Bharat Bandh on September 27: Bank officers' union joins farmers' call for total shutdown

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Bharat Bandh: The All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AlBOC) on Wednesday extended its support to the 'Bharat Bandh' called by the farmer group Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on September 27.

The bank officers’ association, AIBOC has requested the government to re-open dialogue with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on their demands and rescind the three contentious farm laws.

AIBOC affiliates and state units will join in solidarity with the protest actions of the farmers all over the country on Monday, the union said in a statement.

The union said it indicates that the government's target of doubling farmers' income by 2022 seems a distant dream, citing the NSS Land and Livestock holdings of Households and Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households, 2018-19 report released earlier this month.

The average outstanding loan per agricultural household has increased to Rs 74,121 in 2018 from Rs 47,000 in 2013. The growing indebtedness of agricultural households reflects deep farm distress, it said.

SKM issues guidelines for Bharat Bandh

Issuing guidelines for the September 27 'Bharat Bandh' against the Centre's three farm laws, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) had said it would be peaceful and farmers will ensure that the public faces minimal inconvenience.

The bandh will start at 6 am and it will remain in force till 4 pm. During this time, central and state government offices, markets, shops, factories, schools, colleges and other educational institutions will not be allowed to function.

Public and private transport will not be allowed to ply on roads. No public functions will be allowed. Only emergency services, including ambulances and fire services, will be allowed to function during the bandh.

The farmer protests have completed 300 days on Wednesday and show no signs of abating. The SKM, an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions, said that the farmers have continued their protest for over nine months now because the government has been "adamant" on not repealing the contentious farm laws. It said lakhs of farmers are protesting at Delhi borders not of their "own volition".

The SKM had said the farmers' protest is a matter of "protecting their livelihoods, basic productive resources and the future of the next generation".

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