Back home, they are
not new ! .. .. Bandh,
originally a Sanskrit word meaning "closed", is a form of protest
used by political activists. A Bharat bandh is a call for a bandh across
India. The Left-affiliated central trade
unions have called for a nationwide strike on September 2 to protest against
‘anti-labour policies’ of the government. The trade unions will also be joined
by the employees of six public sector banks in their fight. Many banks have
already communicated to their customers about the likely inconvenience.
It may not be a
total black-out but some part of banking, public transport and telecom will be
hit. Commuters will have a tough time as many autorickshaw unions in cities
such as Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have decided to keep off the roads on
Friday. Railways have not opted ~ trains will run smoothly. Schools and
colleges, too, have not declared an official holiday. Though some public banks
have decided to join the strike, private banks, ATMs will remain functional.
The trade unions
have opposed the government’s proposal to hike minimum wage for unskilled
workers by up to 20 per cent to Rs 12,000 per month for Tier-I cities, saying
it should be more in view of price rise. The unions are demanding social
security for workers and a minimum wage of not less than 18,000 per month. They
also want an assured enhanced pension of not less than 3,000 per month for all
sectors, including unorganised workers. They also want FDI to be removed from
railways, defence and other “strategic sectors”.
Everytime, Unions
would claim that this will be biggest ~ yet many a times, they do fizzle
out. Indian Railways and other Central
government employees will not be a part of it as the government has already
constituted a committee to look into their demand of raising monthly minimum
wage from Rs 18,000 to about Rs 26,000 under the 7th Pay Commission. Also not
participating in the strike is the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh which
opted out after the government accepted the advisory board recommendations and
raised the minimum wage from Rs 246 to Rs 350 per day for non-agricultural
workers.
NDTV reports that workers of state-run Coal India Ltd will be on
strike - power plants have enough coal on hand to operate even if nothing is
mined over the next 50 to 60 days, said Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal. The turnaround of Coal India has been one of
the Modi government's main successes,
and the company is producing so much these days that it is having to consider
exports for the first time. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said her
government will not allow offices or factories to close and that public
transport will run as normal.
There was a time
when everything would come to a standstill in a bandh, especially, when Bank
employees time it with continuous holidays.
Perhaps gone are those days ~ now when most in cities transact only
Online and go to ATMs, this bandh may not have a total shut-off effect. There will be claims of ‘bandh affecting
routine’ – counterclaims that it was business as usual. A couple of decades, most were State run and
anything against the State would paralyze the normal life. It was extremely powerful means of civil
disobedience and protest against the actions of the Govt. One of the more famous Bharat Bandh was
organized in Aug 1989, when Rajiv Gandhi was in power. As the opposition resorted to stoppage of
public transportation and threatened the shops to close [cinema theatres also
would remain closed – as also hotels], the Govt did all that was in its power to
break the bandh.
Curiously,
on that day the PSU employees were asked to attend Office and to facilitate
their attendance they were allowed to report to their nearest branch and were
provided arranged lunch too – at places,
it was mockery of work – an employee working in a Branch going to another
Branch was only symbolic attendance – no functional work took place that day. Remember
walking up to my Office (from Triplicane to Esplanade/Parrys) and doing regular
work till end of office hours on that day !!
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
1st Sept. 2016.
