Newspaper articles

Today’s selection of newspaper articles for your reading pleasure. They are from “The Telegraph” (UK):

Indian shopkeepers stage 'colonial' Tesco protest

Indian shopkeepers will tonight burn effigies of colonial East India company soldiers representing "evil" international supermarket chains like Tesco and Walmart.

Indian traders burn an effigy representing a Foreign Direct Investment Photo: Sajjad Hussain/AFP

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi

2:17PM BST 24 Oct 2012

They are using the Hindu Dusserha festival, which marks the triumph of good over evil in the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana, to protest against the government's decision to allow Western supermarket chains to open stores in India and modernise its Third World food supply system.

They claim Foreign Direct Investment [FDI] in the sector will destroy the livelihoods of millions of small shopkeepers throughout the country.

On Tuesday night small retailers in Delhi's Karol Bagh market burned an 'FDI Ravana' model while on Wednesday night in Indore thousands will watch as a 71 feet tall East Indian Company Ravana model is consumed by flames.

The model of the mythical character wears a company tunic and a cap with the letters "FDI".

Radhey Shyam Maheshwari, convener of the Confederation of All-India Traders in Madhya Pradesh, said the decision to allow foreign supermarkets like Tesco into India was similar to the historic decision to allow the East India Company to establish warehouses.

"They came for business but ended up controlling India," he said.

"What will happen to the millions of small and medium traders? If big shops come, they will loose their livelihoods. We will not allow FDI in the retail sector in India at any price," he added.

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Indian girls 'should be banned from owning mobiles'

Girls should be banned from owning mobile phones to stop them eloping, an Indian MP has said.

One ruling sought to ban 'love marriages' as immoral while others tried to stop women from leaving their homes Photo: GETTY

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi

3:43PM BST 23 Oct 2012

His comments come amid growing fears of 'talibanisation' in parts of Northern India, where social conservatism in both Hindu and Muslim communities has been blamed for honour killings, kidnappings to enforce child marriages, and a rash of controversial fatwas and village council rulings. Earlier this month a feudal leader said child marriage should be encouraged to halt an increase in rapes.

One ruling sought to ban 'love marriages' as immoral while others tried to stop women from leaving their homes.

In a televised speech in Muzzafarnagar, Rajpal Singh Saini, a former state minister in former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's government, told his audience of a father who had sought his help when his daughter eloped.

"I asked him if he had given a mobile phone to his daughter. The person said yes," he said.

"Don't give mobile phones to children, especially girls. I say this at all the places where I make my speeches. And if any of those kids have a mobile, take it away. What are they missing anyway our mothers, sisters, did they die without mobiles during their time?" he asked.

The MP, who serves in India's upper house, later denied his televised remarks and said they had been misinterpreted by his opponents.