-CNN-IBN As the Cabinet meets to decide on allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the multi-brand Retail, it remains to be seen whether the Prime Minister will bite the bullet. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left, UPA ally Trinamool Congress along with some Cabinet ministers Veerappa Moily and Mukul Wasnik have opposed it. While the BJP feels that FDI will lead to unemployment, the Left has said that it may lead...

-The Hindu   The Bharatiya Janata Party is unambiguous in opposing the government move to throw open the Retail sector to Foreign Direct Investment. The party believes that allowing foreign investment in multi-brand Retail would adversely impact the Retail sector, which is growing, and put the country's entire food chain system into the hands of foreign firms. At a news conference here, leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha,...

-The Economic Times   With the entry of foreign supermarket players, farmers across India's six lakh villages stand to gain from greater market access, higher profits, better technology and direct linkage with consumers.  "Direct purchase from farms has hugely benefited small farmers like us who were not getting good returns by selling in the local mandi," said Abdul Majid, from Malerkotla in Punjab, who has been selling vegetables from his one-acre farm to...

An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...

-The Indian Express   The finance ministry has come to an agreement with the department of industrial policy and promotion about what the government’s policy towards foreign direct investment in Retail should look like. This means the Retail FDI proposal will be placed before the cabinet soon, and hopefully will be cleared as soon as possible. Currently, only 51 per cent foreign investment is permitted, and only in stores selling a single...