PaRCha – JNU – AISA – 2005 ID-2365
Image by PaRChA project
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24. 01.~5.
All India Students /~ssoci~tion {AISA) _. .
Public M.eP.tinq.
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Corporate Takeove!" A’.td :-eople’! Resistance .
Speakers .
Sandeep Pandey.
anti-globaltsation and peace activist,winner of Magsaysay Award who turned dvwn the cash prize.
Hilndlal.
leading organiser of ti"’e movement ag=linst Coca-Cola’s bottling plailt in Varon3si .
Pr~f. Arun Kumar .
CESP,JNU .
Chair .
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Prof.VIr 8harat lalwar.
~ CIL, JNU .
Tapti Mess 24.01.05 (tonight) 9.00pm .
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Friends. .
Rememberthe tea-vendors at the railway stations. selling "rampyari cho1′? Wtp:1id two rupees a cup, anrl.
the vendormade a profit ofa rupee percup. Well, in station after station, they have be~noutlawed. and youandI often have no option but to buy Nestea at Rs. 4 a cup. Ofthose 4 rupees, the p~rson meL1ning t11e Nestlevending machine gets less than a n1pee. We end up paying more, and the vendor get~ lc:ss~ who prefits? The:rviNC Nestle ofcow-se! In many big markets in Delhi, it is now becoming difficult to buy locse atta; only 5 kgpackages ofbranded atta is available, often mcmufacrurcd by Iv!NCs. Do we reaHy need big corporation~and MNCs to sell us clzai and atta, thereby putting chaiwalas and the loc!ll attn ki chakkis out ofbusiness? .
The CPI(M)-led West Bengal Government, are now keen to introduce FDI in the rf’tail sci:tor-they~ ·) would like to get a German rvfNC to market agricultural products, vegetables, fruit and fish(lndirm Express, 24Dec) . This means that thesabziwa/as and fish-sellers earning a living in small markets and roadsideshops will disappear, and MNCs will sell us fi~h and vegetables instead! Th~ local kirana ki duknnselling daily provisions will be replaced by MNC supermarket chains. In the words ofan RSP leader, who, despite being a Left Frontpartner ofCPI(M), has protested this move, itwill <<mea~ a deathblow tomillions oftiny independentstores and some 25 million workers they support". .
Theexcuse f~rall this is thatthe:tvfNC will benefit the farmers by "eliminatin~the tniddlen1en"-whereas thetruth is that it is the lv1NC which ·will take on the role ofboth middlernan r.r.d retailer! Middlemen may beexploitative-but will :MNC beany fairer, any less expl0itative? The MNC will dictate terms, and in case any ofits orders are not obeyed, by the farmer, they may welJ refuse to buy the crop! Take the exnrnpl<:;orpotarofanners in India who committed suir.ide a few years back. The reason: their potato crop was being rejt;cted onthe grounds that they ~vere not growing the "rightvariety ofpotato’;! What is the "rightkind pol.ato for alukaparatha ortari orbhujiya? Itis only MNC outfits Hke Frito-Lays orMcDonalds which make chipsand French Frieswhich need a particular, out-sized variety ofpotato! Justas the fanners ofChnmpar:tnwere once forced to grow indigo rather than food grain, MNCs now want to force Indian farme1 s toproduce what the MNCs neP:d, r3therthan whatthe peopiP. ofIndia et~.t! .
In JNU, the issue ofthe Nestk Outlet i::; connected withthe larger issues ofcorpcrate-takeover ofbasicservices and livelihood avenues inourl_;c)untry.1l1e hasic issue in t.h1s debate is: the Nestle Outlet marks the fi-ststep towards replacing our dhabas and canteens with MNC food chains. We have to decide-who shouldrun ourdlz ahas: Big corporations and IJ’JC~, c;r ordinary peo!lle? .
Let us e.mpaq computers, we have no btasiness to object to aNestle-run dhaba. We would like to ask the pro-Nestle fon;c s, especially the Leftist SFI: aren’t these thevery same arguments, which are used tojustify fee-hikes and’ ommercialisation ofedLiC:-ttion? It’s the old, (P.TO] .
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