-The Economic Times   The row over opening up of the retail sector escalated on Monday with Congress' Kerala unit backing the rollback demand of 12 Opposition-controlled state governments and UPA allies DMK and Trinamool Congress.  The fissures within the ruling alliance and the potential of the issue to bring disparate Opposition groups together saw Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervening to cut political losses for her party. Sonia, who held consultations with Prime...

The current impasse in Parliament has created a logjam that threatens to disrupt the proceedings of the winter session. The latest reason that has brought the situation to such a pass is the decision of the Union cabinet to permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail sector, opening the way for international supermarket giants like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco to open their shops in India. While the Cabinet does...

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today slammed the Centre’s move to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector by demanding immediate scrapping of the UPA’s “ill advised and regressive” retail policy. “In our considered view, this policy is ill-advised and highly regressive. I would, therefore, earnestly request you to reconsider the matter and withdraw this policy immediately,” said Naveen in a letter to Prime Minister manmohan singh. Apart...

With deep pockets and international sourcing capabilities, global retail chains will outcompete domestic players, displace jobs, and undermine livelihoods. In predictable fashion, the manmohan singh government chose to ignore voices of opposition and implement its agenda of permitting foreign investment in the retail trade. While Parliament was in session, the Cabinet met to approve the hitherto prohibited foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, with a cap of 51 per cent on...

-The Indian Express   They had come to impart lessons on governance, but Nandan Nilekani and Ashis Nandy were forced to end their speeches abruptly at a Youth Congress convention here by impatient cadres who were more keen to listen to Rahul Gandhi. Nandy, renowned political psychologist, and Nilekani, Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India, were the two non-political speakers invited to the convention to share their experiences in governance...