Bankers are on strike to protest against privatization of banks: Banking Awareness Special Series

Team Adda247 and Bankers Adda have introduced a Special Banking Awareness series for SBI and IBPS Interviews 2021. In this series, we will be introducing the candidates with some banking awareness topics Daily that will improve their general awareness and will also ensure that the candidates do not lack in any banking term when it comes to the interview round. Today the topic of our Banking Awareness Series is Bankers are on strike to protest against privatization of banks.

Bankers are on strike to protest against privatization of banks

All the Banking services stopped and continue for one more day in the country. More than 50 thousand bank employees and officers have gone on a two-day strike to protest against the government’s decision to privatize two more state-run banks and reforms in the banking sector.

The two-day strike started at 6 am on 15 March and continues till midnight on 16 March. The nationwide strike has been called in the backdrop of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of privatization of two public sector banks after it divested the majority stake in IDBI Bank two years ago. The United Forum of Banks Union which is an umbrella body of nine bank unions has called the strike. The unions have said that the agitation against the government’s decision may take a form similar to the farmer’s protest going on since November 2020. The strike has impacted some important key services like cash withdrawals, deposits, cheque clearances, and remittances across public sector banks. More than 2 crore cheques/instruments worth about Rs.16, 500 crores could not be processed on the first day of the strike.  The government’s policies are going to harm the economy and it might be reflected in the future course of action for policymaking and its reforms. 

The strike has called by The United Forum of Banks Union (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions.