LOC19:40
16:40 GMT
NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (KUNA) -- Several cities across Indian states witnessed protest strikes on Thursday leaving normal life out of gear.
Press Trust of India said that several trade unions and farmers organisations held protest strikes against recent India-US trade deal and government policies that are anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-national pro-corporate.
Indian states of Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab saw normal life affected due to the strike. Public transport, markets, educational institutions, and business establishments were affected in Odisha, as major roads were blocked.
Banking, insurance and coal sectors have been affected by the strike in Jharkhand, as left parties and the Congress extended their support to the strike in the state.
Several banks remained closed in Chhattisgarh, as employees joined the strike. Staff of insurance companies, post offices, along with labourers and farmers, also participated in the agitation.
Normal life was affected in Tamil Nadu, as port workers staged protests affecting operations in Thoothukudi and Chennai. In Kerala, the state government supported the strike, declaring it a day when no legal business is carried on and shops and businesses also remained closed.
In Punjab, the AAP led government extended support to the nationwide strike. In Goa, banking operations were affected while essential services remained undisrupted. However, the call for strike failed to evoke any response in West Bengal, Tripura and Gujarat. The joint forum of trade unions said that 300 million workers are being mobilised for the strike across the country.
All India Trade Union Congress General Secretary Amarjeet Kaur told PTI that the general strike has started across the country and there reports of agitation from Assam, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Odisha and Bihar. Banking, insurance, postal, transport, health, coal and non-coal mines, gas pipeline and electricity sectors were affected in different parts of the country.
India and the US recently issued a joint statement announcing reaching at a framework for an Interim Agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade.
As per the Agreement, India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products.
The US will apply a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 percent on originating goods of India, including textile and apparel, leather and footwear, plastic and rubber, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal products, and certain machinery. (end)
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