August 9 will witness country-wide rallies and meetings against the corporatisation of retail trade. The Joint Action Committee of the Save Retailers Livelihood Campaign at the national level announced this at the Press Conference held on July 25. Others who addressed the Press were representatives of the various organizations – Lok Raj Sangathan, Navdanya, BMS, Azadi Bachao Andolan, Delhi Hawkers’ Welfare Association, etc – who are in the Joint Action Committee at the national level.

The press release stated that whereas the livelihood of lakhs of people is dependant on retail trade, the Congress led UPA government which swears by the common man is allowing the control of trade by the big monopolies so that these Indian and foreign capitalists can make maximum profits. Moreover, there are thousands of others who are being indirectly affected by the corporatisation of retail trade. One of the representatives of the Joint Action Committee pointed out that the East India Company had come initially in the name of carrying out trade but later on took over the country and brazenly exploited the labour and natural resources of the country. The Joint Action Committee warned the government that if this corporatisation was not stopped, this campaign will turn into a mass movement.

In conclusion, the Press was informed of the August 9 programme when a rally will be taken out from Red Fort to Chandni Chowk by organizations of traders, workers, hawkers, peasants, etc.; the rally will end in a mass meeting. The demonstrators will also be burning effigies of Reliance Fresh, Wal Mart and Bharti. There was announcement of a meeting at August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai on August 8 in the morning to be followed by a hall meeting at Shanmugananda Hall in the evening. A Mumbai Traders’ Bandh has been announced on August 9. A mass rally is to be organized in Calcutta on the same day, when again the effigies of Reliance Fresh, Wal Mart and Bharti will be burnt and there will be demonstrations of hawkers at 10 different places. On August 9, there will be a rally in Chennai, and thousands are expected to participate in demonstrations in Kozhikode in Kerala; on the same day, Bangalore will witness a rally from Gandhi Smrarak Memorial; a demonstration will be held in Ranchi, Jharkhand on August 9 in Albert Square; and in Roshanara Square in Bhopal. On the same day, programmes will be held in Nagpur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, preceded by demonstrations in front of the district headquarters across the country.