Employees of state-owned general insurance companies go on hunger strike against National Pension Scheme
27 January 2021: Employees of state-owned general insurance companies – National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, and United India Insurance – went on hunger strike in front of the New India Assurance office in Hyderabad, calling for the immediate settlement of owed wages, pension updates, better working conditions and the scrapping of the National Pension Scheme (NPS).
Farmers carry out parallel Republic Day parade in capital, agitation strengthens across country
26 January 2021: The movement for the repeal of three farm laws gained strength as farmers held large tractor parades, protest demonstrations and dharnas across the country and carried out parallel tractor parades inside the National capital on Republic Day. Farmers and their Unions have been holding their ground at the borders of Delhi for over 2 months. Eleven rounds of talks with the central government have not yielded so far. In the last round of talks the government had offered to suspend the implementation of the farm laws by one and a half years. The farmers are however demanding the repeal of these newly promulgated laws. Earlier, the Supreme Court had appointed an expert committee to look into the grievances of the farmers which rejected by the farmers and their unions.
Puducherry: Electricity staff to go on indefinite strike against privatisation of the power sector
10 January 2021: The Joint Action Committee of the workers of the department of electricity in Puducherry had decided to go on indefinite strike against the Centre’s move to privatise power distribution in the union territory since the government has paid no heed to their demands. The committee had issued a strike notice to the management on 29 December 2020.
Delhi: Over 1 lakh civic workers go on strike against repeated delays in disbursement of salaries and pensions
07 January 2021: Teachers, safai karamcharis, nursing staff and other workers of the three municipalities of Delhi went on strike against the repeated delays in disbursement of salaries and pensions, and staged protests outside various zonal offices across the city demanding the immediate payment of their long-overdue salaries and pensions.
Maharashtra: Government concedes to domestic workers’ demands, revives welfare board
06 January 2021: Years of protests by domestic workers forces Maharashtra government to accept the demand for the revival of an independent board for domestic workers, which had been dysfunctional for several years, and the registration of all domestic workers under it. Domestic workers are also demanding the resumption of scheme which entitled domestic workers above the age of 55 to a pension of Rs.5000 and scholarships for children of domestic workers. These schemes were discontinued by the government in 2014.
Workers of Bharat Earth Movers Limited begin indefinite stir against privatisation attempt by Central government
05 January 2021: Workers of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) launched an indefinite strike against the central government’s move ‘of privatisation. Government has decided to disinvest its 26% equity share out of its 54.03% shareholding along with management control in the PSU which operates in the strategic fields of Mining & Construction, Defence & Aerospace, and Rail & Metro. Workers across all 9 units of BEML in Karnataka and Kerala have gone on protest against the move. The 55-year old PSU employs around 10,000 workers.
