Kerala Left behind: No organised retail

The Kerala Lefties are at it again: throttling enterprise.

They now plan to ban organised retail.

KOCHI, JULY 1: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala is all set to bring in a law to ban corporate retailers, both Indian and MNCs, in the state.

...

This would be the first attempt of its kind in the country. Divakaran said the Left in Kerala doesn’t intend to draw the line for big retailers at peddling food grains, as Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee did for Bengal a few days ago. It will be a blanket ban and, according to the minister...

“We don’t want to tell MNCs from Indian corporates, both are bad for the state. We don’t want to go for a conditional or limited ban because we really don’t want them here at all,” Divakaran said.

This reveals the commies for what they are: a bunch of power hungry, control obsessed despots (not that it was ever in doubt). With no real interest in farmers' or citizens' welfare.

And farmers like organised, vertically integrated retailers .. they give them better prices for their crop than the government.
But of course, the commies don't -- they cannot lord over the aam aadmi anymore!

PS: My essay on Medical Education 2 is still pending -- I will post it over the next week.

First you screw them...

... then you give them sops.
Classic maay-baap sarkar behaviour: choke off all sources of income to reduce to penury.
Then save from penury -- but only just -- by starting a life-support drip.
Control the pace of the drip to ensure that income is never infused fast enough for the patient to recover and walk off.

When will the UPA idiots learn?
The solution to Agriculture, as elsewhere, is simple:

1. Establish a water and electricity policy -- including private transmission and distribution to ensure farmers have the "raw materials" to grow and transport food (a lot of food perishes because our cold chains are poor -- because we dont even have 100% electricity). Buttress with a buildout of roads (remember the NDA's golden quadrilateral?)

2. Get out of the way -- dismantle controlled price regimes and allow farmers to produce what the market needs -- and sell directly to consumers.

Careful UPA -- your slip is showing

The UPA claimed to be interested in "development with a human face" in 2004.

Development, yes, but whos? This article points to the answer: Not the Farmer's.

With agribusiness hotting up, private players are establishing their own supply chains and offering higher prices to farmers for their produce.

Anyone with the "farmers' interest" in mind would welcome this development.

Not the Central Government.

The Central Government, clearly, is not concerned about the farmer.

Instead of allowing farmers to get higher returns, MMS and Co. will now force farmers to sell produce to the sarkar at lower prices than the market.

But then, the UPA is then doing only what its (time tested) Nehruvian Stalinist ideology says: rob the citizen and keep him poor, 'fix' him on an IV drip of doles and alms and control that drip!
Rob the farmer of a fair price, drive out competition and leave the poor farmer dependent on a drip of FCI-fixed prices.

Thank you Finance Minister for informing us of your intent to "help agriculture" in your '07 budget. Now we know who you're planning to help.