By buying coke we became slaves ......

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. “

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Recently I read a news item that in illinos (U.S.) riot police was called to take action on the protesters who were wall-mart employees  protesting in order to get better working conditions in their where houses .Wall –mart is the biggest retailer ,its turnover is more than the GDP of many developing countries. In fact walmart is the 30^th largest economic entity. When our Prime Minister Mr Mute Mohan Singh says that he is under no pressure from US to make this decision, he gives an affirmative signal to the country. This situation is leading us toward a dystopian society were a few powerful corporations are making policies and decisions for the whole country. These greedy ministers and politicians across the world are being bribed by these MNCs to make policies which are beneficial for them. Recently a case where wall mart had given bribe to officials in Mexico came into picture. It is a case which came to light but it is happening all the time and everywhere.

When power and money is concentrated in the hands of a few things like this happen and if we stay silent then slowly and gradually we are becoming the slaves of the 21^st century. We are slaves when our polices are being made by a few corporations who are selling their products worldwide to us and with that very money they are bribing our politicians in order to make them policies which are favorable to them and unfavorable to us. One such example is the green revolution.When it started in Punjab it was said that it’s a path breaking decision, fertilizers and insecticides were bought from these companies and used without studying the ill effects and now our whole generation is suffering. People of Punjab are fighting a lost battle with cancer. Thousands of gallons of these poisons have seeped into the water table and is making the future generations sick all because of our ignorance and silence.

Farmers in US survive on the farm not because of Wal-Mart as alleged by most of our uneducated netas but the massive subsidy support, which includes direct farm income. Between 1997 and 2008, Rs 12.60 lakh crore was provided as income support to farmers. A UNCTAD-India study shows that if these subsidies, classified as Green Box in WTO parlance, are removed, the American agriculture collapses. 

In Europe, despite the dominance of big retail, every minute one farmer quits agriculture. Europe provides the highest amount of subsidies, including direct income support. But because 74 per cent of these subsidies are cornered by corporations and big farmers, small farmers are quitting farming. In France, farm income has come down by 39 per cent in 2009, down from 22 per cent in 2008. In OECD, the richest trading block comprising 30 countries, Rs 14 lakh crore was the farm subsidy support in 2009 alone. It is not big retail, but direct income support that keeps farmers in agriculture. 

These subsidies also bring down the domestic and international prices as a result of which big retail sells cheap. Empirical studies show big retail charging 20-30 per cent higher than open market in Latin America and Southeast Asia. In India, organised domestic retail has not been able to sell cheaper. A Nabard study for Hyderabad shows Reliance Fresh and others charge 15-20 per cent higher prices. 

There is no evidence that big retail creates backend infrastructure. In the US and Europe, rural infrastructure has been created through government support which came in the form of agricultural subsidies. To say that 40 per cent agricultural food that goes waste in India will be drastically reduced is also an illusion. In the US too, 40 per cent food is wasted and much of it is after processing where Wal-Mart’s should have played a much important role. 

The future is very grim for us. There is very little that we can do when we are up against so much money and such greedy people.I still remember when I was working as a assistant manager at a bank.I got campus placement from my college I was to keen to do anything for that job,my ideal was kiran majumdar shaw those days.The year was 2008 ,I was told by my branch manager that the third party investments i.e. the mutual funds gets us maximum revenue so we should try to sell those. When I read the details and the markets I came to understand there was no way that people will get the returns on their investment the way we were being told to project. There used to be a lot of pressure on me and finally one day I told the manager “ in the present market condition I would never invest my own money in the market how can I tell others who are counting on me for an advice to invest in mutual funds?” .He didn’t answer then but reported the matter to state head. But most of my colleagues and friends who used to talk about right and wrong soon adopted. There was too much at stake for us, straight out of the college, our parent’s dreams they had invested in our education we couldn’t let them down.

I feel the situation is the same for most of the corporate world, people working at higher level of management  with these MNCs know that what they are doing is wrong but they have too much at stake, they cannot jeopardizes everything for something that will make them loose their credibility altogether. They exploit workers, bribe politicians and lobby for some super rich man who has more money than his next generations can sell at the cost of some poor man who ends up committing suicide.

The onus lies on common people like us to read and make informed judgments for our own future. The kind of democracy we have ended up becoming, we cannot just sit back and relax for five years, after we vote. Any political party needs money and finances, for this they have to depend on certain people, those people end up influencing their decisions. If we want governance where our interests are looked upon we need to stand up and ask for it ,we need to read and we need to speak up, if we feel that just by voting we can get a clean governance we are fooling ourselves. It all ends up being a game of power and money.