West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday countered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's criticism of those opposing FDI in retail, saying she was with the common man who was "outdated".

Moving a step further towards fulfilling the poll promise for free distribution of laptops and tablets to Class XII and X students respectively, Samajwadi Party led Uttar Pradesh government has launched a website which is dedicated towards providing all necessary information to the students eligible to avail the benefits of the scheme.

India opened its retail, aviation, broadcasting and power sectors to foreign supermarkets on September 14, a major economic reform that has been stalled for months by political gridlock and came as part of a package of measures aimed at reviving growth.

Backing Centre's decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said the decision will help farmers prosper by removing middlemen from the supply chain and generate new jobs.

The demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into disclosures by retail giant Walmart on lobbying in India was made by several members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

In the wake of reports that Walmart paid for lobbying to get access to India, BJP on Monday demanded a fair probe be conducted to find out the names of recipients and insisted that till this is done the retail giant should not be allowed to set up shops.

The Congress party is facing stern opposition over its move to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. To counter the sentiments, the Congress party launched a rally on Sunday in the national capital in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were the star speakers.

Asserting that foreign investment in multi-brand retail was not in the interest of the country, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Wednesday said it would take its fight on the issue to the streets.

Allaying concerns over FDI in multi-brand retail, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma on Thursday said organised retail in the country has been there for over a decade benefitting the economy.

Accusing the opposition of spreading misinformation regarding policy initiatives taken by UPA, a combative Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said reform measures, including FDI in retail, will benefit the common man and create more jobs.