"Panipat’s battle for labour rights shows why workers across India are going on strike today", 1 April 2026

Central trade unions have called for a national strike … demanding that the four labour codes passed in November be repealed. Worker unions and worker rights organisations have raised concerns about how the new labour codes, which are likely to come into effect in April, will further dilute their rights. In the midst of this struggle are the broader ramifications of the US-Israel war on Iran, which have affected workers all over India…

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Workers at the Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, the largest public sector undertaking in the country, have been protesting …

Angered by this perceived indifference, but also years of injustice, around 30,000 to 40,000 workers went on strike ...

… a fact-finding team noted that a first information report had been registered against 2,500 unidentified workers, but no proceedings have been initiated against the management or contractors for the negligence that caused the accident…

Panipat’s textile industry is grappling with a slowdown since the US-Israel war on Iran. Local industry officials told … the latest conflict has disrupted orders in the pipeline and slowed down new orders.

… US tariffs, the report noted, had already complicated matters, reducing business and leading to losses.

But what was not was that the closure of 300 textile factories have left at least 35,000 workers without jobs – most of them are migrant workers who have returned home to their villages, as pointed out by a report ... The report said that the shortage of gas supply has affected operations in the industrial sectors of Panipat, Rohtak and Ambala.

The current government has often resisted people fighting for their rights and instead emphasised the importance of duty. Here, it is important to remember that one of the fundamental duties is to uphold the ideals of the Indian Constitution…