NEW DELHI: The two-day strike by central trade unions evoked mixed response across the country on Wednesday, as it entered its second day, with banking and transport services being affected partially and few incidents of violence seen in West Bengal. The strike has been called by the central trade unions against the alleged repressive policies for workers adopted by the government. Here is all you need to know:

* The banking sector was severely affected by the strike in those cities where the two major bank trade unions—All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees' Federation of India (BEFI) are strong. The operation in SBI and private sector banks remained unaffected as other seven unions in the banking sector are not part of the strike.

* According to AIBEA General Secretary C H Vekatchalam, cash transactions, clearance of cheques, remittances, bills discounting and foreign exchange transactions were impacted. Cheques worth about Rs 20,000 crore could not be cleared by clearing houses all over the country on Tuesday, he claimed.

* Normal life was affected in Goa on Wednesday as private buses and tourist taxis remained off roads. Long queues of passengers were seen at various bus stands after the private buses association in the state shut operations.

* In Mumbai, the public bus service, BEST, went on an indefinite strike since midnight. A total nine buses operated in Mumbai while strike continues on Wednesday at all depots and majority of workers are off duty in protest.

* As many as 22 policemen were injured in Rajasthan following clashes at the manufacturing plant of a Japanese company as workers, who were supporting the stir, tried to enter its premises.Union leaders claimed that 50 workers were injured in the police action against protesters.

* After being closed as a precautionary measure on Tuesday, schools and colleges re-opened on Wednesday in Bangalore as the strike had little impact on the city. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) operations are also likely to return to normal on Wednesday as the strike by drivers and conductors is expected to fizzle out.

* The strike was near total in Kerala on Tuesday and was by and large peaceful, with train services badly hit.

* Normal life was partially hit in West Bengal on Tuesday as sporadic incidents of vandalism and disruptions were reported from various areas. State's ruling Trinamool Congress dubbed the impact of the trade strike as "negligible".

* Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty was arrested once again on Wednesday for taking out a rally at a bus stand in Jadavpur in the southern part of the city. Chakraborty was first arrested on Tuesday for taking out a rally in support of the strike and was released in the evening.

* The shutdown evoked a mixed response in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Nearly 50% of the bus services in Chennai were not plying. Banking and insurance services in Tamil Nadu too were affected.

* Sabarimala pilgrims, tourists, social and religious functions have been exempted from the strike.

* The strike also disrupted rail and road traffic in Odisha as trade union activists staged rail roko in several cities of the state.

* All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Amarjeet Kaur claimed that Assam, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, and the union territory of Puducherry witnessed complete bandh while other states like Karnataka, Delhi, Goa, West Bengal reported 100% strike by workers on Tuesday.

* The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Tuesday began their two-day strike in solidarity with the nationwide strike called by central trade unions which was deemed as a success as students rallied alongside trade union workers.

* Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU ( Centre of Indian Trade Unions ), said that the public sector employees, unorganised sector workers, port and dock workers, bank and insurance employees are going to observe the nationwide protest against growing economic crisis, price rise and acute unemployment on the call of central trade unions and mass organisations.

* The CITU denounced the unilateral move of the government of India to amend the Trade Union Act 1926 Sen alleged that the proposed Trade Union (Amendment) Bill 2018 as cleared by the Cabinet is designed to impose conditions of slavery on the working people and totally abrogate trade union rights.

* CITU, critical of the Modi government's policy of 'Make in India', alleged that the government has been killing the work culture of the country's public sectors by favouring major contracts of manufacturing works to private players like in Rafale deal "there was no transfer of technology. State owned HAL was kept away from the entire deal and similar practice is expected in F-16 fighter aircraft deal with Lockheed Martin Corporation of US and purchase of Naval frigates from Russia," said Sen.

* Ten trade unions who have jointly called for the nationwide general strike are INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, AICCTU, UTUC, TUCC, LPF and SEWA. The trade unions have support of almost all major independent federations of central employees, state employees and the employees of banks, insurance, telecom, and other service sectors representing the workers and employees of all the industries and services including transport services, both in organised and unorganised sectors.

* Farmers across the country under the aegis of the Left peasant wings also join the nationwide strike.

* This is the 18th nationwide general strike against the alleged anti-worker policies. CITU said the main aim of their 12-point charter of demands is to revive the country's economy, save the rights of working class.

* The unions said that the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on labour issues has not called unions for any discussion since September 2, 2015, strike which left them with no other option but to go on another strike.

(With agency inputs)



In Video: Bharat Bandh: 20 cr trade union workers on 2-day nationwide strike