UP Govt. employees protest in Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh Government employees staged protests here on Tuesday over a demand for regularisation of their jobs, and granting benefits to daily wage workers.

Employees came out in droves in Lucknow and demonstrated against the state government.

A protester, Bajarang Bali Yadav, said that the rights of the state employees should not be violated.

"The state workers are demanding benefits to daily wage workers along with 25 other demands for the daily wage workers who have been employed after 1991. They should be made permanent. The state government employees have called for a shutdown as they press for 15 of their demands," said Yadav.

The protesters also threatened mass protests if the government failed to take stern action and have already called for a shutdown.

Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi, said: "Everyone is dissatisfied. There is not even a single person who is happy with the policies of the state government. If more than 16 lakh workers are on strike, it implies that they are dissatisfied with the rules governing their jobs. I think the government should consider their demands."

Religion and caste plays a central role in the politics in Uttar Pradesh, one of India's poorest states with a population larger than that of Russia. Fanning the tensions between castes often brings political gains to parties that claim to protect different religious and caste groups from one another.

Violence between Muslims and Hindus has been a defining feature of Indian politics since the separation of Pakistan in 1947, when hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions displaced.