Parliament Standing Committee on Commerce invites suggestions of public on Foreign and Domestic investment in Retail Sector.
The department related parliamentary standing committee on commerce, headed by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, M.P., is examining the subject of Foreign and Domestic Investment in Retail Sector.
The committee has already heard some oral evidence and has also undertaken on the spot study visits to some places. The Committee would also like to receive inputs from a wider cross section of stakeholders and the public at large.
Please do submit your views and suggestions to the Committee. You may send your written memoranda (either in English or Hindi) on the above subject to
Shri Surinder Kumar Watts
Director
Rajya Sabha Secretariat
240, Second Floor
Parliament House Annexe
New Delhi-110001
Tel: 011-23034240
Fax: 011-23013158
You can also email at watts@sansad.nic.in
Those desirous of being heard in person may indicate their willingness in their written suggestions / views.
Note: The last date for submission is 12 July 2008.
( A reference draft is given below. You are welcome to use it for drafting your memorandum )
In Solidarity !
Dharmendra Kumar
Director
India FDI Watch
M-9871179084
Email: dkfordignity@yahoo.co.uk
dkfordignity@gmail.com
======================
Memorandum to the Standing Committee on Commerce on Foreign and domestic investment in retail sector
To,
Shri Surinder Kumar Watts
Director
Rajya Sabha Secretariat
240, Second Floor
Parliament House Annexe
New Delhi-110001
Tel: 011-23034240
Fax: 011-23013158
Email: watts@sansad.nic.in
Sir,
India is a land of retail democracy- hundreds of thousands of weekly haats and bazaars are located across the length and breadth of our country by people’s own self-organizational capacities.
Our streets are bazaars / open markets – lively, vibrant, safe and the source of livelihood for millions.
In a country with large numbers of people, and high levels of poverty, the existing model of retail democracy is the most appropriate in terms of economic viability and ecological sustainability. The huge hype of the entry of corporate retail into India is infact nothing but a HIJACK of our vibrant, well organized, multi faceted, quality conscious, consumer friendly, Retail Service Economy.
Corporate retail will not create two million jobs — it will destroy 38 million livelihoods – the backbone of Indian unorganized retail economy.
People involved in running small shops, redis and street markets. The growth being projected as a new contribution to the economy hides the destruction of the contribution of the 40 million people involved in small retail to the Indian economy. Indian trade is highly organized and has existed for centuries on the basis of low cost and high efficiency. India needs the self organized skills of our traders, shopkeeper, hawkers and vendors both to provide employment to millions and affordable friendly community service for basic needs to society.
Our retail democracy is characterized by :
1. High levels of livelihoods in retail with nearly 40 million employed which accounts for 8% of the employment and 4% of the entire population.
2. High levels of self organisation.
3. Low capital input
4. High levels of decentralization
India has the highest shop density in the world, with 11 outlets per 1000 people. This number is very high compared to international average. It is the high level of decentralization in Indian market that keeps all these businesses running.
The existing decentralized retail environment in India, is the model for the future democratic, decentralized markets of the world.
Certainly not the so called “Undeveloped Retail”, requiring massive inputs of centralized, global, whimsical, unregulated, injection of speculative capital and logistics operations, governed by investor board rooms.
Unfortunately, there are people who are favouring the model that is increasingly being rejected by the developed countries and large sections of civil society in developed countries, who do not want to be force fed by a handful of consolidated retail chains.
The entry of the giant corporate retail in India’s food market will have direct impact on India’s 650 million farmers and 40 million people employed in retail. If we take examples of other countries, we can see that nowhere ( YES NOWHERE in the developed world, even where sophisticated Independent Market Regulatory Policies and Anti Monopoly regimes, with legal teeth and crippling penalty imposing powers, are in place ! ) have these corporations ever thought about the fragile connections between the People, Society and the Ecology.
Entry of Mega Corporations in Indian food market, will have disastrous political, social, economic and ecological outcomes in time to come, going much beyond the existing stakeholders.
IMPACTS OF CORPORATE ENTRY INTO RETAIL :
SOCIO – ECONOMIC IMPACT :
Livelihood of millions of small and big shopkeepers will be uprooted to set up the chain of corporation owned retail.
After farming, retailing is India’s major occupation. Census 2001 provides us the most authentic data on people involved in retail. According to it, there were 269 lakh `main’ and 24 lakh marginal workers in wholesale and retail trade. That is, nearly three crore people depend on trade, 1.1 crore in the urban and 1.9 crore in the rural areas. Of the total, nearly 1.7 crore are not even matriculates. Thus, the livelihood of more than 30 million is involved and if we count the dependents, in the form of children and others, at least 120 million will be impacted by the retail revolution created by the large corporations. The growth of corporate retail will take place by destroying the self-organized small retail in India.
In past researches have shown us that a growth in unemployment leads to a series of social problems, like rise in poverty, alcoholism, domestic violence, indebt ness, suicides, crime and have major implications by even making the political situation unstable. If we are following the American model of Walmart where the store employee gets a salary which is below the poverty line and the top management gets millions of dollars every year. We are following a trend that increases the divide between rich and the poor and history has shown us that these divide have always led to social unrest and political turmoil of a nation.
In the long run the independence of the farmer will be lost
Reliance and Walmart are presenting themselves as friends and liberators of farmers and they refer to small traders as middleman, as if they are not giant middleman. Atleast in the case of small traders, farmers have a choice in terms of whom to sell. The APMC Acts also ensures that farmers would get a fair price and there would be no single buyer. In contrast, Reliance and Walmart are monopnistic (a situation when there is one buyer and too many sellers) buyers who in due course of time will drive down procurement prices of agricultural and manufactured products.
They claim that they are paying more to the farmers, but the truth is that they are at present procuring from the existing mandis all across the nation, and not straight from the farmers, so there is no question of paying better returns to the farmers.
We have seen the dismantling of mandis in last couple of years in various parts of the country. The primary force behind this was the corporate entry into the supply chain management of food. It is true that this year they have paid better prices to the farmers than the mandis, what is threatening is the reduction in the number of options the farmer is left with to sell his/her crop. Similarly for the manufactured goods, the prices paid by the retails giants might be more competitive than others, but after other retails are wiped out, how many options will the producer have to sell his/her products. Farmers will be bound to produce as per the will of these corporations and have to sell at cheaper prices as decided by them. The experience of farmers of west has been the like this. If we also keep moving in the same fashion and there is no doubt that our farmers will also have to face such situation.
Threat to the existing industries :
Moreover another threat that we will be facing is the opening of a giant pipeline of cheaply sourced goods from China, Thailand, ASEAN, etc., leading to livelihood losses on a massive scale in India. This will be very harmful for our manufacturing sector and specifically our small scale industries. Our manufacturing sector is not as developed as these countries and competing with them at this time means wiping out our manufacturing industries.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACT :
Climate change :
Climate change due to air pollution is already becoming a threat to human life. Temperatures are rising, sea level is rising and glaciers are melting. The imperative in the contaxt of climate change is to prevent increase of use of fossil fuel. Our hawker, redi wala and kirana store is the solution to climate change.The Reliance , Bharti- Walmart model will increase fossil fuel use and carbon emissions. Further destabilizing the climate the super market Lorries will consume huge amount of fuel and lead to enormous pollution. Even if we go by conservative estimates the super market Lorries in India will generate more than 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, adding more problems to the already fragile environment of the country. When petroleum is becoming more and scarcer, the Lorries of these supermarkets will consume more than 1 billion litre of petroleum per year.
For refrigeration of the vegetables and fruits, and for air-conditioning the retail outlets atleast 20,000 megawatt of additional electricity will be needed. We need to burn millions of tonnes of coal everyday to get this energy; the carbon-di-oxide released from burning this coal will substantially affect the climate patterns of the country. We are already in a stage where the present levels of pollution, and carbon-di-oxide emissions is going to wipe out the human existence out of world in a few years, at this point creating any model that increases carbon-di-oxide in the environment will be disastrous to all of us, even the propagators of this model.
Excessive Pesticides and Preservative in our food : The giant retail chains have their own standards of buying farm produce impacting on agricultural practices of independent farmers. Without using excessive pesticides it is very difficult for a farmer to produce fruits and vegetable which fits into the standards, so they are forced to use excessive insecticides and pesticides. Once these farm produce come to the retail giants, they sell it throughout the year, by preserving them in cold storage, but in the process a lot of preservatives are also added to the food. So at the end when a consumer gets a “preserved†vegetable from these giant stores, it is full of toxic material harmful for consumption.
Packaging of food creates a huge amount of unnecessary waste in the already polluted cities, woefully lacking, immense investments in waste recycling and disposal of food packagings.
At a time when every city and City Municipal Council, in the country is struggling to solve the problem of solid waste and refuse from urban environments, increase in the packaging waste, due to the mall culture will add to their woes.
Will these corporates and investment barons carry the financial and health burden of this packaging waste recycling and food wastage ?
The existing land fills are getting filled and then more land of the poor farmers will be acquired to make landfills for Reliance’s and Walmart’s packaging waste.
Sir, Corporate Retail giants like Walmart, Carrefour, Reliance and Tesco have become agents of destruction of skilled and semi skilled employment, community sharing practices, and respect for the local environment.
These mega retail brands have become known as Big Brands, in developed economies for all the wrong reasons, leaving behind, priced out Farmers forced to leave farming, and consumers identified by Shopper ID and Shopping Points !!
Across the world, movements are going on to create local farmers markets and street markets to resist the monoculture and monopolies of supermarkets. But alas, they come too late in the developed world, where only a small minority of overall population, constitutes the farming community and merchants.
Farmers in developed countries have been priced out of sustainable farming by food retail companies, into social security nets of developed countries.
Not so in India, which lacks even a semblance of legal infrastructure, citizen livelihood security, unemployment benefits and social security investments by federal or state governments !!
India has the diversity and the decentralization that large sections of increasingly restive civil society of the developed countries are seeking.
Let us not allow the destruction of our rich and robust small scale retail at this important and decisive phase of our collective retail democracy.
Let us not vote for monopolies, trade blocs, angel investors, venture funds, hedge fund investors, speculators, and invisible corporate boardroom investors, by playing illogically and against our collective self interest, with the diversity of our existing retail infrastructure.
Let us protect our diversified, decentralized retail democracy. Save our livelihoods, save our farmers, save our traders, save our communities, save our citizens. Save India.
Charter of Demands :
A Enact strict law to ban all corporations in retail and agriculture
B Cancel all Wholesale Cash-N-Carry permission granted to foreign corporations & immediately stop the backdoor entry of Wal-Mart
C Formulate a National Policy on Regulating Retail Trade and Small Manufacturing Industries
D Implement the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors in all states and municipalities with central financial support.
E Institute Independent Special Task Force comprising representatives of stakeholders to Study on the Socio-Economic-Environmental and Cultural Impact of Corporate Retail
F Enact stiff binding laws against predatory pricing, cartelization, price fixation, speculation, mergers and anti-competitive conduct of corporations
G Repeal the APMC Model Act
H Decriminalize street vending by amendment to the Indian Penal Code, Police Act, and all relevant State and Municipal acts.
I Protect natural markets
Provide social security for hawkers, including pension, maternity, and health benefits
Self Appointed Liberators of the Retail Sector demand OPEN MINDS – and WALLETS ?
Arvind Singhal: Liberating the retail sector
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu2&subLeft=3&autono=324337&tab=r
The report must be read more carefully, and with an open mind, by those vociferous elements in the UPA government (read: Left parties), Mayawati of BSP, and our own Don Quixotes going by names such as India FDI Watch.
Retail giants operating without license
Making the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation a captive, retail giants are setting up shops in various centres in the city. Big Bazaar still functions without the Corporation’s licence, said Mayor C. Jayan Babu.
ITC Chaupal Fresh expansion on hold
ITC, the fresh vegetable retailer under the brands Choupal Fresh have hit a pause on their expansion plans. Currently the company operates 24 Choupal Sagars – large format rural stores that complement the e-choupal initiative. It also has 27 Choupal Fresh stores in Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh.
Australian farmers “ripped off” by supermarkets
In Australia, the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission into grocery pricing that the major grocery chains are ripping off consumers and farmers by labelling the same products differently.
K. RAHEJA HyperCity to abandon neighbourhood store format
K. Raheja-owned HyperCITY Retail has abandoned plans announced last year to launch a neighbourhodd store format under the ExpressCITY banner.
Food prices are growing, but farmers’ share of the profit is not
The farmer’s share of the retail food dollar is about the same today as it was in the 1970s. Take corn, for example. According to economists at the American Farm Bureau Federation, the farmer receives less than 8 cents for the corn used in an 18-ounce box of corn flakes selling for $3.30 at the grocery store. It is pretty much the same for a loaf of bread. The farmer receives about 16 cents from a loaf of bread that sells for $1.78. The farmer’s share of a 5-pound bag of flour costing $2.39 is $1.10.
Govt needs to chalk out national retail policy: Assocham
The government needs to formulate a national retail policy to facilitate co-existence of both organised and unorganised retail, besides setting up an independent regulator for governing the retailing sector, a report by industry body Assocham says.
Decision on FDI in retail unlikely in UPA regime
apart from the broad political opposition, the Government has come under severe pressure from scores of trade and industry bodies from across the country against FDI in retail. A total of 44 trade and industry associations have represented to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)
Organised retail to capture 25 pc market by 2011
In a surprise finding that organised retail is growing faster than expected in India, a study has forecast that this segment could account for a quarter of the total retail revenues by 2011 from the current 8 per cent share.
Retail will drive growth of fruits and vegetables: Pawar
According to the ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, about 72 per cent of the fruit and vegetable produced in the country goes waste because of lack of proper retailing and adequate storage capacity. P K Mishra, secretary in the ministry’s department of agriculture and co-operation, said so while was speaking at a Fruit and Vegetable Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Indian Railways offering retail space
The Indian Railways is soon going to offer around 4,800 hectares of land to retail and logistics companies to set up retail outlets, agri-retail infrastructure and warehouses. Around 3,000 sites have already been identified by the railways across the country for the purpose.
Mom & Pop shops eye cooperatives to take on big retailers
Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal (BUVM), the biggest national-level association of mom and pop stores (kirana stores) that comprises 17,000 state- and district-level associations across 27 states, is planning to form co-operatives throughout India helping its members benefit from a common sourcing and shared infrastructure (logistics, storage and billing) platform.
AUSTRALIA calls for overhaul of planning laws
A report in Australia, commissioned by Urban Taskforce Australia, recommends a review of state planning laws regulating new supermarkets and large food stores.
Reliance to invest Rs 5,000 crore in converting 700-odd closed fuel pumps into malls/ multiplexes
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) which incurred a loss of about Rs 800 crore on operations of its 1,432 fuel stations during 2007-08 is looking at converting about 700 to 800 of them into shopping malls and multiplex halls.
Wal-Mart joins the dairy retail club
Wal-mart is the newest entrant in the diary procurement and retail business in Punjab. Wal-mart has been buying milk directly from cooperatives rather than from farmers.
RPG plans Rs 1000 crore expansion; revamping old stores
Eyeing Rs 1,800 crore turnover this fiscal, RPG group has planned aggressive expansion plans for its retail business.
VISHAL turnover amibitions
Vishal Group plans to increase its turnover from the current INR1,000 crore (USD248 million) to INR5,000 crore (USD1,240 million) by 2011. Vishal is having a revenue growth of 90-100% every year.
In Solidarity!
Dharmendra Kumar
Director
India FDI Watch
M-9871179084
Email:
BHARTI retail banner name unveiled
According to reports, Bharti Retail may call its retail outlets – Easy Day. The company is finalising its plans for the rollout and is expected to open its first store later this year. “Easy Day was among the names being considered, adding that the company has not taken a final decision on it,” the source added. Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal said, “You can hear from us on the final concrete plans before April-end.”
French government attacks food retailers and manufacturers :
The French government has accused food manufacturers and retailers of taking advantage of global food prices to boost their profits and has threatened action against such market “abuses†. Francois Fillon, prime minister, said the government would investigate why prices had risen faster in France than in neighbouring European countries. “There have clearly been abuses on the part of manufacturers and retailers who are profiting from the rises in commodity prices to increase their margins,” he said. Retailers rejected the accusation saying that they had already cut their margins to stem price rises.
TESCO accused of setting up offshore tax avoidance scheme :
According to reports in The Times, Tesco has set up an elaborate offshore tax avoidance scheme which could see the retailer avoid paying as much as GBP1 billion (USD2 billion) of tax on profits from the sale and leaseback of its UK properties to external investors through the use of a number of companies in the Cayman Islands. The story cited a Tesco spokesman as saying the allegations were “wrong… Far from avoiding tax, Tesco is a top ten UK taxpayer, contributing more than GBP1 billion (USD2 billion) to the Exchequer last year. The profits from Tesco’s share in these offshore property partnerships are included in full in Tesco’s UK tax returns and the details of the agreements have been provided to Her Majestys Revenue & Customs department.”
Organised Retail sector seeks industry status in this budget
FICCI had prepared a charter of demands for the US$ 12 billion “organised retail sector”, which is currently growing at 30-35% per annum.
Here is a list of major demands :
· The sector should be granted industry status.
· Uniform tax structure should be implemented. Gradual shift from the various state taxes to uniform tax would result in ease in sourcing goods efficiently and in turn aid the growth of the retail sector. The introduction of VAT in all states would result into the scrapping of differential sales tax prevailing in different states on the same product.
· Allow retailers to adjust the service tax on all inputs (rents and telephone) against the sales tax they collect from customers. The retailers who pay the state VAT do not have any output service tax against which they can set off service tax paid by them.
· Eliminate multiple licenses and clearances. Retailers need to obtain licenses and permits such as basic trading licenses, product specific licenses, pollution clearances etc for every retail outlet (even its a chain store). This only delays the opening of stores and increases cost.
· FDI limit should be further liberalised, which will ensure development of robust cold chain system, bets retailing practices and wide range of goods and services at competitive prices. It will also bring along with it increased focus on farmer education and training resulting into better crop/ yield management practices. 100% FDI in multi brand retailing must be allowed in certain areas such as electronics, automobiles, sports goods etc.
In Solidarity!
Dharmendra Kumar
Director
India FDI Watch
M-09871179084
राजस्थान की भाजपा सरकार नें किराना व लघु व्यापारी समर्थन में कानूनी कदम उठाए
Small traders and hawkers won another battle. This time in Rajasthan. In its fifth budget, Rajasthan’s BJP government has proposed several ’small trader’ friendly proposals – including a four percent tax on fruits and vegetables sold by corporate-run food stores like Reliance Fresh and Spencers. The levy is aimed at protecting street vendors. Prabhulal Saini, Agriculture Minister, Rajasthan said, “Small vendors and traders cannot compete with big retailers. So to bridge this gap and encourage the small traders, we have made a proposal to levy 4% tax. The small vendor should be able to sell vegetables without paying tax, get concessions & earn his livelihood.
In another development, European Union (EU) calls for new supermarkets inquiry. The European Union assembly has this week called for an investigation into the practices of the larger grocery chains across the continent. The assembly said that the EU’s competition body, the European Commission, should intervene to protect consumer choice and the environment.
Reliance is close to signing an agreement with Polo Ralph Lauren, the US-based design and distribution house, known for its range of high-end casual and semi-formal clothings as well as accessories and fragrances under internationally famous luxury labels like Polo by Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Ralph Lauren, Black Label, Blue Label, Lauren by Ralph Lauren, Chaps and Club Monaco, to bring these premium products in India. However, it is noteworthy that only last week, following opposition by the Pacific Heights Neighborhood Association and the Fillmore Merchants Association, the city Planning Commission of San Francisco voted 6-1 to deny Ralph Lauren permission to open a boutique on Fillmore Street. People are battling against Ralph Lauren in San Francisco’s neighborhoods, and Pacific Heights is the front line. Ralph Lauren had signed a lease for 3,500 square feet at 2040 Fillmore St., the former site of Smith & Hawken, another chain store. The New York-based fashion retailer has long wanted to open a shop on Fillmore Street, where upscale national brands like Marc Jacobs, Simon Pearce and Jonathan Adler have rung up success and turned the neighborhood street into a shopping destination where one-off boutiques mingle with national players. While the Planning Department had recommended the commission approve a conditional use permit for Ralph Lauren, the Fillmore Street Merchants Association has decided to oppose all future chain retail.
Subhiksha, the discount retail chain of India, moves to legal measures to get drugs as drug companies’ are refusing to sell medicines directly to corporate retailers for fear of a boycott by their current retailers and wholesalers. The large drug retailing (5.5 lakh chemists across India) and wholesale industry is extremely well organised and is able to resist corporate hijack through the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists.
In Solidarity!
Dharmendra Kumar
Director
India FDI Watch
M-09871179084
Highlights of the Halla Bol Protest
Corp. Quit Retail !! Wal-Mart Quit India!
Total Shut Down and Mammoth Rally of 150,000 Traders in Kerala on Halla Bol
Feb 23, 2008: Traders in Kerala today downed shutters as part of the nation-wide Halla Bol protest against the entry of retail giants into the retail trade. Reports from various parts of the state said the shut down was total. The Kerala Vyapari Vyvasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) and the Kerala State Vyapari Vyvasayi Samithi (KSVVS) had together called for the strike demanding that the Government enact a law to prevent the entry of retail giants. The shut down had support of both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in the state.
More than 150,000 traders marched in Thrissur held a mammoth rally. The speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly inaugurated the rally. Many members of parliament and members of Legislative Assemblies were present in the historical rally. Sri Shyam Bihari Mishra, President, Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal was chief speaker. After the meeting, all the 150,000 people gathered in the meeting lighted candles and pledged to resist the corporate hijack of retail.
Protest marches were also taken out by the KSVVS in different parts of the state. In Thiruvananthapuram, the KSVVS marched to the secretariat. The traders demanded a legislation during the present Assembly session itself. “Now we have thought of approaching the Union Government since the state administration has not heeded our request. Why should corporate entities enter into our retail-trading sector that we have been efficiently managing? Until our demands not to let such big players snatch our livelihood are met, we will carry on our crusade against the entry of Reliance and others,” said Panangottukonam Vijayan, Secretary, Kerala State Vyapari Vyvasai Samithi. The protesters walked to the government secretariat holding banners and shouting slogans against the entry of big retail giants.
The policy of the state government is to see that these retail giants are kept out of the state, Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinnarayi Vijayan said at a mammoth gathering of traders in front of Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Kerala Governor. “The Left is of the firm view that not a single such unit – national or international – be allowed entry into Kerala,” he said. “We at the Left Democratic Front meeting have decided that the local self-governments should not give sanction to such units.”
Only a few days back, Deputy Mayor of Kochi C.K. Mani Shankar had announced opening of retail outlet of the Reliance fresh. But today, Shankar was in the forefront of a protest march in Kochi.
Reliance, Subhiksha, More were locked and ten headed effigy of corp. burnt in Delhi
Delhi-23 Feb: On the heels of the visit of Michael Duke, Vice Chairman of Walmart, hundreds of small shopkeepers and hawkers staged militant protest at the doorsteps of Reliance Fresh, Subhiksha and More in Shakarpur area of Delhi. The protesters forced corporations to down their shutters and locked them. A ten headed tall effigy was also burnt. Each head of the effigy was symbolizing corporations namely Wal-Mart, Tesco, Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Subhiksha, More, Spencers, Big Apple, Metro and Carrefour.
Addressing the protesters, Vijay Prakash Jain, General Secretary, Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal said “The livelihood of retail traders are at stake. If big corporations like Wal-Mart and Reliance are allowed to enter into the retail trade, small traders and street vendors would be finished. We warn the govt. not to play with the livelihood of traders, manufacturers, hawkers and suppliers. We demand to enact strict law to ban all corporations in retail trade and formulate a National Policy for Retail Trade and Small Manufacturing Industries.” Mr. Jain announced that to strike back and make corporations realise that we will not let them ruin our livelihoods a national mass rally of hundreds of thousands of people will be organized in the Ram Lila ground of Delhi on 23rd April this year.
Ashwani Jain, Convenor of the Halla Bol protest stated “There are 40 million people depending on the retail sector. There are no employment avenues available for our youths and crores of families survive on the retail trade. Those who are saying that new jobs will be created by big corporations in retail need to realize that thousands more will be lost. Mr. Jain further said, “To justify themselves corporations are creating myths. They are creating the myth that they will sell cheap and fresh. But, consumers will have to pay for the high input of corporate retail such as real estate, air conditioning, educated salesmen and women, wasteful consumption of electricity and many more. In the long run, consumers will be the ultimate looser, as once corporate retail drive out their competitors and their monopoly is established they will buy low and sell at high price.
Dharmendra Kumar, Director of India FDI Watch and Convenor of National Movement for Retail Democracy said, “We have gathered here to tell the govt. that traders are ready to come on the streets if monopoly of a few corporations is favoured in the retail sector. The infamous retail giant of the world Wal-Mart has entered from the back door using Bharti-Airtel as its fig leaf circumventing the wholesale cash & Carry permission. This is a gross transgression of the intention behind Wholesale Cash and Carry Permission. Bharti will only be a thin cover for Wal-Mart’s profit making proclivities. Bharti will only function as a fixed margin operator. The warning bells are dire for our small manufacturers, suppliers, shopkeepers and street vendors.”
Hakim Singh Rawat, President, Delhi Hawkers welfare Association said, “Corporate retail intent to hijack the whole supply chain from ‘Farm to Folk’ and establish monopoly by becoming producer, wholesaler, distributor and retailer and targets to dictate the market to fulfill their greed. The hawker sells much fresher than any of these shops. Long distance supply chain and refrigeration means stale fruits and vegetables.
Mr. Prem Arora, President, Kirana Committee Delhi, Mr. Ajay Arora, President, Federation of Traders Associations of Delhi, Shafik Ahmad, General Secretary, Delhi Hawkers Union, Mr. Jindal Singh, President, East Delhi Hawkers Union also addressed the protesters.
Motor Cycle/car rally of Traders, Mathadi Workers, and Hawkers Closed Down Corporate Stores in Navi Mumbai
In a spectacular road show one of the first in the history of navi Mumbai one hundred motor bikes and 25 cars took to the streets and demonsrated outside various outlets of corporates. Starting from the CBD Belapur outlet of RELIANCE Fresh and followed by the CENTRE-ONE Mall, MORE, FOODLAND and a mini Rasta Roko otside the D-Mart outlet, nearly all the outlets had closed their shutters in order to avoid any damage to their stores.
The traders, workers and hawkers were demanding the protection of APMC markets, against entry of multinational and national corporations into the retail trade. The Halla Bol programme was attended by hundreds of retail and wholesale traders, Chemists, mathadi workers and hawkers. The rally was flagged off from the Mathadi Bhavan, APMC Market, navi Mumbai by senior leader of the Traders Shri Chandrakant Sanghavi and Shri Popatrao Dhonde President of the Mathadi workers union.
The Traders and mathadi workers took out a disciplined and peaceful Motor Cycle/car rally from Mathadi Bhavan , APMC market, Navi Mumbai to Khoparkairne, the rally started at 11.30 am and travel along the route covering CBD- Belapur-Seawood-Centreone- Arenjia Circl-Shivaji Maharaj Chowk- Khoparkairne and ended at 2pm at the Dana Bunder APMC Market .
The Garherings were addressed by leaders of the Traders Shri Mohan Gurnani, Shri Sharad Maru, Shri Ashok Baria, Shri Nilesh Vera and Shri Pramod Joshi. Shri Narendra Patil from the Mathadi Workers Union and Shri Prafula Mhatre and Shri Rambabu Gupta spoke on behalf of the hawkersand Shri Gawand from the cooperative sector.
Freedom Fighter led the Halla Bol Protest in Bangalore
Bangalore 23rd Feb 08: Street hawkers, retailers and other people joined at Yashawanthpur railway station to protest against corporate retails as a part of national programme of Halla bol. Shouted slogans against the fresh malls. Freedom fighter Mr. Doraiswamy, addressed the gathering and during his speech, said that, already many corporate retail companies have arrived to Bangalore and have started the business but the government is not taking any action to support the local street hawkers, retailers. He requested the mass to continue the struggle to curb the corporate retails and also raised question against police system (because police has threatened the organizers to post pone or cancel the programme and not ready to give the permission for the rally because of Lorry strike. But organizers took firm decision to continue the programme and have done it. Prior to the rally on 22nd of Feb 2008, 3 volunteers along with auto taken to the police station while canvassing the programme. They were arrested and criminal cases under KPA 92(I) were framed against them.) Mr. Doraiswamy further said, “police should give the support and security for the common people. Most of the police force of country belongs to agriculturist’s family. These companies through contract farming also cheat our farmers. I am here, let the police arrest me first, I am heading this demonstration, let the police arrest. He told that, these are always happens why should go to police and ask their permission. There is no need to ask the permission, we are the people who are protecting democracy and also electing the people to serve the people.
Ex corporator and opposition leader of Bangalore city corporation Mr.D.M. Nanjundappa, one of the guests addressed the gathering and told he will be with the hawkers and retailers of the area whenever needed and suggested the gathering not to bother about police, crores of small traders, retailers and hawkers are depending on this trade for survival. It is our right to protest and give warning to the companies that are demolishing the livelihoods.
During his speech Mr. A.K.Himakar told, if we believe in democracy it is our right to save our livelihood, we are not living in dictators country, irony is that, our people like hawkers, street vendors, retailers are struggling to lead the life where as these corporates are enjoying all the benefits of the government. Whole system of this country is supporting the corporates, what is the alternative left for the people? Government should seriously think on this issue otherwise in near future our hawkers; retailers and traders including farmers are going to hit the corporate stores like Uttar Pradesh.
Secretary of ASTRA K, Mr. K.C. Venkatesh also addressed the meeting and said, “Our food security, livelihood, our agriculture is facing serious problems because of the entry of large multinationals in retail and in agriculture if the process continue like this, we don’t know what will happened to our people. We are raising our voices to protect ourselves, our livelihoods are under threat. We are not asking any mercy or any favor from the government. It is our right to protest and we are demanding for national policy on retail.”
President of ASTRA K, Mr. Abdul Hammed addressed the gathering and told, if not today, tomorrow we are going to hit the corporate retails particularly reliance. We made a plan to go in a protest march but the police who should protect us are protecting the companies. Enough is enough in nearby days don’t expect us to follow the rules and regulation and law we are going to break the law let police arrest us. At least we will get food in jail. Retailers, hawkers and traders are under serious crises, does not know what to do, but as a trader I am ready for violence also if our voice is not heard.
President of Dalit Mahasabha Karnataka Siddaramaiah, Mr. S. Babu of India FDI Watch, Mr. Shiva Prasad of SUCI, trader leader Mr. Ramu from Nelamangala and local trader leaders also addressed the gathering.
Hawkers staged two rallies in Kolkata
Under the banner of National Hawkers Federation, hawkers of Kolkata staged two rallies in the Kolkata city. Mr. Shaktiman Ghosh, General Secretary, NHF led the rallies.
Similar protests were also held in different cities across India including Allahabad, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Chennai, Nagpur, Bhuvneshwar.
भारत में खुद्रा जनवाद व व्यापार
-
Flickr Photos
More Photos
