Small retailers and farmers worried

With the announcement the Indian retail market opening to international companies, debating is raging in the country.

The arrival of multinational retailers like Wal-Mart and Carrefour will disrupt their trade. The small traditional stores have millions of people working in the country, so the arrival of the big names could cause the closure of shops and create unemployment. Small farmers that constitute the majority of Indian Agriculture are poorly equipped, poorly organized and will be unprepared for mass distribution.

While the government predicts 10 million new jobs in shops, in the transport sector and the transformation of food with resulting lower food prices. Other analysts predict that this agreement will deepen the inequalities of Indian society, ruin small farmers and eliminate an entire class of merchants.

The debate rages between proponents and opponents of the agreement and Parliament was forced to close with a commercial strike is planned. The writer, P. Sainath, a specialist in rural India, commented: "You have no idea of chaos you are unleashing."

soruce : ap asian correpsondent com