Bank Strike FAQ, PSB Privatisation News: The Central Government has proposed the privatization of two more public sector banks. In protest, public sector banks have gone on strike on Monday and Tuesday, ie, 16 and 17 March.
People are facing a lot of trouble due to public sector banks going on strike for two days. These banks have been affected by Cash Withdrawal, Cash Deposit, Check Clearance and Business Transactions. State-run banks had told their customers that they would have to use digital modes of transactions. The central government merged 10 banks into 4 banks in August 2019, after which the number of state-run banks was reduced to 12. Currently, their consolidation is going on, in such a situation, there may be loss due to privatization.
In this year’s budget, the government has talked about privatization of two banks and one insurance company. Employees and officials of government banks are on strike protesting this. Let us know the answers to 5 important questions related to strike and privatization.
Why are government banks on strike?
In 2019, the government had privatized most of its stake in IDBI Bank by selling it to LIC. In the last four years, 14 public sector banks have been merged. In the Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the privatization of two public sector banks. Bank workers are opposing this. The strike, which took place on March 4, 9 and 10 with the Additional Chief Labor Commissioner, did not yield any result. After the bank unions, the general insurance companies will be on strike on 17 March.
Who has called this strike, who is involved?
The strike was announced on March 15–16 by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an organization of nine unions. Under its banner, there are nine bank unions – AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO. Union leaders claimed that about 10 lakh bank employees and officials were involved in this two-day strike. A bank official said that 100 percent employees of the first, second and third scale participated in the strike.
Which services are available, which are not?
Services available in branches of public sector banks will not be available. For example, you cannot deposit or withdraw cash by going to the branch. Check clearance will also not be available on Monday and Tuesday. Overall, the works for which you have to approach the branch of the bank will not be done. Yes, the relief is that you can access a lot of services online. This includes money transfer, account statement, FD opening, payment of bills, online payment, check book order, etc.
Which banks are not part of the strike?
Private banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank are open. They account for about one-third of the country’s banking system.
What has NITI Aayog said?
NITI Aayog has excluded 6 public sector banks from the privatization scheme. These include Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda and SBI. The Finance Ministry is also of the same opinion. A government official said, “Those who were part of the government bank consolidation exercise are excluded from the privatization scheme.”
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