Distributional Coalitions

        I came across this term in Bimal Jalan's book - 'Future of India'. He explains these as groups or lobbies that affect or influence the 'distribution' of wealth and also country's policies in their favour. Bimal Jalan says that these are a serious threat to India's future. At first glance it didn't strike much, but as i ponder over and relate things - most of the problems of India can be traced to these 'coalitions of interest'. Be it the strikes of different labour unions, the powerful lobby of farmers of Punjab/Haryana that corner the benefits of high MSP for food grains, or the opposition of FDI in multi-brand retail.
        Particularly the current issue of FDI in multi-brand retail - there is opposition from small Kirana stores and some other lobby groups. Its no surprise that these are also 'distributional coalitions'. Currently these Kirana stores provide some employment, but this employment comes under 'unorganised sector' that has no future as there's no growth or skill up gradation. On the contrary with retail employment there can be more opportunities of training and all other advantages of 'organized sector'. Job creation for semi-skilled or unskilled workers is the only way to get rid of poverty. No second thoughts about this. Also another lobby group is the 'middlemen'. FDI in retail can weed away many of these unnecessary layers of  'middlemen' and increase the farmer's recovery prices and also reduce the food prices and inflation. Everyone gains.
       Our government failed utterly in building the rural infrastructure necessary for the growth of agriculture - lack of godowns and food grains getting rotted, 25-30% vegetable losses due to pathetic roads, no cold storage facilities etc. FDI will allow farmer's to grow those that are in demand (fruits, vegetables, pulses) and might also reduce the 'malnourishment' problem. So overall it seems FDI in multi-brand retail has many advantages, but the policy makers should guard towards 'emergence of a new breed of distributional coalitions' under this FDI guise.