Modern Industrial Relations in India A study of modern industrial relations in India can be conducted in three distinct phases. The first phase can be considered to have begun around the middle of the 19th century and ended at the end of the First World War. The second phase includes the period after independence was achieved in 1947, and the third phase represents the post-independence era. First Phase: During the first phase, the British government in India was largely interested in enforcing penalties for breach of contract and regulating working conditions with the aim of minimizing the competitive advantages of indigenous employers over British employers . During the second half of the nineteenth century, a series of legislative measures were adopted, which may represent the beginning of industrial relations in India. The end of the First World War gave a new twist to labor policy, as it created certain social, economic and political conditions, which raised new hopes among people for a new social order. There was strong labor unrest because workers' earnings did not keep pace with rising prices and their aspirations. The establishment of the ILO in 1919 greatly influenced labor legislation and industrial relations policy in India. The emergence of trade unions in India, especially the formation of the All India Trade UnionCongress (AITUC) in 1920, was another significant event in the history of industrial relations in our country. Second phase: post-World War I policy relating to the improvement of working conditions and provision of social security benefits. It was a boom time for employers. As prices increased, their profits increased enormously.