Charging the Government with not consulting all the stakeholders before deciding to privatise some public sector banks, the Opposition Congress on Tuesday demanded a statement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the ongoing bank employees’ strike.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the two-day strike had affected the common people and small businesses. He also said the coming days will see nationwide strike by the General Insurance Company and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) employees against the proposed move to privatise the sector.
Making these assertions during a Zero Hour mention, Kharge said the government has taken a decision to privatise two public sector banks without consulting the 75 crore account holders, who too are a stakeholders.
Bank employees are worried about their future following the government’s decision to privatise and merge public sector banks.
The nation’s 12 public sector banks employ 13 lakh and have about one lakh branches across the country, he said adding the Government was able to implement schemes like zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts only on the back of the public sector banks.
Also, India was largely untouched by the 2008 global financial meltdown as it had strong public sector banks, Kharge said.
Moreover, these banks as well as public sector units are the only ones that give reservation to the deprived sections of the society, he said.
Public sector bank employees and officers began their two-day strike on Monday while employees of General Insurance Company will strike work on March 17. The LIC employees have given a strike call on March 18, he said.
Kharge demanded that Sitharaman should make a statement to address concerns of employees over privatisation and mergers of banks and insurance companies.