Gramin bank employees in the country are on a warpath against the Union government, protesting against the proposed disinvestment in the rural banking sector. They will go on a nationwide strike on June 30, demanding that the BJP government withdraw from the move to privatise the gramin banks.
The United Forum of Regional Rural Bank Unions is spearheading the agitation against the Centre.
A statement by different gramin bank unions said here on Saturday that the government was trying to destroy the gramin banks by trying to privatise them. “You cannot expect the rural sector to be served well if the bank is privatised. The private sector has only one aim: profit. The gramin banks too will go that way,” they said.
The unions also demanded that the employees of gramin banks be given the same pension as the staff of their sponsor banks.
At present, there are 56 gramin banks across the country with different banks sponsoring them. In Kerala, while North Malabar Gramin Bank was sponsored by Syndicate Bank, South Malabar Gramin Bank had Canara Bank as its sponsor. The two banks merged in 2013, with Canara Bank continuing to sponsor the new Kerala Gramin Bank.
