Opposition to the monopolisation of retail trade

Over a hundred people attended a recently organised workshop to discuss the entry of big businesses in the retail sector. Participants included representatives of traders’ associations, hawkers’ unions, cooperative stores, people's organisations, trade unions, professors, students and others. There was unanimity of concern that the entry of large companies, due to their monopolistic practices, will make the businesses of a very large number of small retailers, hawkers and farmers unviable and will be very detrimental to the interest of Indian society. It was therefore felt necessary to stop the government from permitting such a move by Indian and foreign multinational companies.

The representative of the Communist Ghadar Party of India addressed the gathering towards the conclusion of the meeting and said that two visions of how India should develop are clashing. On the one hand we have the interest of a billion people and on the other the interest of a handful of Indian companies who want to make India a imperialist power. They want to turn Mumbai and Delhi into Shanghai and Washington. The imposition of the vision of the handful by the government is leading to clashes in cities and country-side as seen in Nandigram and Singur. We have made a good beginning and we will have to bring all oppressed sections together and strengthen a united opposition. We will not only have to fight for our existence today but also fight for bringing a fundamental change in this oppressive system for a brighter tomorrow.

In his opening remarks, the chairperson of the Federation of (Traders’) Associations of Maharashtra (FAM) pointed out that during the Vajapayee government, none other than Mr. Manmohan Singh had said that foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail will be harmful. Today, when Manmohan Singh is heading the government, he is doing an about-turn. He said that their association has already challenged the back-door entry by Shoprite and Metro using “cash-N-carry” route. He also pointed out that the Mckinsey report on FDI is misleading as it is silent on the number of people employed in existing retail sector that will lose their livelihood.

The Honorary General Secretary of FAM emphasised that all political parties in power are helping the big capitalists. With the help of the government, the ten richest companies in India want to acquire tens of thousands of acres of land that will lead the ruination of the livelihood of millions of people.

A representative of the Apna Bazaar, which runs a chain of cooperative stores in Mumbai, said that shopkeepers, traders, cooperative shop owners and farmers must come together.

The General Secretary of the National Hawkers Federation characterised the hawkers, traders and coops coming together as historic. He mentioned that their experience with the West Bengal government has not been any different than the experience elsewhere in India. He concluded that there was no other way but to get on to the streets to protest and resist if the Centre and the State governments are working against the interest of the people. He also mentioned the recent ruling of the Supreme Court that bans street hawkers from selling hot foods was a direct attack on the livelihood of lakhs of food vendors as keeping the food hot prevents it from spoiling.

A short documentary film was also screened that showed the difficult times that people faced with the coming of the mall and big retail stores in their neighbourhood.

A professor from Mumbai university pointed out that with the coming of the big players, there may not be any immediate closing of businesses. What studies have shown is that in the vicinity of a mall, the incomes of the shopkeepers start to decrease and over a period of a few years, it becomes clear to the shop owners that they will not be able to sustain their businesses.

A representative of CITU pointed out that the government policy today is being dictated by the commitments made several years ago in signing the GATS agreement.The Chairman of Foreign Trade Committee of FAM said that their federation has had discussions with various political leaders including the leaders of left alliance and found that these leaders are only able to shed crocodile tears, as the government is unable to resist pressures from the big players.

The Secretary of of Mumbai Mahanager Vyapari Seva Parishad emphasised that it was necessary to mount the pressure on the elected representatives. He felt that it was necessary to write to all MPs and MLAs and demand that they oppose the entry of big corporations in retail sector. He declared that the people will defeat in the next elections those representatives who do not fulfil this demand.

The representative of Lok Raj Sangathan summed up the experience of various speakers about the role of the elected representatives. He focused on the need for basic changes in the electoral and politial system in order to make elected representatives accountable to the people. He strongly felt that the battle for such changes must be waged side by side the struggle against the antipeople policies of the government. He felt that it was not enough to defeat the elected representative in the next election, but the elected representatives must be subject to reccall at any time if they did not represent the interest of the people. He also questioned the wisdom of the parliamentary left in accepting the dictat of the ruling class for fear of toppling the government. He opined that it was good to bring down the government on this issue as it had grave implications for the majority of the population of India.

A resolution opposing the entry of big companies in the retail sector was adopted.