Work at banks and insurance companies across the country were paralysed yesterday because of the one-day strike called by Left-affiliated trade unions. | |
| Nearly 1.5 million employees and officers in the financial sector observed a strike to press for an early wage revision and another pension option for bank staff and also to protest against the "anti-labour" policies of the government and to oppose the Supreme Court verdict making it illegal for government servants to go on strike. |
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| Thirty-three of the 113 scheduled commercial banks in the country, including the State Bank of India and its associate banks and a few other nationalised, foreign and private sector banks did not participate in the inter-bank clearing operations. The inter-bank cheque clearing volume was down to Rs 1,500 crore as against the normal daily volume, estimated at Rs 3,000 crore. |
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| Trading volumes in both the government securities and forex markets were also hit by the strike. In the bond market, the trade volume was Rs 2,000 crore. All deals were valued at the next day's date. |
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| The unions that struck work today were the All India Bank Officers' Confederation, the All India Bank Officers' Association and trade unions of workmen, viz, the All India Bank Employees Association, the National Confederation of Bank Employees and the Bank Employees' Federation of India. However, the Congress-affiliated INTUC and the BJP's labour arm, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, did not support the strike. |
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| Public sector undertakings in power, oil, telecom, airlines and railways were unaffected. |
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| The rupee closed at 45.2750/2850 to the dollar compared with the previous day's close of 45.2875/2925. It hit an intra-day low of 45.3075. |
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| The Indian unit had weakened earlier in the day as dollar supplies were thin, with state-run banks not trading because of the strike. State-owned banks account for more than half the volumes in the market. |
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| Yields on government securities eased amid thin volumes. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt ended at 5.2473 per cent, down from this morning's 5.2964 per cent and Monday's close of 5.2520 per cent. |
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| Normal life was hit in the traditional Left strongholds of West Bengal and Kerala, with vehicular traffic going off the roads and train services, including that of the Kolkata Metro Railway, coming to a halt. Trade unions alleged police lathicharge and arrest in states like Delhi, Haryana, Assam, Pondicherry and Orissa. |
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| All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) General Secretary Gurudas Das Gupta said coal mining workers in nine companies also struck work and so did workers in the construction and plantation sector. University teachers and employees as well as students in Delhi joined the strike. |
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| In Kerala and West Bengal, the entire government machinery came to a halt. |
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