No FDI Retailer in East Delhi

People reject FDI in Retail in the Public Hearing organized by East Delhi Municipal Corporation

Trade Unions, Street Vendors Associations, RWAs & Civil Society expressed their opinion: 98% voted against FDI in Retail in the opinion poll

Respecting Peoples verdict EDMC will not grant trade licences to FDI Retailers: Mayor

In an unprecedented initiative, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) organized a public hearing to take note of the peoples’ opinion on the issue of FDI in Retail. People from all sections of society including street vendors, small shop keepers, trade unions, resident welfare associations, civil society representative participated in the public hearing.

Delivering the opening remark, Dr. Annapurna Mishra, the Hon’ble Mayor of East Delhi said that the purpose of the initiative is to take note of the peoples’ voice to help the corporation in shaping trade policies.

An opinion poll was also conducted to know the views of participants. 98% participants opined against FDI in Retail.

Hakim Singh Rawat, R B singh Rajpoot, Sodan Singh, Bijender Yadav, Pravesh Sharma, Bansi Lal (street vendors), Praveen Khandelwal, Satish Garg, Raj Kumar Bhatia, Om Prakash Dubey, Deepak Sharma (Traders), Ashwini Mahajan (SJM), Aneesh Mishra (trade union) Vikramjeet Banerjee (Advocate) and many others expressed their view on FDI in Retail.

Concluding the public hearing senior journalist Sh. Ram Bahadur Rai said that in the past the Prime Minister was against FDI in Retail. He alleged that such policy decisions are influenced by powerful international lobby groups.

The Leader of opposition, Ms. Varyam Kaur, who was also invited for the public hearing came at the closing stages and abruptly interrupted the meeting shouting that the Municipal Corporation can not organize such event.

The Hon’ble Mayor stated that public opinion is evident on the issue of FDI in Retail and respecting the peoples’ verdict the EDMC would bring a motion to oppose FDI in Retail and would not grant any trade licences to FDI retailers.  She said that a detailed report of the proceedings would be send to the Hon’ble Lt. Governor and Chief Minister of Delhi.

Dharmendra Kumar of India FDI Watch conducted the proceeding.

Strike Report

India Strikes against FDI Retail

Today’s call for a nationwide strike (Bharat Bandh) by trade unions of street vendors, small traders, and most of the political parties from left to right and including of parties within the Govt.  and parties supporting the Govt. was historical. Millions of retailers and thousands of trade associations observed the bandh demanding rollback of FDI in multi-brand retail. All major markets were closed through out India. Public transport was off the roads and colleges, schools, offices and transport services remain shut in most part of India. Trains were blocked by political activists of BJP, SP and CPI (ML) in many places including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand. The station Master of Patna Railway Station was locked. The impact of the strike was also seen in states of the North East. The bandh was total in Manipur. Banks, markets, shops and educational institutions were closed, with government offices recording low attendance in Meghalaya. Railway, road and others services were heavily impacted in Jharkhand. Most colleges reported only 20-50% attendance in Mumbai.

In a sit in protest organised jointly by our campaign allies prominent national leaders from left to right shared the dais. NDA Convenor and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav asked the Congress to remove Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for this "attack on the bread of butter of 25 crore people", while addressing the protest at Jantar Mantar. Eight parties including left parties and SP took out protest march towards Parliament and Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prakash Karat, AB Bardhan, Sitaram Yechury and Chandrababu Naidu courted arrest in parliament police station. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu was detained in Hyderabad whereas Yeddyurappa and Ananth Kumar got arrested in Bangalore.

On the other hand, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said to media that the nation-wide strike has caused a huge damage to the Indian economy and the common people. Big Business lobby group, CII reported to media that the nation-wide strike against the government decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail have caused losses to the tune of Rs12,500 crore ($2.25 billion) to the Indian economy.

India Strikes against FDI in Retail

Breaking Police Barricade at parliament

Political Activists of SP stopping Train

BJP leader M M Joshi addressing protest

Chiefs of CPM, SP, JD(S) and other national leaders of CPI, BJD, TDP, Forward Block, RSP courting arrest at parliament police station  

Dead Body of FDI Retail

Protest at jantar Mantar

Deserted Look of Chandni Chowk, Delhi

Effigy Burning of FDI Retail

Eight parties march to Parliament

Funeral Procession of FDI Retail, Delhi

Hawkers leader being interviewd

national leaders of parties from Left to Right with protesters

NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav addressing the Protest

SP Activists stopping trains

BJP Activists stopping trains

Quit Retail Protests 2012

Quit Retail Protests 2012

 Small retailers and street vendors organized protests all across India against FDI in retail. The protest was part of the August 9^th National Day of Action, which is being organized to commemorate the anti-colonial “Quit India” movement of 1942. In Delhi, the protest was organized at Town Hall, Chandni Chowk where an effigy symbolizing FDI Retailers was burnt. Similar protests will also take place in Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Mathura, Aligarh, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhubneshwar, Kalicut, Kolkata, Bhopal, Ranchi, Gwalior and more.

Protests during Budget Session of Parliament 2012

Press Release

22 February, 2012

Traders' Mass Demonstration at

Parliament against FDI in Retail

Thousands of traders from across India under the banner of Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal (BUVM) marched to parliament against Govt attempts to open up multi brand in retail sector for foreign direct investment. Traders of different states began the sit in protest at the Jantar Mantar from early morning and later marched to parliament. Protesters were stopped by police by barricades near the parliament street police station. The protest was led by Sri Shyam Bihari Mishra, ex MP and president of BUVM, Sri Manohar Lal Kumar, Chairman, BUVM Sri Kailash Gupta, National Convenor, BUVM and Sri T. Naziruddin, President, Kerala Vyapari Vyavsayi Ekopana Samiti. More than five thousands traders from Kerala under the banner of Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti participated in the march.

Addressing the rally, Sri Shyam Bihari Mishra said that the Govt. announced in the parliament that the decision on FDI in retail would be taken only after devel- oping a consensus. But, despite opposition from majority of states including Con- gress ruled states, central Govt. is trying to force the anti people agenda on the nation. Sri Mishra said that this is against the federal structure of our governance. Sri Mishra stated that the trading community will not accept this and would inten- sify its struggle against corporate take over of Indian retail and agriculture.

Sri Manohar Lal Kumar, Chairman, BUVM said that FDI backed retailers would hijack the intermediate level of our food supply chain endangering peoples right to access to food. Sri Kailash Gupta, National Convenor, BUVM said that Govt. raised the cap of FDi in single brand from 51% to 100% without taking into confidence states, parliamentarians and political parties. He blamed the govt. to wreck havoc in retail and agriculture.

Sri T. Naziruddin, President, Kerala Vyapari Vyavsayi Ekopana Samiti said that the Chief Minister of Kerala has announced not to implement FDI in multi brand retail in Kerala but the central govt. is not leaving this policy space for state chief minister. He demanded to respect the policy space of state chief ministers and peoples representatives.

Sri Vijay Prakash Jain, Secretary general, BUVM said that FDI in Retail would ruin small farmers, hawkers, cooperatives, consumers and transporters as well. Sri Jain demanded to simplify the licensing procedure for small traders to facilitate their livelihood. Traders leaders demanded that instead of favouring big domestic and foreign capital in the retail trade, the Govt. should fine tune the existing retail market by adopting appropriate policy framework to strengthen small businesses. They also demanded for an independent department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for taking care of the internal trade.

Dharmendra Kumar, Director, India FDI Watch said that there is a huge democratic deficit in the trade policy making of India. This needs to be corrected and state govt., parliamentarians, stakeholders organizations need to be structured to strengthen the process of trade policy making. Sri Kumar said that FDI in retail is corporate compliant and without regulatory framework it could wreck havoc in the supply chain from farm to fork adversely impacting farmers, manufacturers, independent retailers and consumers.

Sri Mohan Gurnani, Kishore Khariwal, Md. Ali Patel from Maharashtra, Sri Babu Lal Gupta from Rajasthan, T. Velliyan from Tamil Nadu, Gopal Gangil from MP, Madan Lal Khurana from Himachal Pradesh, Prahlad Roy Khandelwal from Orrissa, T N Trivedi from West Bengal, Amrit lal Jain from Punjab, Sri Anil Bhatia, Roshan Lal Gupta, Vijay Gupta, Shiv Kumar Jain from Haryana, J S Sachdeva from Bihar, Sheetal Tandon from UP, Jayendra Tanna from Gujrat and Satish Agarwal from Andhra Pradesh led their contingent in the protest march.

Sri Pawan Kumar, Prem Kumar Arora, Sushil Goel, Rakesh Yadav, Suresh Bindal, Shyam Sunder Gupta, Om Kishan Gupta, Rajeev Agarwal, Satyendra Singh Chouhan, Suresh Kejriwal, Ravindra Goyal, Anil Jain, Hemant Gupta from Delhi actively participated in the march.

(Vijay Prakash Jain)

Secy. General

BUVM

Parliament March against FDI in Retail & FTA

Parliament March against FDI in Retail & FTA

Against EU-India FTA