Manmohan Singh today refused to yield to pressure on the question of allowing foreign direct investment in retail and appeared ready for a protracted battle, including the risk of a vote in Parliament despite his government’s fragile majority. Somewhat reminiscent of his nuclear deal stand, the Prime Minister confronted those who had accused the government of taking a hasty decision on retail. “We have not taken this decision in haste, but after...
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Govt rejects railways’ Rs 2,101cr loan plea by Mahendra Kumar Singh
At a time when the government is willing to pump thousands of crores for the revival of national carrier Air India, the finance ministry has rejected railways' plea for a temporary loan of Rs 2,101 crore to fund its development works. Turning down the loan request, the ministry has the asked state-run transporter, which is under acute financial stress, to meet its liabilities by raising resources. Railways made the demand considering negative...
More »Embattled Patel General Stores by Ajit Balakrishnan
The battle for India’s retail market is being fought not just in the halls of Parliament and on the front pages of newspapers but also on the little stretch of road near my home in Mumbai, where Colaba Causeway peters out into Navy Nagar. The outsize name board, “Patel General Stores”, had proudly announced itself for as long as I can remember. Recently, however, I noticed that the board had been...
More »Unanimous opposition to ‘targeted' Food Security Bill by Gargi Parsai
Cutting across party lines, several members of Parliament backed a universal public distribution system to ensure food security for all citizens “as a right” and vowed to oppose the ‘targeted' food security Bill in Parliament. Among the participants at a Jan Manch organised by the Right to Food Campaign were G. Vivekananda, K. Keshava Rao and Mani Shankar Aiyer (Congress), Prakash Javadekar (BJP), Brinda Karat and P. Rajeev (CPI-M), D. Raja...
More »Wholesale sell-out by Sitaram Yechury
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...
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