India is in tumult after the government passed reforms that cut certain subsidies and loosened up controls on foreign investment entering the country, paving the way for big multi-brand retail chains like Walmart entering the market. Allies have threatened to abandon Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ruling coalition, while opposition parties and activists took part in a nationwide strike against the reforms on Sept. 20 that saw protests and arrests in many of India’s major metropolises.
Nationwide Strike Hits India’s Teeming Cities
India is in tumult after the government passed reforms that cut certain subsidies and loosened up controls on foreign investment entering the country, paving the way for big multi-brand retail chains like Walmart entering the market.
Bikas Das / AP
A man crosses a deserted road during a strike in Kolkata, India, Sept. 20, 2012. Angry opposition supporters disrupted trains in India on Thursday but had only limited success in enforcing a national strike to protest a government decision to cut fuel subsidies and open the country's huge retail market to foreign companies.
