People's Democracy

BANKING industry came to a standstill all over India on December 21 when bank employees went on a strike in protest against the move to privatise the banking sector. RBI employees also joined the strike in Calcutta, Chennai, New Delhi, Kanpur, Bangalore, Patna, Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Jammu, along with the rest in the banking industry. No transaction took place in any of these offices through clearing houses did function.

The massive strike of bank employees aimed to oppose the union government's move to hand over the public sector banks to private tycoons. Privatisation of banks means that millions of common beneficiaries will be deprived of bank loans; priority sectors, small scale industries, agriculture and poverty alleviation schemes will suffer very adversely. A few top industrialists will control about Rs 9 lakh crore of bank deposits whereas the government and RBI will be just onlookers. Big defaulters of bank loans will turn to become bank owners.

Common depositors feel scared, naturally. The safety and security of their money, hitherto safe in public sector banks, will be vulnerable to the market forces and uncertainties. Large scale bank failures will take place and there will be no public sector bank to bail out the distressed private banks and their depositors in times of crisis. Mergers, acquisitions and anarchy will prevail. It is in the interest of the common people, therefore, that majority ownership of the banks remains with the government.

The massive strike was another caution to the government to desist from selling public sector banks and that it must try to realise the big loans from defaulters, amounting to Rs 40,000 crore. Instead of frittering away precious resources in forcing the employees to exit early, the government must use the same for productive purposes by further extension of banking services.

Reserve bank employees too have made it clear that they will continue to be part of the bank employees’ struggle to defend nationalisation. The All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (AIRBEA) has urged upon the government to withdraw the bank privatisation bill and consult bank unions to find out ways to strengthen the public sector banks.

In a statement on the day, S Bardhan, general secretary of the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), stated: "Based on reports received so far, 13 lakh bank employees, working in the public sector/private sector/foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks responded wholeheatedly to the call of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) for the all-India protest strike today, paralysing the entire banking industry. We extend to all of them our revolutionary greetings. The NABARD employees joined the strike in some places and, in rest of the country, they staged demonstrations. The insurance employees also staged demonstrations all over India to express solidarity with the bank employees. We thank the All India Reserve Bank Employees Association, All India Regional Rural Bank Employees Association, our units in cooperative banking sector, All India NABARD Employees Association and All India Insurance Employees Association. We express our gratitude to the masses of the people for the moral support they extended to the strike."

Bardhan said it was the determination of the bank employees to fight back the government’s offensive of privatising the banking industry that was reflected in the December 21 strike action. He expressed hope that the government will take appropriate note of the anti-privatisation mood of bank employees and withdraw the Banking Companies (Acquisition & Transfer of Undertakings) and Financial Institutions Laws (Amendment) Bill 2000, introduced in parliament inspite of opposition from the opposition parties.

The BEFI has called upon the bank employees to keep up the spirit and carry on the preparations to respond to the UFBU call for indefinite strike in case of necessity. (INN)