Dhaka, Oct. 31 -- The cabinet has given its final approval to the Essential Services Act 2022, which provides a maximum jail term of one year for "illegally calling or supporting" a strike in the essential services sector prescribed by the government.

No strike can, in any case, disrupt public life, according to the law.

The draft of the law approved at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday will now go to parliament before it is signed into law.

Section 4 of the draft outlines which sectors the government will consider essential services, while Section 5 prohibits strikes, lockdowns or lay-offs, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters at the Secretariat after the meeting.

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