> >Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 13:11:46 -0700 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Amit Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Millions of Indians strike against government's liberalisation > plans > >Thursday, May 11 3:02 PM SGT > > >Millions of Indians strike against government's liberalisation plans >Millions of Indians strike against government's liberalisation plans >Millions of Indians strike against government's liberalisation plans > > > >NEW DELHI, May 11 (AFP) - > >Millions of Indians went on strike Thursday disrupting businesses and >transport links in a protest against the Hindu nationalist government's >economic liberalisation policies, officials said. > >Madhukar Pandhe, chief of the powerful Centre of Indian Trade Unions which >is backing the strike, told AFP: "The early morning inputs are very >encouraging. We expect that 20 million people will join our protest today." > >India's four main communist parties, 12 other political groups, 55 industry >federations and six trade trade unions are taking part in the protest. > >Pandhe said the strike was "total in many states and was taking place in >all the country's 26 states. > >Strikers include people from the finance, defence and government sectors >and in the textile, steel and tranport industries. > >"Even women, students' unions and others are also part of the protest," he >said. > >Air and rail links were badly hit in the Marxist-ruled eastern state of >West Bengal where flights and some trains were cancelled until Friday. >Truck transport ground to a halt in several other states, reports said. > >A police spokesman in the West Bengal capital Calcutta said: "Trains have >been stranded in several stations because the protestors are squatting on >the tracks." > >A western company official in Calcutta said: "Everything is closed. I came >to do work with some dot.com people but nobody has come to office." > >The strikers are protesting government moves towards economic liberalisation. > >Pandhe said the government was "not paying enough attention to sick >industries and creating jobs for the unemployed". > >"The total 400 million workforce is a national shame. About 130 million >people are unemployed. That is a very poor ratio," he said. > >The demonstrators are also protesting against a recent government decision >to hike the prices of cooking gas and kerosene and to cut subsidies. > >The government is trying to rein in a huge fiscal deficit expected to reach >5.6 percent of gross domestic product in the year to March, exceeding the >government target of four percent. > >Doraiswami Raja, a leader of the Communist Party of India, said there were >rural issues as well. > >"The government has not done anything for farmers. Impoverished farmers are >comitting suicide due to crop failure and staggering debts. We want land >re-distribution," he said. > >================================== >Amit Srivastava >Climate Justice Coordinator >Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC)/ Corporate Watch >P.O. Box 29344, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA >Tel: 1 415 561 6472 Fax: 1 415 561 6493 >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Web: http://www.corpwatch.org >================================== > > > > ............................................. > Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ............................................. > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
