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Dhadda's no to FDI in retail trading

Special Correspondent

`It will have "disastrous'' consequences on employment front' Meeting to discuss impact of further opening of trade soon

JAIPUR: Sarvodaya leader Siddhraj Dhadda has warned India against allowing foreign direct investment in retail trading. If the country were to allow 49 per cent FDI in retail trading it would have "disastrous'' consequences on the employment front, he observed.

"On the one hand Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is talking about employment guarantee and on the other, multi-national companies are being facilitated to enter the country's retail market,'' Mr.Dhadda said in a statement here on Friday. "With 49 per cent FDI in retail trade, Wall Mart and other departmental chains would have a free run in the country eliminating even the available job opportunities in trade,'' he said.

Reacting to the reports that certain trade bodies and think tanks like Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations(ICRIER) had advocated 49 per cent FDI in retail trading, Mr.Dhadda warned that such moves would only take away what all was left of the "pro-poor'' claims of the United Progressive Alliance Government. The ICRIER study, which recommended doing away with the Essential Commodities Act, had the support of the Department of Consumer Affairs, he noted.

"Changes are fast taking place in the country even before one gets to know its repercussions on the life of the man on the street. One has to be careful about what would befall the common man if the trade practices of the West are introduced here,'' the nonagenarian Gandhian observed. "A Government, which has come to power as the result of a voter reaction to unmindful opening up of the markets and pro rich policies, should realize what is expected of it by the public,'' he said.

Mr.Dhadda, also the spokesperson of Sarva Seva Sangh, said a meeting of Gandhians and social activists, scheduled at Seva Gram on August 6 and 7 would discuss the impact of further opening up of the country's trade and industry and other issues.

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Dhadda's no to FDI in retail trading

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