Declare Women's Day govt, bank holiday: AIBEA to PM Modi

The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) has asked the government to declare the International Women's Day (March 8) a government and bank holiday.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the association said, "It will ensure necessary significance and priority attention to issues relating to women and create awareness."
The letter draws attention toward problems faced by women employees with regard to postings at proper places, who join banks in a large number these days, it said.
"Women are being posted to branches in extreme rural centres where adequate safeguards are not available or where even minimum facilities are not available. Proper guidelines are to be given to banks to post them to centres where proper infrastructure, transportation and other facilities are available," the letter said.

Women employees face difficulties to get transfer to their place of choice to join their spouses after marriage, it said, adding there is a need for revised guidelines to extend transfer to such women employees on priority.
Moreover, it is a matter of "sad commentary" that while the government is harping on Swachhh Bharat, there are number of bank branches where there is no separate toilet facilities for women employees and women bank customers, it said further.
Instructions and guidelines are needed to ensure that internal complaints committee on instances of sexual harassment at workplace are set up in every administrative office of banks, AIBEA General Secretary CH Venkatachalam said.

The world celebrates international women's day on March 8 to mark social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.