Opinion FDI in retail

It says that while an inter-ministerial group (IMG) on inflation chaired by the chief economic adviser,Kaushik Basu,has concluded that allowing FDI in multi-brand retail can serve as effective inflation-busting measure,the media is flooded with stories about various ministries welcoming FDI in their comments on a note prepared by the Department of Industrial Promotion for consideration by a Committee of Secretaries (COS).

A front-page article in RSS journal Organiser says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had told Parliament merely four months ago that a decision on FDI in retail would be taken after wide consultations and after achieving a larger consensus with the states. “Has the government secured the comments of the states? If so,does the COS note reflect their views? What additional public consultations has the government organised since the calling attention motion? The least that the government could have done was to make public the IMG report. Instead of doing that,it has made public the IMG’s maiden position paper that focuses on food inflation,” the article says.

It questions the IMG’s argument that allowing foreign players would enhance the efficiency of the supply chain and check the value erosion of products. It also argues the position paper was silent about rural roads despite the fact that official studies have shown that rural roads help farmers diversify and provide them easy access to markets which help them fetch better prices. “If the objective is to fight food inflation,then the first priority has to be building rural roads,” it says.

Apologists for terror

The Organiser editorial claims the UPA is trying to derail the investigation into the recent Mumbai blasts. It slams Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for dragging the RSS into the list of suspects and attacks the government for continuing talks with Pakistan.

“Singh has now become the biggest shield for Islamic terrorists active in India. He is their guardian in the political circles and he is close to Sonia Gandhi. The links are there for all to see. He has to mention the so-called Hindu terror whenever there is evidence of terror activities in the name of Islam,” it says. The editorial alleges that the political will to take on anti-nationals has considerably weakened under the UPA. “From the position that terrorism has no religion,the Congress-led coalition has moved to communalising terror,giving it a religious colour and an escape route for terror apologists,” it says.

“Even court verdicts are awaiting implementation… The coordination between the various intelligence and investigative agencies of the government appears to be the lowest ever,ridden with mutual distrust and political manipulation,” it argues. It also claims that the UPA is steadily losing the “political,geographical and moral upper hand” in Kashmir.

The money line

Writing in Panchjanya,senior RSS leader M.G. Vaidya laments the government’s “inaction” on the issue of bringing back black money from foreign banks. He says the recent Supreme Court order constituting a task-force to look into the issue of black money was a slap in the face of the government.

“Normally a government would feel embarrassed by the Supreme Court’s intervention into a matter purely in the administrative domain. But this government has no shame,” he says.

“I believe that this government has lost the confidence of the people…It must dissolve the Lok Sabha and order fresh elections. In today’s situation,millions of citizens see the Supreme Court’s order on black money as a timely intervention,” he says.