Millions strike in India to protest against Modi’s labour reforms

The BJP has also made changes to the country’s labour laws to make it easier for employers to lay off workers.

Taxi drivers did not roam the streets in Delhi, and shops and banks closed in left-wing stronghold Kerala in the south.

Over 150 million workers are on strike across India crippling the operation of various sectors including essential services. Workers from a number of industries, including in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt, also participated in the strike. Police arrested strikers in several cities. Given his push for clean energy, his drive to digitise India, and his plans to empower the people of his country, Modi’s presence in the Silicon Valley, the hub of technology and innovation, is considered to be a natural step towards taking India on the path to overall development.

His government wants to simplify India’s myriad and sometimes archaic labor laws which date back to the British Raj. Clashes were also reported in some states.

India has so far resisted pressure to commit to any major emissions cuts despite a pact previous year between the two top global emitters, China and the United States. Various state universities postponed examinations scheduled for yesterday.

Of course, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, an RSS wing, has pulled out of the same after talks with the Union government three days ago, but, still, 10 trade unions have chose to go ahead with the bandh programme. Rather, their aim was to defuse mounting popular anger and channel it behind the other major party of the Indian bourgeoisie-Congress and its allies.

TEN of India’s 12 trade-union federations joined a nationwide strike yesterday to protest at proposals to reform India’s employment laws. The most upbeat about India are the Vietnamese, but even there only 22% say they feel very favourably toward India.

Trade unionists who organised yesterday’s strike said they would continue to monitor the government’s labour reforms.

However, it stressed its commitment to the welfare of the working classes. In our hospital, staffing and infrastructure problems are getting worse. “All sectors of the economy (were) affected”.

Jinping was least trusted by people of Japan and most trusted by Malaysia.

Plans for a second Mumbai hub are years behind schedule and the government has struggled to privatise four large airports to fund their expansion. So the future of the young generation is called into question. “The state of Andhra Pradesh suffered revenue losses of over Rs.8 billion due to closures that took place soon after the central government gave approval for the creation of a separate State of Telangana”. Domestic workers and day laborers called for an increase in the minimum wage. “From political opposition to Modi, they’ve moved to sabotaging India on the earth”. “I would welcome the establishment of a workers’ and peasants’ government based on socialist policies”. “Most of the employees attended their offices”.

Still, unlike many other EMs which are either overly reliant on speculative inflows of foreign capital or whose policy regimes are not perceived to be credible, India is much less vulnerable than in the summer of 2013 when, along with Indonesia, it was the focal point of market concerns about EMs.