FDI in food retail is a slippery slope - to hell

I would like to refute the "FDI in food retail is good for farmers and consumers in India" line-of-thought that is being promoted on mass media in the country. The farmers, it is said, will have better access to markets and consumers will have better choice at a lower cost.

No doubt, there may be some initial positive change - but in the medium- to long-term, the ill-effects of giant retail chains are proven. Worldwide.

India sorely needs to enhance research, develop better farming methodologies and promote broader community involvement in the agri sector. We need to improve procurement, logistics, warehousing, safety, and distribution of food produce - in both public and private sectors... But to claim that giant retail chains are the ONLY ones that can accomplish it is presumptuous to say the least - and in my personal opinion, downright misleading.

This report from May 2011 is a detailed documentation of the detrimental effects of giant retail chains from several angles - it is a definite must-read.

Some of the points covered in detail within the report are:
1) Giant retail chains use corporate muscle to influence industry health & safety standards - creating costly certification processes that penalise smaller players, with opaque parameters that actually make food unsafe for customers. They can also set up legal barriers to silence their critics (for example, 'Veggie libel laws').

2) Giant retail chains open the flood gates to giant agri businesses like Monsanto, DuPont and Bayer. This in turn opens the flood gates to genetically modified (GMO) seeds and excessive chemical use (fertilisier, herbicide and pesticide) - because Monsanto, DuPont and Bayer are essentially CHEMICAL COMPANIES.

3) Giant retail chains quickly become the dominant buyers in a market and squeeze profitability for sellers. Falling profits force out small-farm owners in favour of mega-farms (like E L Rothschild-Bharti Enterprises-Del Monte) that leverage economies-of-scale.

4) Giant retail chains will eventually consolidate the entire food chain to become the dominant sellers in a market, and consumers become increasingly dependant on them - literally, for sustenance. For example, the above report says: "Traditional markets are disappearing fast in Central America. Already at least one in four quetzales spent by Guatemalans on food is spent in a Walmart-owned supermarket, while Costa Ricans spend 1 in 3 colones there."

Can you imagine your child being at the mercy of Monsanto for his or her food? Well, if Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Montek Singh Ahluwalia have their way today - your child (or grandchildren) may tomorrow depend on companies like Monsanto for food.

Think about that for a minute.

India is on sale - and absolutely everything must go!

Politics is a charade. A high-pitch teledrama to keep the unwashed masses engaged and pre-occupied.

Occasionally, a voice speaks sense - usually, only to be shouted down and cast aside for having committed a heinous thoughtcrime.

Today's example is Mamata Banerjee. On firstpost.com, she ventures the sinful notion that: “Yes, we need reforms. But reform does not mean to sell out everything to satisfy some sections of individuals.”

The overwhelming temerity of this thoughtcrime can be gauged by the sheer vehemence and vitriol of the comments-thread below the article.

She also opines, “I agree that Sensex must be stable, but at the same time, policy and planning should not be used to impose back-breaking burden on the common people.”

But Mamata-ji you are too late. The 'Distress Sale' of India's public assets have already begun. I had covered the sequence of events before.

Now I'll point fingers at the key players:
1. THE BANKING SYSTEM COMES FIRST. (Whatever happens.)



(In the video, from 3:50 to 3:58, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) fumbles for the right words to describe the single-most important issue for the RBI and the Central & Governments of India... Then finally blurts out, that it is to "ensure the profitability and viability of India's banking system." I am not kidding - he said "ENSURE" - irrespective of NPAs or bad loans!)

2. THE OLIGARCHS ARE OUT TO REAP PROFIT. (And pay off the corporate media and political satraps.)

Despite the incessant spinning by talking head on mass-media, academics from (oligarch-funded) foreign universities, the Finance Minister, the Prime Minister or his coterie of economic advisors - monopolistic business practices and obscene profits are what the oligarchs want and what they will get. Take, for example, the six myths of FDI in retail.

The fact remains that the ruling minions will NOT stop until virtually the entirety of the nation's power and pelf is usurped by the oligarchs who will then feed them substantial crumbs.

"Designed for Humans": Is this the new nadir?

Today's smartphones are not designed for verbal conversations - they are designed for 'media consumption'. Vivid images (moving and otherwise) flow non-stop across its touchscreens - not words. Even most so-called social media allow for very limited real conversation.

We talk in .jpeg and our correspondence is in .mov formats. Words are largely redundant. Verbal comments are terse - indeed, why bother to leave a note, when there's a handy 'Like' button to express one's approval?

Even one's spelling can be algorithm-corrected, while search-engines help condense the vocabulary. And whereas our interaction with the device may seem 'intuitive' - hand gestures are also the most primitive form of human communication.

So while phones are getting smarter, one should perhaps be concerned about the user's evolution.



This bring us to the Samsung's latest Galaxy S III. More specifically, to its tagline: "Designed for Humans"

As a writer, I find it truly mortifying!

I have come across some astounding jaw-droppers - but "Designed for Humans" is in a league truly all its own... Untouched by subtleties, unsullied by nuances and untroubled by serious contemplation.

Now I will digress a bit, but please bear with me...

In George Orwell's epic, 1984, when the character, Syme says: "It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words", Wiston Smith simply asks (or observes): "So, the revolution will be complete when the language is perfect?"

George Orwell was especially concerned that language could be used both to enlighten as well as to manipulate. One only needs to consider the wrapped intent behind some common modern words - like "terrorist", "collateral damage", "enemy combatant", "homeland security", "civil society", "monetary easing", etc.

By the looks of it, the "revolution" that Orwell meant seems to be nearing its conclusion.

(For the not-so-literacy-challenged, here's a link to Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language. And the wikipedian take on the essay.)

Decisions. Decisions.

I am honestly tired of the puerile fanboy angst, the incessant and inane chatter, the boderline delirium and general hysteria that accompanies every "latest" iShinyNewThing.

By reducing (what's left of) human communication to a series of simple hand gestures and senseless conversation with a software programme, this single device may yet bring the evolution of the human being to a complete, grinding halt.

Time is nigh for the tenth avatar

I had blogged earlier about an oligarchy-technocracy web that is creeping globally - and is about to envelope India as well. The IT backbone is ready, the policies are in place, financial institutions are all prepared, and monoplies are waiting in the wing... Now all that was needed is to spring it on the unsuspecting public.

Today, they inform the sheeple of India via The Times of India that cashless/electronic payments can be made at your neighbourhood kirana store!



The article states,

"Micro transactions for payments such as local taxi fares and kirana store purchases are set to go cashless with the National Payment Corporation of India on Monday extending the Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) for merchants."

The 'electronic cash' agenda is obviously in an accelerated mode. It was only in June this year that the former Finance Minister (current President of India), Pranab Mukherjee, called for banks in the country to ensure that EVERY Indian family has a bank account within six months!

This is the sequence of what is likely to follow:
1. Major financial turbulence in the public sector ...including severe crises in central and state budget deficits, and large-scale recapitalisation requirements for pubic sector banks due to bad loans and NPAs
2. Runaway inflation and/or economic crisis ...setting the stage for far-reaching and comprehensive government deregulation and reforms
3. Massive increases in 'austerity' measures, utilities charges and taxes ...multiple drains on their meagre income will put the average citizen at the complete mercy of the governing elite
4. Disinvestment of public assets ..."distress sale" of everything public - from the cash-rich Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to 'sick' Public Sector Units (PSUs), and public land holdings
5. Privatisation of public services ...creating dependence on private service-providers for food, healthcare, education and security - instead of the Public Distribution System (PDS), primary healthcare & education networks, and public pension funds
6. Gradual transfer of real public & monetary policy-making powers to a cabal of global oligarchs (via lobbyists) ...with a pliant, indoctrinated and/or greedy political class acting as the citizens' lightning rod
7. Vilification, marginalising, criminalising and/or usurpation any movement or individual with a different or opposing point-of-view ...and the internet is NOT an exception

But what else can one expect when much of government policy-making in India (and indeed, worldwide) is already outsourced to consultants, think tanks, universities and NGOs funded or run by the private sector?

Welcome to the Kali Yuga. And considering all that could go wrong - perhaps, the time is ripe for the tenth avatar of Vishnu.

Only God can save us now.

The Amul brand: The idea of thriving together

Dr Verghese Kurien, called the "Father of India's White Revolution" demonstrated that socially inclusive enterprises can be economically competitive.

The most famous brand he helped build was Amul - a brand jointly owned by more than 3 million dairy farmers. The brand with its ubiqutious "Amul Baby" mascot, created in 1967, has also earned the distinction of being the longest running Ad Campaign in the world... And it's still going strong!

Bharat Dhabolkar, a writer on the Amul account, says that the campaign owed much to the freedom that Dr Kurien gave the agency. "He would not ask to see what we created. Even if he did not like something, he would just mention that; not ask us to change anything."

I guess that's what made Dr Kurien's 'co-operative partnership' model work so well: Each partner has a personal stake in the brand's success!

Are the oligarchs leaving the Titanic?

Robert Johnson is a real Financial World Insider. He is a former Economist for the US Senate, Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and a Director of the Global Finance Project at the Roosevelt Institute.

Johnson also formerly traded currency on Wall Street for George Soros. Well, Soros was the chap known as "The man who broke the Bank of England", consequently costing the Britain's Pound Sterling its centuries-old position as a world reserve currency! He is believed to have masterminded the transfer of the former USSR's state-run assets into the hands of the Russian oligarchs. He (Soros) is also said to to have been the speculator behind the currency crisis that crashed the Asian Tiger economies in the late 90s. (Soros is rumoured to be a conduit for the Rothschild financial empire.)

So if anyone has had a glimpse of the plans hatched in the rareified world of money-power, it'd be Robert Johnson. Here, in his words, he describes the current (as of 25 July 2012) mood among some members of the global oligarchy. Most importantly, consider the chilling metaphor he uses to describe the Financial System: THE TITANIC!



Recently, Lord Jacob Rothschild, George Soros and John Paulson are actively "betting" on serious and imminent financial turbulence ahead.

Grab your life-jackets, folks!