4,000, an electricity bill worth 700-1,000 sometimes and other miscellaneous expenses. Somehow we manage. I used to work before my child was born, but now I will have to wait till he becomes old enough to manage himself.” Her voice did not carry a complaint, only calculation of survival.
Dr Moushumi Basu, a member of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association who works on labour migration and human rights, said that most of the people protesting in Noida and Manesar were migrants who had been adjusting to difficult conditions for a long time. She explained that the recent trigger for the protests was the skyrocketing price of LPG cylinders, which had disrupted their already fragile budget.
“The workers were already burdened with house rent, children’s schooling, etc. The whole phenomena of detaining, arresting and the labourers getting into the legal battle will reach a serious situation, she said, adding that precarity has increased across classes. There is a ladder for everybody.
Surya Prakash, one of the social jurists who has been fighting for the rights of the labourers and workers working on low wages.
She said, “I believe that the issue and debate is on the ‘fair wages’, which doesn’t exist. Basically, we are witnessing exploitation of forced labour. Going by the REPTAKOS judgement (1991), the Supreme Court adopted a “need-based minimum wage” standard, enabling a worker to provide for themselves and their family not just basic food and shelter but also education, medical protection, and social needs. These workers are not demanding anything unrealistic; they are demanding what was promised as per the law.”
He said that they were fighting on two fronts: first, for the more than 1,000 workers who had been detained for protesting in Noida and Manesar and for the FIR to be made public. He added that on May 1, on the occasion of Labour Day, they are planning to organise a massive protest in the Delhi NCR region.
Apoorva, a member of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), said that LPG price hike in the country had added fuel to the fire. The unrest began in December last year with protests at Bihar Oil Refineries, followed by similar demonstrations in Panipat, Baroda, and Rajasthan. According to her, there had been multiple protests across 28–30 sites, with workers going on strike since December. Apoorva added that, in real terms, a worker earning `5,000 in 2005 and `11,000 in 2026 is effectively earning less than before.
Sophy K J, Associate Professor of Law at National Law University Delhi and Director of the Centre for Labour Law Research and Advocacy (CLLRA), said that rights under labour laws had become largely non-functional. She explained that the LPG crisis had worsened workers’ living conditions and that salaries in the range of Rs 13,000–15,000 made survival even more difficult. She said, “Wages had fallen to starvation levels, which was never the intent of labour laws,” adding that wages should at least meet statutory and basic dignity standards.
She further stated that the protests were not only about wages but also about widespread violations that often go unaddressed, such as long working hours, lack of overtime pay, and safety violations. Referring to a study conducted on industrial workers in Haryana and Noida, she noted that accidents among female workers were rising. She pointed out that industries often dismissed injured workers and replaced them with cheaper labour, even in cases of minor injuries, which had made such incidents more frequent and contributed to increased hardships.
She expressed the view that the appropriate approach would be to negotiate with workers to prevent such situations from arising, emphasising that workers do not make unreasonable demands and understand the challenges industries face, but those struggles should not be imposed on them.
2020 strike was largest workers’ protest globally
The 2020 labour strike in India, held on November 26, was among the largest worker protests globally, with nearly 25 crore participants. Organised by major trade unions like All India Trade Union Congress and Centre of Indian Trade Unions, it saw workers all sectors join in. Protesters opposed new labour laws, demanded better wages, job security, and resisted privatisation. It coincided with protests against the Farm Laws 2020 reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with government policies, especially amid economic distress caused by the COVID-19.
Why Noida workers got angry so suddenly
Workers across manufacturing units have staged demonstrations over layoffs, delayed wages, long working hours, and unsafe conditions in Noida last week. However, the issue isn’t new. The unrest was earlier reported between 2014 and 2015, including clashes linked to suppliers of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, while fresh protests followed factory closures in later years. During the 2020 lockdown the clash intensified. The agitations underline growing tensions between industrial expansion and labour rights in the NCR region.
Backdrop of industrial Disputes and the legalities
The Industrial Disputes dates back to 1957 and classifies broadly as labour unrest and conflicts between workers and employers during a period of rapid industrialisation after independence. Under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, government sought to regulate strikes, lockouts, layoffs, and dispute resolution through tribunals. By 1957, increasing wage demands, poor working conditions, and union activity led to frequent disputes across industries like textiles and mining. The government often intervened through adjudication and conciliation to maintain peace.