The last few days have witnessed what now has almost become a regular feature of Parliament. the otherwise disorganized opposition(which suffers from an identity crisis) is determined to score some brownie political points over the ruling coalition which is smarting from a series of high profile scandals,scams, controversies etc. and is battling hard to shed the tag of a government which has lost touch with the voters and the ultimate loser is the Indian democracy which is losing the sheen of being the 'world's largest democracy' by the day and is increasingly becoming an anarchist state.
The saddest part of this logjam is that in between all the charges and counter charges the real issue has been lost somewhere which is the very important debate on FDI in retail sector which is the apparent(though not the real) cause of this aggression. Firstly, we should take up the stand of the opposition and analyze its legitimacy, the opposition parties are time and again reminding the Indian citizen that FDI in retail will deal a death blow to small kirana shop owners, petty tradesman, farmers and competition , which leads us to ponder over the question that whether is FDI in retail is such a bright idea overall. But a closer look at the charges levelled against FDI will reveal that most of these charges are exaggerated if not totally unfounded, as far as the small kirana shop owners are concerned they have shown a remarkable adaptability and resilience against all odds to not only survive but surpass all expectations with regard to their functioning and can be compared to cockroaches as far as survival is concerned, yes they may face tough competition from retail giants but Indian public has a strong penchant for shopping with bargaining,credit,home delivery etc. which the retail giants can never ever match. Coming to the so called plight of farmers with the entrance of retail giants , it may actually raise the living standard of the farmer by increasing the purchase cost of the farm products which have only risen negligibly despite the food grain prices almost doubling in the last 4 years , now finally coming to the problems faced by petty traders or middlemen , agreed that many of them may face unemployment or reduction in profits but even then this loss can be compensated by the jobs which the retail players will generate, so we can safely say that the fears regarding the alleged catastrophic effect of retail corporations is over hyped to create a fear psychosis to say the least.So the opposition should have insisted on a discussion on this policy in a helthy manner rather then disrupting Parliament in this highly objectionable manner.
Now coming to the stand of the government, the UPA(or the Congress members of UPA) have taken great pains to explain that the opening up of retail to foreign investment will be an excellent step and will benefit each and every section of the society in long run. The reasons given by government is that it will give the farmer a higher price for its product, create 10 million jobs, reduce inflation,increase productivity and competition among retailers. Tall claims indeed but they need to be taken with a pinch(or perhaps two) of salt, as for the higher price given to farmer it can be safely said that most probably it will give them a better deal but at the same time it may harm food security of India by encouraging farmers to cultivate crops which though giving them a better monetary value may compromise the food production target of India's fragile agriculture.
As for the 'claim' of providing 10 million jobs to Indians, one is forced to wonder that whether the government is naive,foolish, thinks of the public as foolish or has each of the earlier mentioned virtues, even the representatives of the retail giants have not claimed that the retail sector will cretae 10 million jobs and in fact has kept mum on the actual number of jobs to be created by them, then how is it that the officious government in its eagerness to push for this policy pulls a figure of 10 million out of thin air with very little data to back up this claim. Finally the issue of inflation which has become the Achilles heal of the government , eluding all the measures of government and instead of diminishing it has shown a sharp ascent , can it be checked through the entry of retail giants, I have serious doubts over the wisdom behind this argument, we all know that food inflation has become a big problem in last few years and India cannot remain totally immune from its effects, however, what the government can and must do is to streamline the process of food supply and ensure that black marketeers do not rule the roost. Sadly, the government has turned a blind eye to this factor and despite the strong protest of Left parties has allowed futures trading in commodities to continue unabashed which has created an artificial rise in the price of food commodities, in this way the prices of most commodities are artificially increased without any kind of shortage of these products. So the government also does not has clean hands with respect to this sensitive matter.
A much better way forward for government could have been to introduce this policy in parliament followed by a short discussion rather then announcing the policy, stubbornly supporting it and then having to eat the crow(in the process eroding whatever little credibility the government had) and losing the precious time which should have been spent on debating/discussing the major isses before the nation.
The saddest part of this logjam is that in between all the charges and counter charges the real issue has been lost somewhere which is the very important debate on FDI in retail sector which is the apparent(though not the real) cause of this aggression. Firstly, we should take up the stand of the opposition and analyze its legitimacy, the opposition parties are time and again reminding the Indian citizen that FDI in retail will deal a death blow to small kirana shop owners, petty tradesman, farmers and competition , which leads us to ponder over the question that whether is FDI in retail is such a bright idea overall. But a closer look at the charges levelled against FDI will reveal that most of these charges are exaggerated if not totally unfounded, as far as the small kirana shop owners are concerned they have shown a remarkable adaptability and resilience against all odds to not only survive but surpass all expectations with regard to their functioning and can be compared to cockroaches as far as survival is concerned, yes they may face tough competition from retail giants but Indian public has a strong penchant for shopping with bargaining,credit,home delivery etc. which the retail giants can never ever match. Coming to the so called plight of farmers with the entrance of retail giants , it may actually raise the living standard of the farmer by increasing the purchase cost of the farm products which have only risen negligibly despite the food grain prices almost doubling in the last 4 years , now finally coming to the problems faced by petty traders or middlemen , agreed that many of them may face unemployment or reduction in profits but even then this loss can be compensated by the jobs which the retail players will generate, so we can safely say that the fears regarding the alleged catastrophic effect of retail corporations is over hyped to create a fear psychosis to say the least.So the opposition should have insisted on a discussion on this policy in a helthy manner rather then disrupting Parliament in this highly objectionable manner.Now coming to the stand of the government, the UPA(or the Congress members of UPA) have taken great pains to explain that the opening up of retail to foreign investment will be an excellent step and will benefit each and every section of the society in long run. The reasons given by government is that it will give the farmer a higher price for its product, create 10 million jobs, reduce inflation,increase productivity and competition among retailers. Tall claims indeed but they need to be taken with a pinch(or perhaps two) of salt, as for the higher price given to farmer it can be safely said that most probably it will give them a better deal but at the same time it may harm food security of India by encouraging farmers to cultivate crops which though giving them a better monetary value may compromise the food production target of India's fragile agriculture.
As for the 'claim' of providing 10 million jobs to Indians, one is forced to wonder that whether the government is naive,foolish, thinks of the public as foolish or has each of the earlier mentioned virtues, even the representatives of the retail giants have not claimed that the retail sector will cretae 10 million jobs and in fact has kept mum on the actual number of jobs to be created by them, then how is it that the officious government in its eagerness to push for this policy pulls a figure of 10 million out of thin air with very little data to back up this claim. Finally the issue of inflation which has become the Achilles heal of the government , eluding all the measures of government and instead of diminishing it has shown a sharp ascent , can it be checked through the entry of retail giants, I have serious doubts over the wisdom behind this argument, we all know that food inflation has become a big problem in last few years and India cannot remain totally immune from its effects, however, what the government can and must do is to streamline the process of food supply and ensure that black marketeers do not rule the roost. Sadly, the government has turned a blind eye to this factor and despite the strong protest of Left parties has allowed futures trading in commodities to continue unabashed which has created an artificial rise in the price of food commodities, in this way the prices of most commodities are artificially increased without any kind of shortage of these products. So the government also does not has clean hands with respect to this sensitive matter.
A much better way forward for government could have been to introduce this policy in parliament followed by a short discussion rather then announcing the policy, stubbornly supporting it and then having to eat the crow(in the process eroding whatever little credibility the government had) and losing the precious time which should have been spent on debating/discussing the major isses before the nation.
Alas! it has become an all to familiar story of Indian politics that the taxpayers hard earned money is squandered on creating a logjam in the Parliament with no accountability , and on this program the government and the opposition seem to have arrived at consensus.
