Strike by Indian unions over prices hits transport, banking
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | February 20, 2013 16:30Many Indian banks were closed and public transport disrupted on Wednesday because of a strike by trade unions protesting against high prices but the capital, New Delhi, and business centre, Mumbai, were mostly unaffected and financial markets were open.
Violence erupted in some places on the first day of a two-day strike as workers, angry about high fuel prices in particular, tried to keep vehicles off the roads. One union member was killed in the northern city of Ambala, media said.
The strike comes as the beleaguered government prepares to present an austerity budget to parliament and as it weathers a corruption scandal in a big arms deal.
Parliament begins its budget session on Thursday and the government is to present its expenditure plan for fiscal 2013/14 (April-March) next week.
Several officials have told Reuters the government will slash a public spending target by up to 10 percent to avoid a sovereign credit downgrade, even though that will not go down well in a high inflation environment.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is grappling with the worst economic slowdown in a decade and faces a general election early next year, had asked the unions to call off the strike, but they refused.
Facebook
Tweet This
RSS Feed
Email This Post
Loading ...
