Question
What are the ‘Public Safety Bill’ and ‘Trade Disputes Bill’?
Answer
The Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill were two suppressive bills introduced by the British colonial government in India during the early 1920s. The Public Safety Bill empowered the colonial government to arrest and detain individuals without trial for up to two years, while the Trade Disputes Bill aimed to ban strikes by workers and trade unions. Both bills were opposed by the Indian nationalist movement and the Indian Communist Party, who saw them as attempts to stifle political dissent and crush the emerging labour movement.
