CITU, Kisan Sabha and All India Agricultural Workers Union decide on nationwide agitation on August 9, Quit India Day

The CITU, the Kisan Sabha and the All India Agricultural Workers Union have decided to hold a nationwide agitation on August 9, Quit India Day, against the anti-farmer and anti-worker measures the central government is carrying out under cover of the lockdown.

The joint trade unions are organising the agitation with demands including free treatment for all; financial help of Rs 7,500 a month for six months for families outside the income tax net; 10 kg of free food grains for six months; 200 days of work under the employment guarantee scheme at a daily wage of Rs 600, or an unemployment allowance; an urban employment guarantee scheme;

and the withdrawal of the ordinances and orders issued on essential commodities, agricultural trade, the Electricity Act and labour laws.

Under cover of Covid, the central government is corporatising agriculture, industry and defence as a whole.

The Modi government is declaring war on the workers and farmers who create the country's wealth, CITU general secretary Tapan Sen said after the committee of the joint organisations met at B T R Bhavan in Delhi.

As part of the nationwide agitation, the joint trade unions decided to hold a protest day on July 3

and protests at village and sub-division level on July 23.