Politics without principles.
Kudos to Munjul ( Daily News and Analysis, December 8) for the
excellent cartoon on FDI in retail. UPA did not show the same
commitment for anti-corruption bill. Such a bill
would have thrown many politicians in jail. The move seems to be more
political than economic just as in the case of Indo-US nuclear deal.
Just like the nuclear deal, FDI may not fulfill the hopes raised by
the frantic effort to pass the FDI in retail. PM just want to get
approval from the New York Times, the Economist and the Time magazine
who derided him as 'under-achiever'.
It is not just SP, BSP and DMK but Congress in Kerala and NCP in
Maharashtra have reservations about the move. That UPA tried these two
moves by manipulating the majority makes one feel doubts about the
commitment of the Congress for the democratic norms.
Mahatma Gandhi had mentioned 'Politics without principles' as one of
the seven social sins. This is the best, rather the worst example, of
sociaI sin that Gandhiji referred to. I wonder how SP, BSP and DMK can
justify abstaining or voting for FDI in retail to the people and their
own followers after denouncing in same in their speeches in parliament
and demonstrating against it.
Multi-brand retailers such as Wall-Mart are famous, rather notorious,
for 'squeezing' the farmers as well as small enterprises and
'predatory' pricing for the consumers. A recent example was the fire
in a garment factory in Bangladesh where these brands access their
products with a very thin margin for the manufacturers who could not
afford proper facilities to their workers.
India has a very good example of milk co-operatives like Amul ( The
Gujarat Co-op.Milk Federation) which ensures fair return to the
farmers and fair price for the consumer. Similar effort by vegetable
and fruit farmers would have made India a pioneer in this field. Even
a co-operative by small traders could have been encouraged so that
nobody would be displaced. But this requires a visionary like Mahatma
Gandhi. It is easy to follow the beaten track set by the West which
many there decry for their greed and unfair employment practices.
December 8, 2012.
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