VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue:143

Date: 15.12.2012

Contents:

1. The True Colours Of Walmart

2. De Primo Incident In New York, A Flash In The Pan?‏

3. Widening Of NH 17 At Porvorim, 37 Trees Endangered

4. R.I.P. FDI in Multi-Brand Retail

The True Colours Of Walmart

It is a known fact that there have been some irregularities in the manner that Walmart and their Indian partner have introduced retail in the country considering that FDI in multi-brand retail policy has been announced only now. The amount involved is around Rs. 400 crores which the ED has taken the onus to open investigations in. In relation to the charge that Walmart has resorted to corruption in its overseas operations which as per US law is not acceptable, this is a fact. India is among the named countries apart from others including Mexico and China that have been listed where Walmart operations have contravened ethical considerations for doing business. The report also lists that Walmart in India has paid bribes to obtain licences for starting operations and in transactions related to property acquisitions here. Thus the PMO MOS Narainswamy's comment to the media that the US$25 Million which Walmart has purportedly illegally spent on lobbying for its India operations is mostly in the US, beggars imagination. Why should a Co. spend money in its home country for lobbying to enter another country for its business operations when it well and truly knows that the incumbent government there is very keen to welcome them with open arms? By all norms of business logic if any money has been spent then it has to be spent in the target country where it is commencing operations and that is India. Additionally it has been found that in the recent fire at a garment export factory where there were a substantial number of fatalities, it was found that this factory was supplying goods to Walmart who is understood to have been insisting that the prices for the garments be reduced excessively and thus revenues could not be spent on the welfare of the workers at the factory like better fire control systems etc. In Mexico the reputation of Walmart is that its labour laws are probably the worst and it does not allow their workers any medical or other benefits and is known to advise that the workers should seek such benefits from their spouses working in other Cos. For similar labour policies was the opening of a Walmart outlet near New York shelved recently. Thus we have a shady Co., Walmart showing its true colours even before they have officially entered India by coming in by the back-door through its alliance with Bharati and having bribed their way through the rigmarole of regulations in starting business here and one wonders what other tricks they will show us now that the Congress and the UPA-2 government have made them honoured guests.

De Primo Incident In New York, A Flash In The Pan?‏

Recently pictures of NY police officer de Primo helping a barefoot vagrant with shoes and sympathy on the streets of the city went viral on the Net. This is a dramatic change from the impression of the US police force particularly with the coloured people after the incidents in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles over the last few years when a young Negro was shot dead for not identifying himself properly at the first place, a Negro again beaten up brutally by police officers in a patrol car at the second and incidents perpetrated by the police that resulted in race riots in Los Angeles. After these incidents the city administrators, government authorities and politicians had wanted a change of image of the policeman on the city's beat somewhat akin to the British Bobby (though even that is a vanishing breed). One could presume from the De Primo incident that things have changed in law enforcement and citizen interactions but the people know that this is not really true and the present incident is only a flash in the pan and America needs to go a long way on this road to that of the friendly, helpful neighbourhood cop. But even then the De Primo incident is that coruscating flash with the promise of gold which shows that there could be a better tomorrow and after all it is not for any other reason that America is called the Land of Hope. This was also shown in the US Presidential election when Barrack Obama rode to the White House on the back of just 700,000 Americans who thought different in the public vote. And these Americans were mostly the young and those who had migrated to the US from the many countries of this world in search of a better tomorrow. Those who elected Obama were very different from the opinion makers in US society today. It was less the white Caucasian who voted for Obama and it is believed that it is this entrenched segment of US society which creates more the biases against the blacks and other immigrant communities, moving away from giving the right to access opportunities that they enjoyed but who refuse to give that same level playing ground to others that they strongly believe are less deserving. But America did not heed such prejudices and voted a black American Barrack Obama for a second term as President with a resounding electoral college victory. If one looks at the way the electoral college vote went in the recent Presidential elections it is clear that the Eastern and Western seaboard barring minor exceptions went to Obama while Mitt Romney won the swathe through the middle America south to north. The electoral college votes are heavy in the the seaboard States which may be up for review in the upcoming elections since the Republicans sure do not like being beaten by the heavily immigrant States of California and others in the Eastern seaboard which see a lot of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Will this be the future? Will there be a conflict between the new America and the old America since we see already distinct divisions in aspirations, values and principles? Only time will tell and the 2016 Presidential elections will hopefully tell us more.

Widening Of NH 17 At Porvorim, Goa: 37 Trees Endangered

At the end of last week the local papers carried a report of the SP Traffic's statement that he along with the CM, Manohar Parrikar had reviewed the issue of traffic congestion from the Mandovi bridges up to Porvorim and outlining certain measures which will ease this problem. From what one can see on the ground is that the road from the Mandovi bridge proceeding to Porvorim is being widened on the left hand side and work is going apace seemingly to meet some very tight deadlines. In all this haste the CM and his officials seem to have forgotten or have ignored that the stretch where the divider ends after Hotel Neo Majestic and up to the Jeevottam Mutt/Tarun Bharat office turn-off, there are 37 trees including 3 old banyan trees and a mango tree which are likely to be affected. If one can understand from the work done it will involve cutting all these 4 trees apart from the fact that with the excavations very close to the roots of the other 33 trees, they will in the long run wither away, topple and die. The highway in this stretch particularly after the Teen Building and up to the Jeevottam Mutt/Tarun Bharat office turn-of is like a beautiful avenue with flowering trees apart from the banyan and mango trees which is going to be denuded with the work as it is planned now. The easiest solution to this problem which probably did not occur to the authorities is that the additional road width in this approx. 600 meters stretch could have come from the right hand side of the road which involve practically no trees that are likely to get damaged and sufficient space exists. Additionally all highways are required to maintain a minimum shoulder of a minimum of 15 meters which is being compromised by the road widening on the left side of the road in this stretch. Thus it is suggested that the road widening be moved to the right hand side of the road. Where the existing work on the left hand side has already been done partially, this part of the road can be covered with pavers for the comfort of pedestrians using the highway and around the trees circular bedis be done so that they can draw sustenance from the soil and where people can sit and rest. This will then give the highway at least in this stretch a citizen friendly philosophy. Overall one needs to remember that road widening in principle is acceptable but it should take care of the environment and also factor in the aspect that with wider roads traffic will tend to speed and also that it will become more difficult when common people have to cross the road and go on to the other side particularly where you have schools like ACDIL. The road or highway should not become a hindrance to local residents and their interests are also to be looked into and not just the interests of the tourists looking for roads with no traffic jams. Is the CM listening and will he give instructions to have the above matter tackled in the manner as suggested? Note: These things as above continue to happen even when you have an IIT qualified engineer as the Chief Minister in Manohar Parrikar. Not only that he was awarded the CNN IBN Politician of the Year recently and when asked whether an IIT-ian makes a good politician then he said that we need honest persons to come into politics and not necessarily engineers. Kind of explains the above issue, maybe he has forgotten that he is an engineer. Again with Rajdeep Sardesai, a Goan at the helm of affairs at CNN-IBN was there match-fixing in giving away the award to Manohar Parrikar!

R.I.P. FDI in Multi-Brand Retail

For all the debates in both Houses of Parliament the conceptual issues of FDI in multi-brand retail were neatly side-stepped and made more or less a non-issue and allowed to rest in peace (R.I.P.). The voting pattern showed up our politicians particularly the BSP & SP of having no scruples to stand up for what they believe in, with both walking out of the Lok Sabha while in the Rajya Sabha the SP showed their consistency while the BSP voted with the Treasury Benches to save the UPA government from embarrassment. The plea of the BSP was that though it is against FDI in multi-brand retail, it did not want to be seen to be siding with the communal BJP and hence its voting with the UPA in the Rajya Sabha. Other extraneous issues down to clearance of the Chaitrabhoomi site at the NTC Indu Mills site in Mumbai for Ambedkar’s memorial a day before the Lok Sabha vote was crucial in allowing the UPA to sail through in the lower house. We, supposedly to have become a super-power by 2020 deferred now by three decades to 2050, now have to wait for the Walmarts, Carrefours and Tescos of this world to help our farmers get better margins on their produce which we cannot give them, set up cold chains in the country which our engineering expertise cannot do, reduce spoilage and wastage in the distribution process from farm-gate to consumer which we cannot manage and provide employment to our educated youth which we output at the rate of millions every year from our colleges, which we cannot give. Amen. So here’s to buying shoddy goods from around the world through these multinational distributors who will dump in India whatever they cannot sell elsewhere knowing full well that our regulatory systems are lax and also purchaseable. Concluding one hopes that the FDI in multi-brand retail becomes a non-starter just like the Indo-US nuclear deal since both are conceived in stupidity and the belief that we cannot help ourselves and do what is needed for our country and its people and off-load our own responsibility to foreign agencies who supposedly know more about our country than we ourselves do.

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