 For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. 200 million Indian workers will go on strike on November 26th. The call for this massive country-wide action has been given by 10 central trade unions and dozens of independent federations. Simultaneously, an Umbrella platform of over 300 farmers' organizations has called for a two-day protest on November 26th and 27th in coordination with the trade unions. It is expected on November 26th that workers in all major industrial sectors including steel, coal, telecom, engineering, transport, defense production, and financial establishments like banks and insurance will down tools and hold protests. Government scheme workers, most of whom are women, will also strike work. At the same time, on November 26th and 27th, farmers will hold protest actions in all district headquarters or in front of the state legislative assemblies. So why are workers going on strike? Industrial workers and employees and service sector have been demanding an increase in minimum wages, an end to contractual work, a reduction in the price of essential commodities, and an end to the sale of public sector units for a long time. Despite holding several demonstrations, the far-right Narendra Modi government has displayed only hostility towards the workers. It has completely ignored these demands over the years. This hostility and apathy forced the workers to go on strike in 2015, 16, 19, and January 2020. Despite strong opposition, the Modi government rammed through four labour codes that will replace the existing protective laws for workers. These labour codes allow employers and governments to increase the workload, make it more difficult to get fair wages, easily throw out workers, appoint workers for a fixed period, and reduce the effectiveness of government run medical insurance. These laws also make it more difficult to form trade unions. So the workers have decided to go on strike to put pressure on this hostile government to accept their demands. Some of the key demands of workers include a minimum wage of Rs 21,000 a month, an assured pension of Rs 10,000 per month, 10 kilograms of food grain to all needy families and strengthening of the public distribution system, Rs 7,500 per month to all non-income tax-paying families, and withdrawal of the new labour codes. The workers are also seeking the withdrawal of three agriculture-related laws, the withdrawal of the new education policy, and spending 5% of the GDPR education and 6% on health. They also want an end to the disinvestment of public sector enterprises. Now what are the farmers demanding? The farmers of the country have, over the past several years, been agitating for a very simple thing, better prices for their produce. They were demanding that the government should declare a minimum support price that is at least 50% more than what it costs farmers to produce a crop. Now this amount is based on the recommendation made 16 years ago by the National Farmers Commission headed by M.S. Swaminathan. The farmers are also demanding that with over 50% of their community in debt, the government should waive all these debts. These two measures would help put India's agriculture back on rails by giving some support to farmers. Otherwise, due to diminishing returns and increasing debt, farmers are in deep crisis. Many have left the sector and as many as 300,000 have committed suicide in the past 25 years. This year, using the pandemic as cover, the Modi government issued three ordinances that completely transformed the existing agricultural system. These ordinances were replaced by acts of parliament in the recent monsoon session. These laws were passed without proper discussion and after removing opposition members from the House. Farmers say that these new laws not only omit any guarantee of minimum support price but in fact open the door to the complete takeover of agriculture by corporate agribusinesses and big traders. So why are workers and farmers protesting on the same days? That's because over the past few years it has been realized that the Modi government is solely responsible for the plight of both these hardworking sections that form the backbone of India's economy. In India, there are deep links between workers and farmers since most workers are families that still work on the land. The crisis in agriculture has in fact has created an army of unemployed, a section of which migrates to the cities to work in industries and the informal sector. Thus, there is already an existing organic link between these two sections. Are the workers and farmers protesting only about their own demands? No. And this lends even more significance to this unity. Both the movements have also agreed to fight against the increasing Hindutva turn taken by the Modi government. Hindutva is a form of extreme Hindu nationalism which has become one of the cornerstones of the policy of the Bharati-Janatha party of Leningra Modi. This is evident in its actions of abrogating the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act that could make Muslim second-class citizens, the push for a national register of citizens which is likely to be used against the minority community, and several other pronouncements and actions by those in power that seek to divide people on religious lines. The movements are steadfast in declaring their opposition to such moves, because they see these as attempts to divert attention from the economic crisis that is engulfing the country, specifically the workers and the farmers.