Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the Centre had decided to “suspend the FDI in retail issue till consensus is evolved.”
Making this announcement at the Secretariat here after a telephonic talk with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Ms. Banerjee said: “The issue is settled. The Cabinet decision that was taken is being suspended till a consensus is reached. If that is the case, then we feel that the issue is settled.”
She said Mr. Mukherjee had called her up to seek a solution on the issue of allowing foreign direct investment in retail.
When contacted by journalists at his residence here, Mr. Mukherjee admitted that he had discussed the issue with Ms. Banerjee twice. He was, however, unwilling to comment on the development saying Parliament was in session and he could not announce anything at the moment. Any government decision would be announced only in Parliament.
Pointing out that the Centre's decision was a big step, she had asked journalists to cross-check the statement with Mr. Mukherjee. A visibly relaxed Trinamool leader congratulated “all the parties who fought on this issue.” The Trinamool had taken a stand against the move to permit FDI in retail.
Recalling her conversation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ms. Banerjee said he had asked her to reconsider her decision. But she told Dr. Singh that her party could not support the Cabinet decision on the FDI issue as it had to take a stand for the public. But the Trinamool did not want the government to fall either.
On Saturday, Ms. Banerjee said although initially there was talk of suspending the issue, she raised questions saying there “should be no ifs and buts.”
Criticises media
At the same press meet, Ms. Banerjee lashed out at a section of the media for spreading untruths that she had tried to extract a package for West Bengal in lieu of her support on the FDI issue. “This is unfair and unethical. I will look at filing a defamation suit.”
The Union Cabinet decision allowing 51 per cent FDI in multibrand retail evoked sharp reactions from the political parties even as the corporate sector had started running its blueprints to make the most of the measure aimed at opening up the economy. Economists said the reform meant opportunities to farmers but threats to the small trade
Keywords: DI issue, multi-brand retail, single-brand retails, FDI in retail, UPA-II, Parliament disruption, consensus, WalMart, Pranab







Allowing FDI in retail will bring a healthy competition between Indian traders & foreign Traders. So the quality of products will be best and inflation will also be reduced. Farmers will be able to sell the fruits & vegetables to the foreign traders and earn the income. Dr Singh is the one who brought the license raj to end and make india a developing nation.So obviously his decision to allow FDI in retail will also be helpfull for our economy. In parliment this thing should be debated and we need to come into a conclusion rather than shouting for nothing in parliment
In your dreams, Mamata. FDI in retail is here to stay, you like it or not. If Bengalis want to live in poverty so be it, but do not stop the progress of the country for your vested interest. Mamata is proven business killer and a major hurdle for the progress of modern and prosperous India.
Investing energy on FDI is a shocking diversion by both Congress and
BJP. This diversion is backed by emotions now. For each minute & hour
of non Functional Parliament, India loses Legislative time.We end up
losing productive output in Logjam.Four crore baniyans and retail shop
owners are pitted against eighty crore farmers. As per chetan Bhagat a
renowned writer if kids do not finish homework they get punished.When
this happens in Industry, wages & perks are denied proportionately
provided the contracts are in order.If congress and BJP were really
interested to invest weeks on this issue why did they not educate and
sensitise people before as done by Anna Team on Jan Lok Pal? Wal mart
may replace the present network of services in retail by their new
network and new employees & cannot increase purchasing power of people
and provide more jobs to repair sick economy.Bengal CM & ex-Railway
Minster who has a bad reputation of being an absent railway minister
is batting now to save UPA-2.
The Bueorocracy has made people belief that traders are not good for the society. The inspector Raj has already made their life Hell. It is because of this, the new generation in the traders family do not opt for trade as a career. They better go to other professional work. The FDI green single will furthur erode Indian traders existence. They will be compelled to leave their existing busineness. Just the Coca cola brought collapse to the once olden days home made sweet gas bottles being sold by Cyclewallahs.
FDI in retail cannot solve problems in india, there is too much hype built and few people are showing moon with some stories. you want to see what is impact of FDI in retail take example of United States. US do not have manufacturing industries because all moved to China. All retailer source their product from there and leftover manufacturing industry also died. US is giving billion dolors of subsiies to agriculture sector to substain them, do you think inida can do it?
Trinamool Congress is a coalition partner in the UPA. What Ms. Mamata has reportedly announced now on FDI in retail is a policy pronouncement of the Government, when the parliament is in session.Techniclly, whether this will amount to breach of privilege of the parliament at the behest of the Finance Minister, is for the eminent parliamentarians and constitutional experts to decide. Having said that, this announcement establishes that DR. Singh is never in control over the happenings in the Government. He stood firm that there would be no compromise on the issue of allowing FDI in retail. Now, this news.If the government is going to just repeat the announcement now made by/through Ms.Banerjee on the floor of the parliament,it is an indirect admission that the government would fail the floor test.Dr. Singh's government must now resign and seek a fresh mandate,since the congress, if it were an opposition party, would have demanded the same for such a conduct in any other regime.
But,the decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retailing and 100% FDI in single-brand retailing was taken outside parliament,and where was Pronabda then,congress is again playing tricks and Mamathaa exposed the congress' TRUTH.
............that's the heartfelt feeling for millions of people.So far congress or BJP whoever came in power,they had no will to do something revolutionary.Here is a lady with clear mind and means.She deserves to be the Prime Minister of India..............and she will be.
God bless her.
A consumers choice for variety of goods and at a competitive rates at Malls is stalled for political gains, in as much as, we find Chinese and other goods already flooding the market through retailers
The retail sector in India will definitely be opened up for nothing else but to force the unsupported populations from urban centers. A large number of middle class Indians are now very elitist. They do not want to share the road, the power, the water supply etc with the slum population. The small time traders that make up large portion of slum dwellers will have to move to cities with a population of less than 1 million until the slightly better off generation takes over allowing a better quality of life for those with money. May be unfair but necessary.
It's a misfortune of the nation if that indeed happens. It will be very sad if because of politics, good decisions cannot be taken. Lets bring Dr. Manmohan Singh with full majority next time.
The decision is suspended till the bye-election in W. Bengal. This is obviously the result of an understanding between Mamta and Manmohan Singh. Unless the opposition parties exert the maximum pressure, Manmohan Singh whose interest lies not with the people of India but with the corporates and big business will go ahead with the FDI in retail.
NATIONAL SECURITY & FDI ://
The sudden decision to allow FDI in retail, whose timing has amazed everyone, was prompted by what I wrote on November 18, 2011 about more than a thousand Indian Air Force aircraft having crashed since 1970, the vast majority of the crashes caused by microwaves from U.S. satellites and the new Chief of Air Staff, N. A. K. Browne, who is a CIA-RAW operative, causing two such crashes in his first week in office to boost his bid to buy worse than worthless foreign aircraft for tens of billions of dollars (see IndianAirForcePilotsMurderDOTblogspotDOTcom); this made the purchase impossible and so RAW dictated (see 'What You Should Know About RAW' in my blog below for how CIA-RAW dictates all such decisions) the FDI in retail decision as another avenue to bring India into slavery to the white countries, as an act of defiance and attempted defeat of my defence of India.//
Within hours of my saying the above, RAW, in another show of defiance, caused another Indian Air Force aircraft to crash, in Haryana. Nothing that any government minister says matters. Only what CIA-RAW DOES matters. And CIA-RAW does whatever it wants, whenever it wants (see 'What You Should Know About RAW' in my blog).//
In a press release dated June 30, 2011 titled "National Security Doctrine" (included in my blog titled 'Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U.S.' which can be found by a Yahoo/Google search with the title) I said://
"An ugly white woman columnist at the New York Times wrote that she looks forward to having her columns written by "external cognitive servants" in Bangalore. The Manmohan Singh cabinet a few days ago approved a plan for bringing foreign investment and technology to create one hundred million manufacturing jobs in India, bringing essentially the entire population of India into servitude to the United States. A nation is not strong whose people are servants of an external power. The National Security Doctrine permits Indians to be neither cognitive servants nor manufacturing servants of the United States. 'How India's Economy Can Grow 30% Per Year Or More' in my blog above provides the means for true prosperity and full employment for Indians."//
In a press release dated November 17, 2011 titled "Liberating India" I said "Integrated Circuit chips made in the United States are required to provide for access to the United States National Security Agency so it can monitor and take control of their operations at will. Components and electronic equipment from the United States should be absolutely "haram"; far from lamenting 'technology denial', equipment from the United States should be rejected even if it is offered on a platter and free of charge as I have said. India's bought-up Defence, Atomic Energy, Space and other officials deliberately close their eyes to this threat. This also applies to U. S.- made civilian aircraft, for example. There are two hundred thousand Indian engineers and scientists working in Research & Development for foreign companies in India but instead of putting its money in Research & Development ( in my letter dated January 5, 2004 to the press -- see my blog -- I had suggested one million Research & Development workers in India in government-sponsored projects), India's CIA-RAW government buys foreign equipment in all fields to keep India poor, weak and enslaved. India's government lends hundreds of billions of dollars to the U. S. government in exchange for worthless U. S. paper but seeks foreign investment and World Bank loans for projects in India, giving ownership and control of India to India's enemies, despite the unlimited capital available to India by simply printing the money; see 'How India's Economy Can Grow 30% Per Year Or More' in my blog titled 'Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U. S.' which can be found by a Google/Yahoo search with the title; as is described there, the United States has been applying my proposal about money by stealth and now also openly but Manmohan Singh refuses to do so because this bugger -- a CIA appointee -- does what serves the United States', not India's, interests."//
I am India's expert in strategic defence, the father of India's strategic program including the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, the world's greatest scientist (my biography can be found in Marquis' Who's Who in the World, 2011 and earlier editions) and India's legitimate ruler.//
Satish Chandra
What else one can expect from a business killer? Bengal has
traditionally opposed business and industry to grow so that people of
this state stay poor and totally depend on these politicians for their
living. And the result proves that looking at the economy and run-down
Kolkata city
Congratulations to Mamatha, DMK, and the oppositions on your firm stand.
It is a victory of Indian Democracy.
With allies like Mamata who needs enemies? They are one-woman demolition squad, pulling back the economy in a way that would make our enemies envy them.
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