Workers, farmers protest Centre’s ‘wrong policies’

Shimla, November 25

MGNREGA and construction workers and farmers under the banner of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the Himachal Kisan Sabha staged a protest against ‘anti-labour and anti-people’ policies of the Union Government in Chotta Shimla today.

Kashmir Thakur, national secretary of CITU said: “Ousting the NDA government by defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is the only solution to end people’s miseries. We have given a call for three-day demonstrations against the Centre’s anti-labour and anti-farmer policies.”

He said: “We demand that minimum wages of labourers be fixed at Rs 26,000, abolish four anti-labour codes introduced by the Centre, regularise services of anganwadi, ASHA and mid-day meal workers, provide the MSP to farmers on their produce, implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan report, provide 200-day work at daily wages of Rs 375 for MGNRGA workers, register construction workers under the Labour Welfare Board and reinstate financial benefits for them.”

Kashmir said, “Moreover, there must be a policy for outsourcing workers, reinstatement of jobs of Covid warriors (employees) who were laid-off by the government, stop privatisation of government sector and debt waiver for farmers are some of our demands.”