Aam bania is more powerful than the aam aadmi

Last week, 50 million shopkeepers and traders staged a bandh against the government decision to allow 51% foreign investment in multi-brand retail chains. What this actually proved was the hollowness of the claim of small shopkeepers to be weak underlings representing the unorganized sector. The 50 million traders on strike exceeded India's entire organized labour (around 30 million). Shopkeepers simply cannot be called unorganized or poor. In my local market, shopkeepers say that even the smallest shops are worth a crore. Dominated by banias, small shopkeepers are notorious for cheating customers through adulteration and fiddled weighing scales. They are also notorious for evading sales tax and income tax. That's why the bania is widely despised (although it is wrong to tarnish all with the same brush).

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