New Delhi, March 7 (PTI) Various platforms of workers, farmers, students, women, and intellectuals have backed the the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Joint Platform of CTU’s call for a rural bandh and nationwide industrial strike on February 16.
In a statement, the SKM said, “Except those loyal to RSS, the entire platforms of trade unions, women, student, youth, small traders and social movements and intellectual groups are joining hands with the farmers’ and workers’ movement against the corporate communal policies to punish the BJP government and to strengthen people’s movement centred on livelihood issues”.
“Various platforms of workers, farmers, students, youth, women, agricultural workers, cultural activists, intellectuals and social movements have jointly released an appeal to build people’s unity to oppose the Union government’s policies to increase corporate profits leading to rising unemployment below subsistence wages and snatching the livelihood of the poor,” it added.
The SKM and the Joint Platform of central trade unions (CTU) have written to political parties from the INDIA coalition urging them to back their nationwide strike and Grameen Bandh on February 16.
The demands made by the unions and organisations include addressing unemployment and privatisation of public sector industries, controlling price rise, MSP at C2+50 per cent with guaranteed procurement, decreasing cost of farming inputs, comprehensive loan waiver to farmer and worker households, and repealing four labour codes among others. One of their demands is the prosecution of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, who they said is “the main conspirator of the farmers massacre at at Lkahimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021”.
They have also demanded to end contractual work, enhance minimum wage to Rs 26,000 per month, stop privatisation of education and health, scrap New Education Policy 2020, restore Old Pension Scheme, prevent corporate entry on retail trade, and building mass resistance against atrocities on women, adivasis, dalits, minorities.
The groups are also raising the issue of communal divide, attack on democratic rights and demand to end US-Israel war on Palestinians, prosecution of Israel for genocide and war crime, and preventing recruitment of poor Indians for Israel among others. PTI AO RPA
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