Bharat Bandh, Bank Strike Today News: Banking and public transport services were thrown out of gear in West Bengal and Kerala on Monday as thousands of workers began their two-day nationwide strike against various policies of the government. While essential services mostly remained unaffected, banking services in different parts of the country were partially impacted and there were reports of workers staging protests at several places across states. Electricity and fuel supplies remained unaffected but unions claimed the agitation has had an impact in coal mining belts in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people. Their demands include the scrapping of the labour codes, no privatisation in any form, scrapping of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), increased allocation of wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and regularisation of contract workers