40 years ago September 23, 1986: Labour panel split

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on September 23, 1986.

2 min readSep 23, 2026 06:40 AM IST First published on: Sep 23, 2026 at 06:40 AM IST

The tripartite standing labour committee, which met in New Delhi to consider proposals for restructuring the industrial relations and dispute settlement system, found itself sharply divided on most of the points. While the Congress (I)-led INTUC and the employers’ associations supported the move, central trade unions belonging to the opposition parties let it be known that they could not be a party to what the AITUC representative, Homi Daji, said was “regimentation of the workforce”. Among the vocal critics of the proposals were the AITUC, CITU, BMS and UTUC (S).

Boy killed in police firing

A two-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet in a police firing to quell a violent mob at Musafirkhana in Bombay. The firing was resorted to when the hawkers along the Musafirkhana road started brick-batting the customs and civic officials following a raid to confiscate the smuggled goods openly sold there.

Soma bags Asian Games medal

Shooter Soma Dutta won India’s second medal of the Asian Games, a bronze in the women’s air rifle event, but the cheer it brought was overshadowed as underdogs South Korea sprang a surprise and held India to a 1-1 draw in a Group A hockey match. India were lucky to be a goal up at half time. Mohinder Pal Singh scored from a 23rd-minute penalty corner.

Second tie in Test history

It’s 5.18 and Greg Mathews prepares to bowl the fifth ball of his 40th over — the last of the innings. With one ball to go, all three results are still possible: A win for India, a draw, or a tie. Maninder Singh, number 11, prepares to take strike. The crowd holds its breath. 5.19 and history is made — it’s a tie.