Shopkeepers shut down India over FDI in retail
An Indian retail departmental store owner Deepak Sethi poses at his store in New Delhi on November 24, 2011. India’s cabinet is to decide whether to open the nation’s vast retail sector to global supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart and Tesco in a reform that would herald a consumer revolution.
The English language press has been stumping for Manmohan Singh's proposed reforms of the retail sector for a week now. But the Opposition isn't fading, and today shopkeepers across the country closed down to protest a move they fear might drive many out of business.
According to the Times of India, the shut down was nearly complete in several states, and in some cities shop owners took to the streets in protest marches against the government's move to allow 51% foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail outlets like Walmart.
In Maharashtra, for instance, nearly 3.5 million shops were closed in protest, the paper said.
In Delhi, party members of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party — which was very much in favor of economic reforms when it was in power — also joined the strike by organising marches and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit in at least 20 locations of the city, the paper said.
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