From 1.2 Lakh Indian Post Employees To 10 Lakh Bank Employees On Protest; Know About Seven Different Protests In 1 Week

Farmers from seven states are going to be on a 10-day protest, starting today. They are requesting the government to pay them Minimum Support Price (MSP). The protests will be held under the banner of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM). RKM is a federation of 130 farmers’ organisation. Farmers have said that they will suspend supplies of vegetables and dairy produce to nearby cities for ten days and stage roadside dharnas along 30 significant highways in the country.

“Farmers will not block any roads. The protests will be peaceful. Around 200 organisations have extended support to the protest,” said Abhimanyu Kohar, national general secretary of RKM.

The seven states where the protests will be held are: Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, reported India Today.

It is not just the farmers who are protesting, but this week many other protests were reported from different parts of the country.

Bank Protest

Nearly 10 lakh bank employees protested on May 30 and 31 against the 2% hike offered by Indian Bank Association. Essential services like RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), demand drafts, cheque clearance and foreign remittances have been severely affected.

Gramin Dak Sevaks

Nationwide rural postal services were virtually at a standstill as Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) enter the 10th day of their indefinite strike which began on May 22, 2018.

The cadres of GDS, who render postal services in the rural parts of the country have called for an indefinite strike demanding the implementation of the positive recommendations of the Kamlesh Chandra Committee. Out of 4.5 lakh employees in the postal department, around 2.6 lakh are GDS. About 90% of the GDS were participating in the strike.

Cachar Paper Mill, Assam

Residents of Assam’s Panchagram town will come together for a ‘Nagarik Sabha’ on June 3 in a bid to help Cachar Paper Mill from biting the dust. Notably, the mill shut down operations on October 20, 2015, post which the 400-odd contractual workers have been rendered jobless with no payment of salaries as well.

The dismal conditions of the contract workers came to the limelight when they went for a hunger strike following the non-payment of 23 months of salary on April 23, 2018. Although the government has since then cleared only three months of wages on April 21, May 15 and May 29 respectively, over 20 months of payments are remaining due.

Nepa Paper Mills, Madhya Pradesh

The residents of a quaint industrial township in Madhya Pradesh’s Nepanagar have been facing crisis ever since Nepa Paper Mills, the oldest mill in Asia which produced newsprint, stopped its productions in 2016.

It has been more than one and a half years since the mill has closed shop, which forced the mill’s management to reappropriate its employees who were otherwise engaged with paper production to other subsidiary activities of the plant. To add to the woes of those who work at Nepa Mills, the salaried workers haven’t been receiving their monthly salaries as well.

At present, the residents of Nepanagar, coupled with the mill’s distraught employees have been demanding for the government to provide sufficient funds to reopen operations soon.

10,000 B.ed TET applicants protest

On May 29, about 10,000 Bed TET 2011 applicants took part in a rally demanding jobs they should have gotten years ago. These aspirants were promised jobs way back in 2011. However, in the last seven years, the successive governments failed to do so. After Yogi Adityanath came to power, he assured them jobs, but nothing has been done up till now. More than 12,500 candidates have been protesting for last several years.

Gujarat TET

Last year’s Gujarat TET pass outs are protesting as even though the result was declared eight months back, they still have not been given appointment letters. Before the last exam, there were no TET held in the previous two years. According to RTE, there is a vacancy of 20800 teachers in Gujarat’s Higher Primary Education Department.

This was a week of protests. People had certain demands from the administration and the government which they failed to meet. They tried to make their voices heard by holding a demonstration, and it is the right of people in a democracy to hold protest marches. Hope they find a resolution in the coming days.