Probed: What's Behind the 'Bharat Bandh' Strike Today?
On July 9, 2025, a significant nationwide strike, known as the Bharat Bandh, took place across India. Led by ten major national trade unions and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, this large-scale event aimed to challenge perceived pro-corporate and anti-worker government policies, protect workers' rights, and address socio-economic challenges faced by both urban and rural populations.
The Bharat Bandh's specific demands include the repeal of four new labour codes passed by Parliament, which unions claim undermine workers' rights to strike, organize, and bargain collectively, and increase working hours. The unions also oppose privatization of public sector enterprises and services, as well as policies of outsourcing, contractorization, and casualization of the workforce.
Addressing rising unemployment and shortages in public sector jobs is another key demand. The unions aim to mitigate growing rural distress and inflation affecting farmers and workers, and have demanded the annual labour conference, which has not been held for the past ten years.
The strike also raised demands for a living wage for workers, a national minimum wage of Rs 26,000 a month, and a minimum pension of Rs 9,000 per month. Workers are seeking concrete steps to create jobs and address burgeoning unemployment, especially among the youth. The unions also aim to stop the government's drive to privatize public sector outfits.
In addition, the striking unions seek strengthening of the MG-NREGS scheme and ensuring more than 100 days of work. They also aim to stop the government's drive to privatize public sector outfits. The unions have re-submitted a 17-point charter of demands to the Labour minister, Mansukh Mandavia, as they claim no serious action has been taken on these demands in the past.
Essential services such as hospitals and emergency services were expected to function normally during the strike. However, disruptions were reported in public transport, banks, postal services, and government offices in various regions. Kerala experienced a complete shutdown, while Delhi and Mumbai remained unaffected.
The Bharat Bandh is part of a long-time movement against economic and labor policies that the unions and farmer groups deem anti-worker and pro-corporate. The strike involved approximately 25 crore workers and farmers, and was backed by ten unions across the nation.
The government has shifted government employees from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system under the new pension scheme. The unions have demanded the restoration of the old pension scheme, replacing the current system that has been in place since the early 2000s.
Farmers and workers in better-off states like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra have built greater solidarity since the anti-farm law protests. The unions are hopeful that their demands will be taken seriously and lead to significant policy changes and reforms to protect workers' rights and address socio-economic challenges faced by both urban and rural populations.
- The Indian strike, Bharat Bandh, on July 9, 2025, extended to a nationwide protest against perceived pro-corporate and anti-worker policies, sparking debates in the general-news regarding the future of labor rights within the business and finance sectors of the country's industry.
- The unions participating in the Bharat Bandh commencement have submitted a 17-point charter of demands, which includes the restoration of the old pension scheme in the finance sector and the protection of workers' rights to strike, organize, and bargain collectively in the labor industry.
- In light of the Bharat Bandh and its demands for addressing rural distress, inflation affecting farmers and workers, and providing a living wage, political discussions have surfaced around the need for job creation, particularly among the youth, as well as the reform of policies impacting the food industry's workers and farmers.
