India's opposition parties and trade unions stage a strike over
government plans to allow in global supermarket chains and other
reforms.
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Indians give their views
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In pictures: India strike
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'We don't want supermarkets here' Listen
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Will global supermarkets help?
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Protests in Mumbai Watch
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Good economics - bad politics
20 September 2012
Last updated at 12:47 GMT
The BBC's Yogita Limaye reports from within a protest by the opposition in Mumbai
Opposition
parties and trade unions in India are staging a day-long strike over
plans to open the country's retail sector to global supermarket chains.
Workers blocked railways in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states,
and Calcutta and Bangalore virtually shut down, but the response was
mixed elsewhere.
The reforms are essential to revive India's slowing economy, ministers say.
But small shops fear they will be put out of business and many people are angry at recent fuel price rises.
Earlier in the week a key ally left the ruling coalition in
protest, although its majority in parliament is not at immediate risk.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Andrew North
BBC News, Delhi
Shutters were down on shops in old Delhi. Roads were closed.
Outside the historic Red Fort, protesters bussed in by the
opposition BJP set alight an effigy of the prime minister, cheering as
they stamped on the burning remains.
But in the end it was a small strike over Mr Singh's plans to
allow in foreign supermarkets, with a similarly patchy turnout
elsewhere.
The government is not off the hook though.
People haven't forgotten issues like corruption, which they say has got much worse under the Congress-party led coalition.
And despite planned cuts in fuel subsidies, it's still not clear if India can escape a credit rating downgrade.
The Congress-led government attempted to introduce the retail reforms last year, but backed down in the face of opposition.
Thursday's nationwide strike, called by the main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its allies and Communist parties, has shut
down schools, businesses and public transport in many cities.
TV channels showed protests taking place in the cities of Patna, Allahabad and Varanasi in northern India.
Most businesses were shut in the eastern city of Calcutta and public transport was disrupted, reports said.
The southern state of Karnataka, which is governed by the
BJP, was shut down in response to the strike call with buses off the
roads and schools, hotels and businesses closed. The state capital,
Bangalore - home to hundreds of IT companies including multinationals
like IBM and Microsoft - was completely shut down.
"We have asked our employees to stay back at home. We will
instead work on Saturday," an official of Infosys, one of India's
leading software companies, said.
"The fear factor is the reason for the closure," a spokesperson for another multinational company told the BBC.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
An intriguing lack of political consensus and informed public debate... has scuppered attempts at key reforms”
Much of the capital was operating
normally on Thursday, BBC reporters said. There was a similar picture
in the financial capital, Mumbai.
The BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi says this may well signal
that politcally-led mass protests over a single issue no longer have the
ability to shut down the entire nation.
It could also reflect the fact that the merits and demerits
of such retail reforms are distant from ordinary members of the public,
our correspondent says.
Job fears
The government's plan is aimed at reviving a flagging economy,
as well as avoiding the threat of a downgrade in India's credit rating.
But many small shops fear for the future. Delhi-based trader,
Deepak Sethi, said shopkeepers would lose business if foreign
supermarkets were allowed into India.
"Multinational companies will destroy the economic and social
fabric of the country and will adversely impact traders, transporters,
farmers and other sections of retail trade," Praveen Khandelwal, the
head of the group, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"These big companies can attract customers by selling at cost
prices. That means people here are going to lose jobs. Shops like ours
will be hit the most."
The Trinamool Congress party, a key ally of the ruling
coalition, has said it will pull out of the government and withdraw
support in parliament. Its six ministers are to resign on Friday.
Small shops fear they will be put out of business
The government also announced a 14% rise in the price of
diesel, which is heavily subsidised in India. That move has also
prompted great anger across the country.
Under the government's proposal, global firms - such as
Walmart and Tesco - will be able to buy up to a 51% stake in multi-brand
retailers in India.
Multinational retailers already have outlets in India, but at
present they can sell only to smaller retailers. This decision allows
them to sell directly to Indian consumers.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the reforms
would "help strengthen our growth process and generate employment in
these difficult times".
Copy www.bbc.co.uk
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