Thousands rally against entry of big business in retail

Close on the heels of the announcement of the Bharti-Wal-Mart venture, thousands of traders, hawkers, farmers and workers protested across the country against the entry of big corporates into retail.

Representatives of some mass-based organisations also called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking them to refuse permission to the Bharti-Wal-Mart venture to start operations.

Protests were organised in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, besides Calicut, Bhopal, Jaipur, Ranchi, Ballia, Meerut, Sonipat, Nagpur, Nasik, Pune and Indore.

Dharmendra Kumar, the director of India FDI Watch and National Coordinator of the Vyapaar Aur Rozgaar Bachao Andolan, said, "Both Gandhi and Singh acknowledged the dangers of big corporations entering the retail sector. The government has commissioned a report to look at the impact of this on the livelihood of small traders."

Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary, Confederation of All India Traders, said a mass campaign would be launched to make the corporations realise that "we will not let them ruin our livelihood."

Kishore Shah, the president of the Mobile & Telecom Retailers and Distributors Association, said around 12,000 retail shopkeepers seel SIM cards and recharge vouchers of Airtel in Mumbai, generating business worth crores of rupees every day.

"We have informed all our members, distributors and wholesalers not to sell any Airtel product," said Shah.