FEMA amendments on FDI tabled in Rajya Sabha
The Government on Thursday tabled amendments to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, which will enable FDI in multi-brand retail.
The amendment, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha 10 days ago, will now give members of the House 30 working days from Thursday for moving amendments. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury wanted Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to clarify on the time the members would get for amendments.
“I want to know whether those 30 days begin from today (Thursday). In the Lok Sabha, it began two weeks earlier,” said Yechury.
“As far as this House is concerned, we are concerned with the date on which it is placed here,” said Kurien.
Yechury has already indicated that his party will try to delay the implementation of FDI in retail through parliamentary procedures. The CPM’s strategy would be to move amendments just before the expiry of 30 days’ time. It will, they say, delay the implementation for another 30 working days. So, it could go up to the Budget session, Yechury told reporters a few days ago. CPM MP P Rajeev raised Wal-Mart lobbying issue during zero hour and alleged that Patton Boggs lobbied both for the Government of India and Wal-Mart.
“Patton Boggs is a double agent for lobbying for the Indian Government in the US and for Wal-Mart in our country,” said Rajeev. “Patton Boggs, one of the lobbying firms that represented the global retail chain, was hired by the Indian Embassy in the United States in 2008 to help clinch the Indo-US nuclear deal,” he alleged.
