The nation will bear the brunt of the bank employees across the country as they close down in protest on Wednesday and Thursday. India Inc, 27 nationalized banks, 12 private banks and  8 Global banks, with over 10 lakh employees shall remain closed for two days. After the Sunday and Id Festival holiday on Monday, banks are sure to be filled with consumers today. And the traffic shall be in multiples owing to the proposed protest for the next two days. Do not keep any transactions pending, be patient and  complete them today. The protest on August 22 and 23 will be against the proposed reforms in the sector. A bill to this regards is in the parliament for tabulations.

United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the umbrella organization of five employee unions and four officer unions of state-run banks in the country has uni-vocally decided on this massive strike, says a statement. The association was against the slew of suggestions made by the Center-appointed Khandelwal Committee. As per the panel more outsourcing of non-core activities in a time-bound manner was required to improve the sagging sector. The Committee also suggested that the standard of recruitment, including methodology and content for testing, had to be raised. Testing of computer skills should be mandatory for both officers and clerks, as the bank work involves more hands on desktops.

Khandelwal Committee also felt it mandatory to maintain the minimum qualifications as graduation and 10 class for clerks and sub-staff respectively. The Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, that is right now in parliament has Khandelwal Committee's wish list tabled and is due for consideration. (With inputs from internet-AW AarKay)