The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Take a clear stand on globalisation’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 19, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Take a clear stand on globalisation’

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: A clear stand on economic globalisation was necessary before related issues such as impact of foreign investment in retail trade can be debated, said freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy here on Friday.

Speaking at a seminar on corporatisation of retail trade organised by Alliance for Small Traders and Retailers Association of Karnataka (ASTRA-K) here on Friday, he said that there was a tendency to speak on peripheral issues without spelling out a clear opposition to economic globalisation.

“We tend to say that globalisation has gone too far and we cannot do anything. Such a defeatist attitude is shameful in the land of Gandhiji,” said Mr. Doreswamy.

He said while a company that came to India for trade had ruled it for 200 years, it was not hard to imagine what would happen if hundreds of them were allowed to flood our market. “We are on a volcano and yet sleeping.”

Banwarilal Kanchal, MP from Uttar Pradesh, said that that monopoly of corporates, both national and multinational, would ruin Indian trade at all levels. It would wipe out wholesalers, retailers and pushcart vendors alike over a period of time, he said. A Parliament committee on retail trade was expected to present its final report soon, he added. The experience in Uttar Pradesh, where retail corporate chains were not allowed to trade, should teach a lesson to other states that only stiff resistance can yield a result, he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka