Tata will return land: Buddha

Calcutta, Oct. 30: Tata Motors will return the land leased out for the Nano project, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told his allies at a Left Front meeting today.
Bhattacharjee clarified that the Tatas had never insisted on retaining the land after shifting the small-car plant out of Singur. “Despite the fact that 85 per cent of the work had been completed, Ratan Tata expressed his desire to return the land the day he announced the pullout. But we have to follow the procedures of taking back the land,” a front leader quoted him as telling the closed-door meeting.
A section of leaders from the CPM and its partners has been insisting on taking the land back so that it can be used for another project.
“The land was acquired for setting up industry and the front today asked the government to take effective steps to ensure that alternative industry comes up in Singur,” Biman Bose, the front chairman and state CPM secretary, said.
Legal provisions allow a leaseholder to retain the land for three years, after which the government can take it back if it has not been used for the purpose cited in the agreement.
Front partners like the RSP criticised the Tatas for “flouting the agreement with the government as it did not have any provision for a pullout because of the Opposition’s agitation”.
Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata drew flak for calling Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi a “good M” as opposed to the “bad M”, an obvious reference to Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Bhattacharjee, however, steered clear of the blame game and stressed that the company had not deserted Bengal.
“The Tatas still have many units here that employ 16,000 people. Their cancer hospital is expected to open next month. Another Tata unit is coming up in Kharagpur. We are expecting more investments from the company,’’ he said.
The chief minister told the meeting that the Tatas had not paid the lease money for the 997 acres acquired for the Nano project but had taken a soft loan of Rs 200 crore from the government.
Both Bhattacharjee and Bose ruled out returning the acquired land to “unwilling farmers” as Trinamul has demanded. “The government is looking at possibilities of alternative industries in Singur but no specific proposal was discussed today,’’ Bose said.
Bhattacharjee distanced himself from transport minister Subhas Chakraborty’s claim that a deal had almost been finalised for Singur.
“Maybe one of my over-enthusiastic colleagues has said so, but nothing has been finalised. We are considering various proposals, including clusters of several industries and an industrial park for small-scale industries,’’ he was quoted as saying.

Source: The Telegraph

Roadblock with request for Tata team

Chinsurah, Oct. 29: Nearly 200 members of the Nano Banchao Committee today descended on three buses carrying Tata Motors employees, pleading with them not to remove any machinery from the project site.

The buses were allowed to move after half an hour, when the Tata officials and technical staff explained they had come only to inspect the machinery lying in the factory and not take them away.

Villagers on vigil at the project gates spotted the buses around 8.40 this morning and rushed towards them.

“We had no intention of stopping them from entering the plant. We only want to ensure no machinery is removed because we want the Nano to be brought out from Singur,” said Saday Kolay, secretary of the committee.

A Tata team on a similar recce had been blocked on October 22, but was allowed passage after villagers urged them with folded hands not to leave Singur.

The Nano committee has said it will not let Mamata Banerjee enter Singur, where she has lined up a rally on November 2. “We will mobilise 10,000 villagers in Singur on November 2…. We will block Durgapur Expressway at the approach to Singur,” Kolay said.

The Trinamul Congress chief, however, said this evening that she would hold the rally “at any cost”.

“I will go to Singur as planned on November 2. Let me see who can stop me. The CPM and the police are trying to create trouble ahead of my visit,” Mamata said.

The Nano committee is also planning to greet Mamata with black flags when she passes Durgapur Expressway on her way to Ausgram in Burdwan tomorrow.

Police said adequate arrangements had been made for Mamata’s rally. “We are prepared to handle any situation. We will not tolerate any trouble in Singur on November 2,” Hooghly superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said.(END)

Source: The Telegraph

Singur land for industry, says govt

Calcutta/Singur, Oct. 22: The Singur land leased out for the Nano project will be used only for industry, the state government said today.

"The nature of the land has been changed for setting up industry. So, in future, the state government will use the Singur land for setting up industry and increasing employment opportunities. For this, the government is taking specific steps,” a statement said.

Industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen said “one big project” need not necessarily come up there. “There could be small- or medium-scale enterprises, light engineering units, industrial parks or food processing parks that generate employment. Or, we may think of bringing projects that haven’t got land elsewhere.’’

He added that “as of now, we haven’t got any concrete proposal”.

First, the Tatas will have to inform the government whether they will vacate the land or hold on to it, Sen said. “We will ask them about their plans, probably in November. They are in the process of shifting machinery and have sought police help.”

Machinery ruckus

In Singur, the presence of about 50 engineers and officials of Tata Motors, who had come to remove machinery from the site, sparked an uproar among members of the Singur Banchao Committee that wants the plant there.

Nearly 30 members sitting on a dharna near the plant rushed towards three buses carrying the engineers. But a police contingent intervened.

Soon, about 200 more villagers — some who had given up their land and others members of supply syndicates — gathered and raised slogans demanding that the Nano be manufactured in Singur. Some villagers assaulted labourers heading to the plant to help dismantle the machinery. The police drove the villagers away. (END) Source: The Telegraph

CPM cries bias against governor

New Delhi, Oct. 20: The CPM feels governor Goplalkrishna Gandhi, who had facilitated talks between Mamata Banerjee and the Bengal government during the Singur standoff, was “not impartial”.
In a document adopted by the central committee in Cal- cutta recently, the party attacks the Congress, too, saying it “played a dubious role” with state party chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi “encouraging” disruption of the Nano project.
“The role of the governor, who acted as a facilitator between the two sides, was also not impartial. Finally, the Tata motor company decided to shift its plant out of Bengal and announced the shifting out on October 3,” the party paper says, adding that this happened when “public opinion in the state was veering around in support of the project”.
The report on political developments says Mamata’s adamance led to the deadlock despite all efforts for negotiations and settlement.
Mamata, who had refused to talk to the government repeatedly, had finally relented following Gandhi’s request. The talks at Raj Bhavan failed, though, with the Trinamul Congress chief insisting on the return of 400 acres from the 1,000-acre small-car plant.
The governor had earlier earned the CPM’s wrath on Nandigram, when he expressed “cold horror” after the party’s recapture of the area. His decision to switch off Raj Bhavan lights for two hours every day when the state was going through a power crisis” had also not gone down well. ( END ) Source : The Telegraph

Singur: A lesson learnt

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 20: With the bitter taste of Singur and Nandigram over land acquisition lingering, the state government has finally decided to prepare a database for non-agricultural, vested land available for setting up of industrial projects in each district. In a bid to expedite the allotment of such vested land for industry the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has also set up a three member committee headed by the chief secretary. The chief minister seem to have taken a leaf out of Mr Narendra Modi's industrially “vibrant” Gujarat and took steps to expedite the process of allotment of land, ironically, on the day (3 October), Mr Ratan Tata broke the unfortunate news of pulling out from Singur. The meeting was attended by the state commerce and industries minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, the panchayat and rural development minister, Dr Suryakanta Mishra and the land and land reforms minister, Mr Abdur Rezzak Mollah. The committee headed by chief secretary, Mr AK Deb would also include the principal secretary to the chief minister as well as the land reforms commissioner. The committee would vet the proposals received from various department for setting up projects on non-agricultural, vested land which would then be sent to the land and land reforms department for final settlement. “This would expedite the process of allotment of land for major projects which have been facing unnecessary delay,” said an official in Writers’ Buildings. In case of competing departments vying for the same plot, the committee would also resolve the issue. The demand for forming a land bank has been a long standing demand of the Opposition led by the Trinamul Congress but the state government had backed out citing difficulties since most land is in private hands. This database on vested, non-agricultural land is at least a step towards the same direction. In addition, henceforth the land and land reforms department would also give exemptions from land ceiling to projects under recommendation from the commerce and industries department. Since the amendment to the West Bengal land Reforms Act, 1955 is still lying with the standing committee of Legislative Assembly after objections from Left Front partners, projects other than mill, factory, tea gardens and townships require exemption from the L&LR department. The decisions taken by the chief minister have also in a sense, clipped the wings of the land and land reforms department which use to deal with all these issues on its own. It has also been decided to fix timeframe for conversion and mutation of land since this is also causes considerable delay for industrial projects. The notification for this major shift in policy would be issued soon. (END) Source : The Statesman

CPM goes for Gandhi

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: Apart from the Trinamul Congress and its chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee, the CPI (M) has held the West Bengal Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi to be partly to blame for the shifting of the Nano plant from the state, saying he was "not partial" during the crisis. In a document adopted by the CPI(M) Central Committee, the party attacked, apart from the Governor, the Congress, saying it “played a dubious role” on the issue with its Bengal PCC chief Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi “encouraging” disruption of the project. The 'Report on Political Developments' said despite all efforts by the West Bengal government for negotiations and settlement, the adamant stand adopted by Miss Mamata Banerjee on the Singur issue led to a deadlock. “When public opinion in the state was veering around in support of the project going ahead ... the role of the Governor who acted as a facilitator between the two sides was also not impartial,” the report said, noting that the Tatas had shifted the plant from the state on 3 October. In a bid to end the crisis on the Nano project, Mr Gandhi had acted as a facilitator between the government and Miss Banerjee after the Tatas threatened to pull out from the state. The Governor has earlier earned the wrath of the CPI(M)-led government for taking “pro-active” measures and putting the dispensation on the backfoot. His earlier decision to put off the lights of Raj Bhavan when the state was facing “power shortage” had also been criticised by the CPI(M) saying he was exceeding his brief. n SNS ( Source : The Statesman)

Pro-Nano procession by Singur residents

KOLKATA: A section of residents of Singur demanding that Tata Motors revoke its decision to relocate its Nano project took out a procession there on Sunday with some among them even threatening to prevent the shifting out of any equipment from the area.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee reiterated here later in the afternoon her decision to renew the agitation for the return of 400 acres acquired for the abandoned Tata Motors project (out of a total of 997.11 acres) after the Diwali festival later this month.

The decision to relocate the project was taken following the agitation led by the Trinamool Congress outside the project site launched there on August 24. The agitation was lifted following talks between Ms. Banerjee’s associates and the State government on the land issue on September 7, but as the former had then asserted, “not suspended.”

“The agitation will continue through continuous programmes,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists.

She also said her party was considering “what legal action can be taken” against Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group, for his “open letter” to the people of the State — one she condemned.

In his letter published in some newspapers here on October 17 Mr. Tata said it was up to the State’s people whether to support Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government’s attempts to “to build a prosperous state with the rule of law…or would like to see the state consumed by a destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness.”

The procession taken out by supporters of the “Singur Nano Bachao (Save Nano) Committee” comprising a section of Singur residents who have been demanding that the Tata Motors reconsider their decision to relocate the project and set it up there as originally planned wound their way through various villages shouting slogans in support of their demand.

Banners

They also demonstrated for a short while on the Durgapur Expressway outside the area that had been acquired for their project with banners that read: “Welcome Ratan Tata. We want industry, we do not want confrontation.”

The Trinamool Congress-led Krishijami, Jiban, Jibika Raksha (Save Farmland, Lives and Livelihood) Committee also staged a demonstration at Singur where an effigy of Mr. Tata was burnt. “This is in protest against his open letter (to people of the State) last week that was part of a conspiracy hatched by the Communist Party of India (Marxist),” Becharam Manna, a leader of the committee said. Source: The Hindu

Politically motivated, says Trinamool Congress

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress leadership has described as “totally politically motivated” Ratan Tata’s “open letter.”

“We demand an unconditional apology from him failing which we will take judicial recourse,” Leader of the Opposition and senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee said here.

Mr. Tata should come out with evidence and establish that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had acted for vested interests, Mr. Chatterjee added.

Mr. Tata’s letter was to malign the Trinamool Congress and its chief and it was politically motivated, Mr. Chatterjee said. .

Ashok Ghosh, general secretary of the State committee of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) said that it was for the people of the State to decide “whether they wish to stand still and let growth take place elsewhere or move forward with the present government’s progressive policy.” Source: The Hindu

Trinamul threat to Tata

Calcutta, Oct. 17: The Trinamul Congress today threatened to move court against Ratan Tata for alleging that the party led by Mamata Banerjee had acted for vested interests.

“He (Tata) should come out with evidence and establish that Mamata had acted for vested interests. The onus lies with the Tatas. We demand an unconditional apology from him, failing which we will take judicial recourse,” said Partha Chatterjee, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

“Why is Tata holding the brief for the CPM and the chief minister?” he asked, adding: “His (Tata’s) statement is nothing but an attempt to malign the party and our chief.”

In an open letter, Tata had said: “Unfortunately, the confrontative actions by the Trinamool Congress led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee and supported by vested interests and certain political parties, opposing the acquisition of land by the state government, has caused serious disruption to the progress of the Nano plant.”

Praising the state government, Tata said: “Agitation and violence drove away many industries around 30 years ago, and it has only been in recent times that the present government has been able to rebuild the confidence of investors to invest in the state.”

“All our interactions with the chief minister and the industries minister in particular, as also with several other officers, have been exemplary.”

He asked the people of Bengal if they wanted “a destructive political environment of confrontation... and lawlessness” or “education and jobs”.

Trinamul MLA Saugata Ray said: “I’ve never heard of an industrialist giving a statement directly in favour of a state government and its chief minister and directly against the principal Opposition.”

Some Left leaders like the RSP’s Kshiti Goswami felt Tata had “not behaved like an industrialist”.

Party MP Manoj Bhattacharya said: “This is personal observation of an individual industrialist. Ratan Tata does not have all-pervasive influence on the people of Bengal. The letter is not going to help form public opinion.”

The Forward Bloc’s Ashok Ghosh felt the comment was “undesirable”. The CPI refused to comment.

Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said: “It is not right for a businessman to speak in favour of a party.”

Left Front chief and CPM state secretary Biman Bose said Tata had issued the letter as an industrialist. “Since we are not industrialists, we will not comment on it.” Source: The Telegraph

Trinamul demands apology from Tata

Statesman News Service

Kolkata, Oct 17 : The “open letter” written by the Tata group chief Mr Ratan Tata and published by a section of the media today triggered sharp political reactions with the Trinamul Congress threatening to sue him if he didn't tender an apology for “maligning” Miss Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamul-led Opposition, while Left Front junior partners ~ the RSP and the Forward Bloc ~ disapproved of the tenor and substance of the letter. The CPI-M gave tacit support to it.

Mr Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition, said what appeared in the name of Mr Tata was “nothing but a slander campaign” against Mi]ss Banerjee and the Trinamul-led Opposition that spearheaded the agitation for return to the unwilling farmers the land forcibly acquired from them for the small car project at Singur.

The advertisement, he said, didn't bear the signature of Mr Tata, while the logo of the Tata group of companies was used.

Mr Tata blamed “vested interests” for his decision to relocate the project from Singur. "This is most libelous and intended to malign our party supremo and the Opposition combine fighting for the cause of the farmers who were forcibly dispossessed of their land,” he said.

The “so-called” open letter had been penned in a language as if the writer were a CPI-M politburo member, he asserted. Mr Tata openly canvassed for Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's industrialisation overdrive as if he were writing an election pamphlet for the CPI-M. "What else can one say when Mr Tata commands the youth of West Bengal to choose between Mr Bhattacharjee's policy and the Opposition-sponsored agitation,” Mr Chatterjee said.

“Mr Tata can join the CPI-M or he may take over Alimuddin Street replacing its state secretary Mr Biman Bose.Why is he holding brief for the state government ? Is it because he got land so cheap, soft loan at nominal interest, water and electricity at throwaway prices whereas he has to buy land in Gujarat at market prices ?” Mr Chatterjee said. Mr Kshiti Goswami, PWD minister and RSP leader, said the language used in the letter was uncalled for.

“Mr Tata as a citizen of a free country is free to hold his political views, but the dictating tone of the open letter is not proper. He seems to be offering lollipops to the youth. He is setting terms for the youth to exercise their political options which is not acceptable,” Mr Goswami said. Source: The Statesman

Ratan Tata asks Young Bengal: Jobs or lawlessness?

Calcutta, Oct. 16: Ratan Tata has warned Bengal of the consequences of letting history repeat itself and asked a series of searing questions in an open letter explaining why he was compelled to withdraw the Nano project from the state.

“The people of West Bengal — particularly the younger citizens — will need to express their views and aspirations as to what they would like to see West Bengal become in the years ahead. Would they like to support the present government of Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to build a prosperous state with the rule of law, modern infrastructure and industrial growth, supporting a harmonious investment in the agricultural sector to give the people in the state a better life?

“Or would they like to see the state consumed by a destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness? Do they want education and jobs in the industrial and high-tech sectors or does the future generation see their future prosperity achieved on a ‘stay-as-we-are’ basis?” Tata asked in the open letter to the “citizens of West Bengal”.

An environment of “politically motivated agitation and hostility” compelled Tata Motors to withdraw the Nano project, he added.

Tata wrote the letter in response to statements by “vested interests” that the pullout decision was “hasty and politically motivated”.

In the letter, Tata named Mamata Banerjee and referred to “confrontative actions” taken by the Trinamul Congress and supported by “vested interests and certain political parties” that disrupted work at the plant.

Tata praised the Bengal government, saying “all our interactions with the chief minister and the industries minister in particular, as also with several other officers, have been exemplary”.

Trinamul has been claiming that the Tata pullout was a game plan to malign the party. A section of the CPM had described the Tata withdrawal as “unreasonable” — a view articulated by party mouthpiece People’s Democracy.

However, Tata said “the final and painful decision to move the project out” had not been taken in haste but with “great regret after a great deal of deliberation”.

Tata reminded Bengal of the situation 30 years ago. “Agitation and violence drove away many industries around 30 years ago, and it has only been in recent times that the present government has been able to rebuild the confidence of investors to invest in the state.”

Tata added: “It is therefore ironic that, at this crucial time and moment of hope for the state, history appears to be repeating itself. Agitation, violence and terror are overtaking the state in the name of the agricultural community, to serve political goals — stalling progress and destroying the new-found confidence in the state, while doing nothing for the rural poor, other than making promises.”

Source : The Telegraph

Nano Land: PIL against Gujarat govt

Ahmedabad, Oct 15: A Public Interest Litigation was filed today challenging the Gujarat government's decision of giving agriculture land for Tata's dream car project Nano in Sanand taluka of the state.

The PIL filed by the Gandhinagar-based Rashtriya Kisan Dal (RKD) contended that land of the Anand Agriculture University (AAU), which was meant for agriculture purpose, was converted into an industrial land and it was wrong to give the plot for the Nano Car Project.

The PIL also said that the farmers who are original landowners of the agriculture land have not been given adequate compensation by the state government.

It also demanded that the farmers be given adequate compensation.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mr RK Radhakrishnan and Justice Mr Aquil Qureshi, asked the petitioner to come back to the court within three days after the PIL was translated from Gujarati language.

The state government has given 1,100 acres of land near Charodi village in Sanand taluka on the outskirts of the city to Tata's for the relocation of their Nano Car Project from Singur in West Bengal.

An agreement was signed between the state government and the Tata's last week for setting the small car project in Gujarat.

Farmers of Bod, Khoda and Sanand village have said that the land given to Tata's belonged to their forefathers and was acquired on 99 years lease by British Government. They have demanded adequate compensation for the land, the RKD leaders said.

As reality prices soar in Sanand, the place where Tata Motors has decided to relocate the Nano plant, the Gujarat Cabinet today decided that the Company should pay Rs 400 crore and 65 lakhs for the 1100 acres on which the plant is to be set up.

Mr Narendra Modi’s Cabinet met here this morning, and the price of the land for Nano was decided at Rs 900 per sq mts. The chief minister had earlier announced that the land will be sold at “market price” to Tata Motors.

Source: The Statesman

Our fight will continue, says Mamata Banerjee

By Gargi Parsai
PM briefed on farmers’ problems in Singur: Amar Singh

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, along with Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise them of the situation at Singur in West Bengal. They demanded that the State government be asked to honour an agreement to return land to farmers who had not accepted compensation for their plots acquired for Tatas’ ancillary unit.
Seeking dismissal of the State government for the “breakdown of a constitutional agreement,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists here that she was not looking for the 600 acres earmarked for Tatas’ Nano project.
“There are many Tatas, anyone can come there. We want the 400 acres acquired for the adjoining ancillary unit returned to farmers who did not want to part with their land and who have not accepted any compensation. The government will have to implement it or go out of power.”
The Trinamool chief said nobody knew why Tatas withdrew from Singur. “They withdrew unilaterally and the government withdrew unilaterally. The Left parties withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the nuclear agreement, while they themselves failed to honour the agreement on Singur. We will continue to fight this socially, legally and politically.”
Accompanied by leaders of the West Bengal SP and Janata Dal (United), among others, Mr. Amar Singh said at the joint press conference that they briefed the Prime Minister and the President on the Singur farmers facing tough time due to the policies of the State government. “No jan andolan can run for so long unless the people are with it.”
On Mr. Ratan Tata’s remarks after he shifted the Nano project to Gujarat, Mr. Amar Singh said: “To say Ms. Mamata, who was fighting for the poor, was the bad M and Mr. Modi [Gujarat Chief Minister] was the good M was a personal attack on Ms. Banerjee for which she should sue him. Mr. Tata should decide whether he wants to be an industrialist or politician.”
Mr. Singh said he would raise the issue of special economic zones with the Congress leadership when the UPA-SP Coordination Committee met here on Friday. ( END)

'Alternative car plant possible'

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 14: CPI-M general secretary Mr Prakash Karat today said the state government was “exploring possibilities” for setting up an alternative car plant at Singur after the Tata Motors’ small car project “had to be abandoned”. Mr Karat said this while responding to the Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee's demand placed before the Prime Minister and the President today, for return of land to the farmers, acquired for the Tata project since the Tatas had relocated their project from Singur. Mr Karat didn't go into details of the plan about which the state transport minister and CPI-M state secretariat member, Mr Subhash Chakraborty, had been speaking for the past few days without any backing from the state industries department. “My response to the demand is that the state government is looking into the legal and technical aspects for working out plans for setting up an alternative car plant,” Mr Karat said. The CPI-M Central Committee, which ended its three-day session today, heard a report on the Singur fiasco and endorsed the state committee's plan to go on a propaganda offensive against the Trinamul-led "reactionary forces” that adopted “an obstructionist” strategy to “scuttle” the Nano project, the Left Front-government's development initiatives and the policy of industrialisation on the basis of agricultural growth. Mr Karat said the Tata group chief Mr Ratan Tata had also squarely blamed the Trinamul-led Opposition's “obstructionist” strategy for their decision to move out of Singur. The CPI-M will mobilise the people to foil such disruptive activities, since the Singur experience “doesn't mean a full stop to the industrialisation policy”, Mr Karat said adding that efforts would be made to “ensure that the LF-government can fulfil its goal for industrialisation and all round development of the state.” (END)

Protestors block Tata machinery shift from Singur
Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 14: Supporters of the Save Nano Committee (SNC) today prevented employees of a private company, engaged by Tata Motors Limited, from shifting some heavy machinery from the Singur plant.It was around noon when about 20 SNC supporters intercepted five vehicles in which a pay-loader machine and a few generator sets were being taken out of the Singur plant through gate number five, police said. Employees of the company ~ which was engaged by Tata's to dismantle the machines and shift them to other places ~ requested the agitators to let them go, but their request fell on deaf ears as the supporters sat on the factory gate demanding that Mr Ratan Tata change his decision to pull out from Singur. After waiting for a few minutes, the trucks were taken back to the project area. The factory gate remained blocked for several hours even after police intervened to remove the blockade. A senior district police officer said a team from Singur police station went to the spot after being informed of the incident. Policemen's request to withdraw the blockade was turned down by the SNC supporters, the officer added. “We want to make it clear that Tatas will not be allowed to shift machines from the project area. We will only allow entry of machines and not the exit of the same. Tatas will have to come back here since almost 90 per cent work on the project is complete,” said SNC convener Mr Sadai Koley. He added: “Those who were shifting the machines in trucks were requested to support our movement that was launched so that Tatas would stay at Singur." (END)

Source : The Statesman

CHANGING COURSE

- After years of agitation, Bengal’s Left needs to use persuasion
By ANDRÉ BÉTEILLE

The withdrawal of the Nano project from Singur has caused both anguish and surprise in the country. My market-friendly acquaintances in Delhi are unable to understand how, when the project had the full support of the Left Front itself, it could be brought to a halt by political elements not known for their principled opposition to private capital.
The failure at Singur has been attributed variously to the intransigence of the Opposition and the ineptitude of the government. Ordinary people have come to accept inept responses to intransigent demands as a part of everyday political life in India. Some have drawn attention to the decay of public institutions through the sustained use of political patronage and thuggery. But this is not unique to West Bengal. The displacement of rules by persons in public institutions has taken place throughout the country and is probably due to forces that are deeply rooted in India’s social tradition. Perhaps because of the discipline of the Left cadres and the uninterrupted rule by the Left parties for more than 30 years, political thuggery has been better organized at the grassroots level in West Bengal.
Is there no singularity in the state of West Bengal that can help us explain either the intransigence of the Opposition or the ineptitude of the government? A part of the singularity of West Bengal lies in the very distinctive ideological climate that has been nurtured in the state. While all political parties find it convenient to speak against the rich and for the poor, no party has mounted such a sustained ideological assault on the capitalist system as the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The problem in West Bengal today is that an attempt is being made to act against the prevalent ideological climate by the very people who created that climate and sought to protect it zealously from reasoned criticism. An important factor behind the inept handling of the crisis by the CPI(M) is its failure to recognize the power that ideology and doctrine can acquire over minds that have been exposed to them continuously and with little room for dissent.
The Bengali intelligentsia has developed a distinctive language of public discourse. What is loosely described as the ‘class approach’ to society and politics has been made a part of the common sense of large sections of the Bengali-speaking population. This discourse is no longer confined to social analysts or political activists. It provides a set of unstated assumptions for the discussion of every kind of social and political issue. The fulcrum of the discourse is the ineluctable division of society into capitalists and workers, the relentless exploitation of workers by capitalists, and the need to resist that exploitation by every available means.
Uninterrupted rule for more than 30 years by the Left parties has not only created new structures of patronage, it has also led to shifts in the ways in which ordinary people speak and even think. I am impressed by the extent to which terms and phrases taken straight from the Marxist lexicon have now become a part of ordinary Bengali conversation through more than half-a-century of usage. I would venture to say that Bengali has gone further than any Indian language in appropriating the idiom of Marxism and giving it a vivid and distinctive colouring.
The evils inherent in private capital and the sinister designs of businessmen and entrepreneurs have been attacked single-mindedly, and sometimes mindlessly, at party meetings and in party literature for decades on end. One does not have to be a market fundamentalist to acknowledge that business and enterprise might contribute usefully to the wealth and well-being of a nation. But such acknowledgment was ruled out of court in the communist discourse on capitalism and socialism. There is no match for the vigour and sophistry with which Left intellectuals in Calcutta habitually assault any argument about the positive role of private capital in economic development.
Perhaps the powers that be in West Bengal no longer take very seriously the tirades they have themselves kept alive against liberalization, privatization and globalization. Some of them may have the delusion that they can do what the communist leadership has done in China to turn the economy around. But China is a different universe from West Bengal. It has a determined and unitary communist leadership that can move the people in a particular direction at one time and in a different direction at another. The leadership in West Bengal is too insecure and too divided to be able to do that. It has to make its way through the discord and disorder that is the staple of a multi-party democracy. After so many decades of agitation and propaganda, it has to devote a little more care and attention to persuasion. Persuasion may appear more tedious and time-consuming than propaganda, but it is the only path that is now open if development is to be given a chance in West Bengal.
Under present conditions of economic and social change, the communist leadership in West Bengal cannot take its followers and supporters for granted. It is not enough for the chief minister or the industries minister to engage with the politburo or with Ratan Tata. The leaders must explain to their own supporters and followers why private capital is sometimes beneficial for economic development. Changing the social perceptions of a whole population, or even a large segment of it, requires far more patience and care than a mere change in political strategy.
I cannot judge how clearly the communist leadership realizes that a more friendly attitude to private capital, including global capital, requires a change not only in the political climate of West Bengal, but also in its intellectual climate. Left intellectuals have played no small part in forging and supplying the ammunition for the critique of capitalism. This critique, which attracted some of the best minds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has lost much of its intellectual excitement with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the slump in the Cold War. But there is still no match for the zeal with which the Left intellectual can pounce on anyone who is so foolhardy as to even mention the common interest of capital and labour in the benefits of development.
The intellectual custodians of the social and economic theories of the Left have had an easier time in India than in the Soviet Union or China. The discipline of the party and the State never weighed as heavily on them as it did on their Soviet or Chinese counterparts. They could remain men of the Left without surrendering their liberal conscience. They have been increasingly critical of the high-handed acts of the leaders and the cadres of the Left parties. This does not go very far below the surface. They have a deeper responsibility to revise and re-examine a representation of the social and economic reality in whose propagation they have played no small part and that has now become obsolete and anachronistic. Their obligation is to keep under scrutiny not only the political practices of the Left parties but also the economic doctrines by which those practices have been sustained.
The author is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, and National Research

Source: The Telegraph

Singur residents seek Governor's intervention

By Staff Reporter
Seek his intervention in bringing back Tata Motors project
Agitation by the committee at Singur enters fourth day
Governor asks residents to meet Buddhadeb
KOLKATA: A delegation of Singur residents met Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi here on Monday and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention in bringing back the Tata Motors small car project to Singur.
“We told the Governor about the hardship faced by the 11,000 farmers who have lost their land as well as their means of livelihood following Tata Motors’ decision on relocation and urged him to take concrete steps to return back the project to the State,” said Manas Ghosh, secretary of the Singur-based Nano Bachao (Save Nano) Committee. Members of this committee were part of the delegation.
Mr. Ghosh said the Governor sympathised with their cause and assured them to take up the issue with both the State government and the Opposition.
He said: “The Governor asked us to meet Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and explain the situation to him.”
The Committee was trying to get an appointment with the Chief Minister. Agitation enters fourth day
The indefinite agitation started by the committee at Singur entered its fourth day on Monday.
Busloads of people from Singur came to the city and a gathering was held before the delegation met the Governor.
Kolkata Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya was present at the gathering to express solidarity with the Singur residents.
“The Opposition has duped the farmers by saying that the acquired land can be returned back, when the truth is that according to the country’s Constitution it is not possible,” Mr Bhattacharya said.(END) Source: The Hindu

Modi's open letter to Buddhadeb, Mamata

By Special Correspondent
The open letter was published in Ananda Bazaar Patrika
Dialogue with Opposition is a must on land acquisition issues
KOLKATA: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has, in an “open letter” to his counterpart in West Bengal, told Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that given the work culture in the State, the situation is not yet one in which Tata Motors’ Nano project can come up, much that the latter would want it to.
Mr. Modi said that despite Mr Bhattacharjee’s efforts to usher in industrialization in West Bengal neither the party he belongs to nor his administration is yet totally by his side on the matter.
The letter that was published in Sunday’s edition of the Bengali daily Ananda Bazaar Patrika was being released through the newspaper with the intention that it reached the largest section of the State, Mr. Modi said.
It was written to clear any misunderstanding that might exist among the people of West Bengal that the Gujarat had snatched away the project from them, he added.
Tata Motors have decided to relocate their Nano project at Sanand in Gujarat that was to have come up at Singur.

Words of advice

Mr. Modi also had words of advice for Trinamool Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee He has suggested that she shun negative agitation and not become ultra-left in attempts to counter the Left forces.
Instead, the right-wing path should be pursued in West Bengal to forge an alternative.
Citing the case of the Nano project, he told Ms. Banerjee, that in Gujarat even Opposition doesn’t engage in politics over industrialisation.
The task of creating something is difficult; but to destroy it takes a minute, he said.

‘Dialogue needed’

In his letter to Mr. Bhattacharjee he has admitted that in comparison to Gujarat the acreage of agricultural land in West Bengal is higher. It is necessary to have a dialogue with the Opposition on land acquisition issues as it was done in Gujarat.

Source: The Hindu

New plant: Subhas
Calcutta, Oct. 12: Bengal transport minister Subhas Chakraborty has said an automobile company would set up a plant in Singur following the Tata pullout.
“Just wait for six months. You will find another car manufacturing factory coming up there for which we have already started preparations. It will take one or two months for us to sort out legal complications and administrative matters,” Chakraborty told a television channel.
However, chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said from Delhi tonight that he had no knowledge of another car manufacturer setting up a plant in Singur.
State transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury, too, said he was not aware of “any such development”.
Source : The Telegraph

CPM cries Ma-Mo plot
The CPM today accused Mamata Banerjee of plotting with Narendra Modi to take the Nano project from Bengal to Gujarat, providing a preview of the campaign it plans to run ... Read..

Dial 'M' for Nano

Status of the land spells the difference

Gujarat’s incredibly fast handover of land for the Nano is in accord with its generally businesslike approach to development. To that extent, Ratan Tata’s verbal bouquet to Narendra Modi is richly deserved. That said, the investor must also acknowledge that the character of the land spells the difference between Sanand and Singur. It is government land that Gujarat will sell at the market price, indeed part of Anand agricultural university and currently an expansive grazing ground for cattle. Most critically, therefore, there is no question of acquisition of a tract ~ fallow or fertile ~ not to mention government compensation for land-losers, both unwilling and willing. In effect, it is the Gujarat government that will sell its own land. In terms of displacement, it is the cow and not the farmer who stands to be uprooted. Such factors doubtless make for an easy transaction. The ground realities are starkly different, and Mr Tata has not encountered the sort of problem that had appeared insurmountable in Bengal, indeed a crisis that became unmanageable. As in Singur, data pertaining to Sanand has been disseminated on the terms of Bombay House. For, there is precious little that has been disclosed save the basics. So much for transparency. The claim that the engagement was finalised within an astonishing span of five days ~ from the pullout from Singur to the choice of Gujarat ~ is less than convincing. It may not be farfetched to assume that the choice was firmed up before Mr Tata stepped into Writers’ to formalise the withdrawal. Indubitably, it is an achievement for Mr Modi; he has won convincingly after several of his counterparts had thrown their hat into the Nano ring. This is a testament to the state’s economic resilience, a confirmation ~ if confirmation were needed ~ that Gujarat tops the country’s development chart. His other advantage that must be conceded in the context of Bengal’s experience is that no fiascoes and foibles on the part of a bumbling establishment can conceivably impede Gujarat’s development agenda. Still less will Mr Modi and Mr Tata have to contend with what Amartya Sen calls “street activism”, often verging towards destructive nihilism. Its “attractions” are uniquely Bengal’s ~ historically for the Left, currently for the Right and generally confused.

Source: The Statesman

Editorial

Mamata ‘helped’ relocate Nano: CPM

Statesman News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct. 10: The Trinamul Congress leader, Miss Mamata Banerjee, not only succeeded in driving Tata’s Nano project out of West Bengal but “facilitated” its re-location in Gujarat, according to the CPI-M. An editorial in the forthcoming issue of the CPI-M mouthpiece, People’s Democracy, said “being the loyal steadfast ally of the BJP in the NDA, she (Mamata) facilitated the project’s re-location to Gujarat.” The write-up said, “Remember, she continued to remain with the NDA and, thus, in a way endorsed the communal carnage unleashed in the state by the BJP’s Narendra Modi government.” The party maintained the Mamata-led agitation had the support of less than 10 per cent of the owners of the acquired land who had not taken the compensation cheques. The agitation had adversely affected “the future prosperity and improved livelihood for a large number of people in the area as well as the process of industrialisation that would have generated greater employment opportunities”, it said. The editorial said the CPI-M had, in the last Assembly elections, “received a massive mandate to carry out rapid industrialisation on the basis of the consolidation of land reforms,” and the current opposition was in fact “a negation of the people’s mandate”. Answering criticism that the Left Front government failed to provide adequate security, forcing the Tatas to leave Singur, the party journal said, “That is not the reason, as Ratan Tata himself has stated as the reason for the Nano project to leave.” “Indeed, adequate protection was provided and the state government was discharging its responsibilities towards the maintenance of law and order. The Tatas, however, took a stand that unless everybody cooperates, they are not going to continue to remain in Singur,” the editorial said. “One can, surely, disagree with such a position. For, after all, no one can say that they shall build their house in a locality only when all others living there will give an assurance that their house will not be burgled. However, like Mamata Banerjee, the Tatas also have an equal right to take an unreasonable position,” the party journal said.

Singur residents demand Nano back

By Staff Reporter
KOLKATA: A section of residents of Singur started an indefinite agitation there from Friday demanding that the Tata Motors small car project — which has now been relocated to Sanand in Gujarat — be set up in Singur as originally planned. The agitation is being held outside the site where the project had been coming up prior to the decision to relocate it.
“We want the small car project back in Singur at any cost. Our future depends on it,” said Manas Ghosh, Secretary of the ‘Nano Bachao (Save Nano) Committee,’ under whose banner the agitation is being held.(END) Source : The Hindu

From Nano dust rises a poll plank

By BISWAJIT ROY

Calcutta, Oct. 10: The CPM will make Mamata Banerjee’s “destructive, anti-state politics” a key poll plank, hoping to reap some dividends from the debris of the Nano project in Singur.
CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar said “Singur or the exit of Nano project from Bengal would be a major poll issue” for the party in Bengal. He hoped that the “people of the state would give Mamata and her allies a fitting reply for their destructive, anti-state politics”.
The party state secretariat met this morning and a three-day central committee meeting begins on Sunday. Today’s meeting discussed the “contours of the post-Singur political campaign” that will be finalised after the central committee gathers.
“We suspect the government would call elections in January or a little after that. So, we will take stock of the political scenario, both at the national and state levels, and discuss the preparations,” said Md Selim, deputy leader of the CPM parliamentary party.
Konar, a central committee member, hinted that a section of the CPM in the state that was opposed to early elections after the panchayat poll setback now doesn’t mind the prospect, hoping to ride the “anti-Mamata sentiment”, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas, after the Singur crisis.
But not everybody in the party seems as optimistic. Sources said some leaders felt Mamata may be able to offset her loss of the middle-class voters’ support by gaining in rural votes on the land issue.
As the Left has pulled out in Delhi over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress, too, would be in the CPM’s gunsights, Selim indicated.
“The central committee will finalise a document on the demands for restructuring Centre-state relations before beginning talks with other parties for a broad-based movement,” the CPM MP said.
It is not clear, though, if BJP-ruled states would also be included in this “broad-based movement”.
The CPM would also highlight the Congress’s “tacit understanding with Trinamul” on Singur. “The meeting between the Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi at the height of the Singur crisis and the change in the Congress’s tune at the all-party meeting on the return of land confirms our apprehension,” a CPM secretariat member said.
According to some CPM leaders, the Congress may go for the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in the coming session of Parliament beginning October 17.
The CPM is worried about the “rising attacks on minorities in NDA-ruled Orissa and Karnataka”, but the party would still go on the offensive against the Congress, keeping the “third front alternative” in mind. (END) Source : The Telegraph

CPM finally ‘disagrees’ with the Tatas

New Delhi, Oct. 10: The CPM has criticised the Tatas for the first time since the company took the Nano project out of Bengal, saying “like Mamata Banerjee”, it had a right to be “unreasonable”.
“Adequate protection was provided (in Singur) and the state government was discharging its responsibilities towards the maintenance of law and order,” an editorial in the forthcoming issue of People’s Democracy says. “The Tatas, however, took a stand that unless everybody co-operates, they are not going to remain in Singur. One can surely disagree with such a position.”
According to the editorial titled ‘Defeat these anti-people policies’, the Tatas had been unduly worried. “After all, no one can say they shall build their house in a locality only when all others living there will give an assurance that their house will not be burgled.”
With a touch of sarcasm, it adds: “However, like Mamata Banerjee, the Tatas also have an equal right to take an unreasonable position.”
The editorial also accuses Mamata of facilitating the relocation of the plant to Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.
“Remember, she continued to remain with the NDA and, thus, in a way endorsed the communal carnage unleashed in the state by BJP’s Narendra Modi government,” it says.
“Mamata Banerjee has not merely ensured the exit of the Nano project from Bengal but being the loyal steadfast ally of the BJP in the NDA, she facilitated the project’s relocation to Gujarat.”
The editorial blames Mamata’s Trinamul Congress for putting the future of thousands in jeopardy. It says the party, “with the mere support of less than 10 per cent of the owners of the acquired land, who have not taken the compensation cheques, adversely affected the future prosperity and improved livelihood for a large number of people in the area”.
The article rounds off with a suggestion to prevent a rerun of Singur. “The politics that led to the relocation of the Nano project from Bengal also needs to be relocated elsewhere in the interests of greater prosperity of Bengal and its people.” Source : The Telegraph

Plea for Nano substitute

- Willing farmers to meet governor with factory request
Singur, Oct. 8: Singur residents who had given up their land for the Nano plant or were earning their living from it will meet governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday with the request to ask the Tatas to set up a factory at the abandoned site.
The willing landlosers and representatives of the 22 syndicates that supplied construction materials to the project hurriedly called a meeting in a rented house near Singur station last evening after hearing that the Tatas had already decided on an alternative home for the Nano.
“We felt helpless yesterday. So we convened the meeting in a hurry and decided to go to the governor and the chief minister. We will request them to ask the Tatas to reconsider their decision on Singur. If that is not possible, they should ask Ratan Tata to set up some other industry here,” said Sheikh Babul, 32, of Joymollah, whose family had given up over half an acre for the project.
Debaprasad Das, 45, of Sahanapara, a syndicate member, said efforts were on to mobilise people to back their demand. “We have arranged buses for over 2,000 people. We want to prove to the governor and the chief minister that we are sincere,” said Debaprasad, who gave up over two acres for the project.
Many like Bikash Pakhira, 27, of Joymollah, who was a trainee at the Nano project in Singur, are waiting eagerly for a communication from the Tatas asking them to join Sanand, Gujarat, where the project is being relocated. Bikash had completed an ITI course and was trained at Tata Motors’ Pune plant.
“We have heard we will be absorbed but we have not heard from them so far. However, I have decided to join Friday’s programme,” said Bikash. Laltu Dey, 25, echoed Bikash.
The governor had made a vain attempt to end the Singur impasse that killed off the Nano project in Bengal.
The CPM will go door-to-door in Singur “to tell people how Mamata Banerjee’s agitation benefited the BJP (in power in Gujarat)”. “Mamata’s strong ties with the BJP are now clear,” said Hooghly secretariat member Balai Sabui.
The Hooghly CPM leadership will also request the Tatas to build a factory in Singur. “We will approach the people of Singur and ask them whether they would allow the Ta- tas to set up another factory at the Nano project site. If they agree, we will approach the Tatas,” said Anil Basu, the MP from nearby Arambagh.
The government had given the land on a 99-year lease and the Tatas have not made it clear if they want to return or retain it.
The Save Farmland Committee said it would intensify its agitation in Singur after Puja, demanding that the land acquired from unwilling farmers be returned.
The law, however, prevents the government from returning acquired land.(END)

Source: The Telegraph

Sanand rides Singur boom

By BASANT RAWAT
Sanand, Oct. 8: From paddy land to a pot of gold, Nano’s new home is seeing what Singur saw two years ago — a real estate rush and skyrocketing prices.
Cars laden with brokers and property agents scouting for land lined the dusty roads of Sanand, 35km west of Ahmedabad, a day after Ratan Tata announced that the small-car plant would be relocated here. The government has handed over to the Tatas 1,100 acres of land, which was with the Anand Agricultural University and used for cattle grazing.
Govindbhai Dodar, a real estate agent who claims to have handled queries from dozens of people eager to buy plots near the site, said land prices had gone up 500 per cent in the past 24 hours.
“Until yesterday, the price of land in the seven villages surrounding the 2,250-acre university campus was around Rs 5 lakh per acre. Today, we are quoting Rs 25 lakh per acre. In the days to come, the price will go up further,” Dodar said.
Farmers owning land near National Highway 8 connecting Mumbai with Delhi have already hit a jackpot.
The government has acquired from them a little over 50 acres to construct an approach road from the plant site to the highway, a distance of around one-and-a-half kilometres. As compensation, the government has agreed to pay the farmers Rs 45 lakh an acre.
The road leading to the cattle farm resembled a real estate mela with scores of brokers negotiating prices over cups of tea and beedis, confident that Sanand will become Gujarat’s Gurgaon.
The scene was reminiscent of the one in Singur two years ago when the Tatas decided to set up Nano’s mother plant there.
From around Rs 5-8 lakh an acre, the price of land along the Durgapur Expressway had shot up to Rs 35-40 lakh. Since the pullout last Friday, brokers fear the prices, like the “Bengal’s Gurgaon” dream, will come crashing down.(END) Source: The Telegraph

Disaster, says Buddha

Calcutta, Oct. 7: A grim Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today broke the news of “a disaster” to Jyoti Basu — Gujarat has bagged the Nano project.
The chief minister arrived at Indira Bhavan at 12.15 this afternoon and stayed for 20 minutes.
“They discussed at length the relocation of the Nano factory to Gujarat,” Joykrishna Ghosh, a close aide of Basu, told The Telegraph. “The chief minister told him that the government had done its best, but an irresponsible Opposition ensured that the Tatas left Bengal. The chief minister was dejected about the Nano’s move to Gujarat and he conveyed this to Jyoti Basu.”
Sources at Indira Bhavan said Basu told Bhattacharjee that he shared his sentiments. “There were also periods of long silences between the two leaders, which conveyed their mood after today’s developments,” the source said.
The chief minister went to the CPM’s Alimuddin Street office twice today, but cancelled plans to visit his friends in north Calcutta, a routine he strictly follows every Puja. Instead, he spent the rest of the day at home.
Mamata Banerjee soaked in the Puja spirit, pandal hopping in her Calcutta South Lok Sabha constituency — from Mudiali to Mad- dox Square.
“She doesn’t care about Ratan Tata’s decision to relocate the Nano project to Gujarat,” an aide said. “It is irrelevant for the Trinamul Congress where the Tatas want to relocate.”
He refused to comment when asked whether Mamata would write to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to congratulate him on bagging the Nano project, just the way she had done when he had swept to power in the last Assembly elections.
But a close aide quoted Mamata as saying: “You people may be wondering why I am not speaking much on Nano. I just want to see now whether the Gujarat government makes the agreement with the Tatas public. The CPM government didn’t do it. So, I am waiting to find out what Narendra Modi does.”

Tatas opt for ‘good M’
Moving from a “bad M to a good M”, Ratan Tata today dealt a knockout punch to the tottering image of Brand Bengal by deciding to relocate the Nano plant in Nare ... Read..
Ansari to car, tit for tat
Bengal had invited and given shelter to Qutubuddin Ansari, the face of the Gujarat riots, to shame Narendra Modi’s brand of politics. ... Read..
What Modi has shown
The Tatas’ abandonment of Singur inspired much reflection on the sins of Bengal and Bengalis; their flight to Gujarat should inspire similar thoughts on the virtues of G ... Read..

Source: The Telegraph

Mamata unflinching despite Tata's pullout

By Marcus Dam
Trinamool chief bracing for a fresh round of agitation in Singur
KOLKATA: Tata Motors may have pulled out of Singur but Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee remains unflinching in her demands and is bracing for a fresh round of the very agitation that sounded the death knell for the Nano project there.
Ms. Banerjee says she will be renewing, after the Durga Puja festivities, her movement for the return of 400 acres acquired for the project (out of 997.11 acres) to farmers who have not accepted compensation.
Though her “satyagraha” was purportedly aimed at safeguarding the interests of a small minority of farmers who had not accepted compensation — a little more than 2,000 out of a total of more than 13,000 — it would be naïve to assume that the agitation is anything but one designed to serve an agenda governed by a compulsion to gain political leverage in rural West Bengal with an eye on the coming Lok Sabha elections, if not beyond.
Ms. Banerjee has been quick to seize on the political ramifications of the thorny issue of acquisition of farmland for industry — one that is all the more contentious in a State where land use is characterised by its intensiveness and where the government is committed to greater industrialisation as part of its development plans.
She has been claiming that her party is not against industry; yet Ms. Banerjee has described the departure of the Tatas from Singur as “a victory of the farmers.”
The mood in Singur following the withdrawal suggests otherwise. It is unmistakably downcast and has cast dark shadows on the festivities there.Industry upset
Industry circles have also expressed dismay over the pullout. The Confederation of Indian Industry has regretted that the Tatas had to withdraw the project and suggested that a review and consensus need to be reached on the process of land acquisition in future.
That it is important that a consensus be arrived at among leaders of different political parties on the issue of land acquisition cannot be overstated. But what if the principal Opposition party chooses not to be present at all-party meetings convened for this very purpose?
As Left Front Committee chairman Biman Bose has pointed out, several meetings had been called even before the land acquisition for the Singur project got under way but the Trinamool was conspicuous by its absence.
The first meeting was convened by the local district authorities way back on May 27, 2006. This was followed by meetings on June 17 and July 4.
Instead, Ms. Banerjee called for a movement later that year on the Singur issue — one that dragged on in fits and starts till August when she launched the “satyagraha” outside the Tata Motors project site and by when nearly 85 per cent of construction work had been completed. It took more than a month for the Tata Motors’ patience to run out. But the Trinamool chief remains in agitation mode, the reprieve provided by the puja festival notwithstanding.(END) Source : The Hindu

Tatas choose Gujarat as new home for Nano

By Manas Dasgupta
We’ll try to roll out the car by the year-end: Ratan Tata
GANDHINAGAR: Forced to move out of Singur in West Bengal, Tata Motors will locate its small car project at Sanand in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district.
An agreement between the Gujarat government and the Tata group for the Rs. 2,000-crore venture was signed here on Tuesday, ending speculation on the relocation of the project that had been marred by controversy since work began two years ago.
Tata has been allocated 1,100 acres at Chharodi and Charal villages, just 25 km from Ahmedabad.
Mr. Modi and Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, addressing journalists, described the agreement as “historic” and hoped that after the “unfortunate turmoil” the project underwent in Singur, it would now have a smooth sailing.”
Avoiding direct answers to questions about the “concessions” given by the government for relocating the project, Mr. Tata said the deal was “better” than what he was offered by the West Bengal government. He did not say when the first Nano car would roll out of the new factory and what would be its final price, but said he would try to “keep very close” to the promise he had made of putting the small car in the market by the end of the current year and keeping its price within Rs. 1 lakh.(END) Source: The Hindu

Nano parked in Gujarat

Statesman News Service

GANDHINAGAR, Oct. 7: Tata Motors today announced that the mother plant for the Nano will be relocated to Sanand in Gujarat. A Rs 2,000 crore plant is to come up for the Nano on an 1100 acre plot at Chharodi village in Sanand, some 30 kms from Ahmedabad.This was announced in a joint press conference by Mr Ratan Tata, Tata Group chairman, and Mr Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, here today. "The land has been handed over to Tata Motors and they will pay the market price", Mr Modi said.The signing of the "State Support Agreement between the Gujarat Government and Tata Motors Ltd for Nano Car Project", was done in the presence of Mr Modi and Mr Tata. Mr Modi described it as "another chapter in Gujarat's Vikas Yatra".Mr Tata said: "It is an extremely momentous and a happy day for us. It is a special day because we have been through a rather sad experience from a small quarter of West Bengal, despite efforts from the West Bengal government."But, like when details were sought from the Tatas of the Singur deal, when a query was made by The Statesman asking for details of the MoU with the Gujarat government, the company pleaded confidentiality. A Tata Motors spokesperson however said that the MoU with the Gujarat government was “slightly better” than the one it had with the West Bengal government. Promising to be "a good Corporate citizen of Gujarat", Mr Tata said that since they were in Gujarat they hoped to go beyond the Nano and produce other variants like the electric and LPG cars in the state also. Not only this, Mr Tata told the packed Press conference, that the company will also make investments in agriculture and marine............ (END) Source : The Statesman

What You Lost

Taxpayers’ Singur bill: 300cr
The price of Mamata Banerjee’s agitation isn’t just future jobs for Bengal’s youth but also Rs 300 crore out of their taxpayer parents’ pockets. ... Read..

A battle has been lost, but not the war : Buddhadeb

By Special Correspondent
“Irresponsible Opposition is scuttling attempts for industrialisation”
Despite the setback we shall move ahead: Buddhadeb
Industrialisation a must, says Pranab
KOLKATA: A battle has been lost but not the war, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Sunday, two days after Tata Motors decided to pull out the small car project from Singur.
He regretted that a “very, very irresponsible Opposition” was creating problems in his government’s attempt to usher in greater industrialisation to ensure a better future for the coming generations.
Referring to the Tata Motors’ pullout for the first time in public, the Chief Minister said: “All right-thinking people in the State are not happy; just before our [Durga Puja] festival the Tatas decided to withdraw [from Singur].”
“Unfortunately, we are facing a very, very irresponsible Opposition that is creating a serious problem. But I believe one battle is lost; the war is not lost.”
Mr. Bhattacharjee was addressing a function after laying the foundation stone for Orion Techcity, an integrated information technology hub to come up here.
Despite the setback at Singur “we shall move ahead,” the Chief Minister asserted. “I believe that the majority of the people of our State are right-thinking and know what our future should be and that we want to raise our heads again. We must overcome the obstacles and go ahead.”

Tata’s assurance
Mr. Bhattacharjee said Mr. Tata had assured him that he was not leaving the State for good and would be making further investments here in the future.
The State had achieved considerable successes in the agriculture sector and his government was aiming to consolidate this success.
But this alone was not sufficient for progress.
“We are trying to industrialise the State for the obvious reason of greater development.”
“We must go forward — particularly for the sake of the young people who are coming out of colleges. They want industries, they want businesses,” Mr. Bhattacharjee reiterated.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee endorsed the Chief Minister’s views on the need for more industries.
He said the growth of industrialisation was a must along with progress in agriculture, otherwise it would not be possible to keep pace with the developed world.

(END) Source : The Hindu

Historic Blunder Two

- Loss of a project that could have reversed exodus of 60s
By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

History repeats itself, apparently. In Bengal’s political life, historic blunders repeat themselves.
Mamata Banerjee might lack the articulation — and the depth of frustration — of Jyoti Basu who called his party’s decision not to permit him to be Prime Minister an “historic blunder” some years after the deed. But five, or more or less, years from now even she might have occasion to reflect on this October and ask herself if this was the month of another historic blunder.
Even if she does not — because voters may still treat her kindly and no one looks inwards for answers until crippled by despair — nothing stops Bengal from treating the death of its people’s hope for industrial rebirth as the consequence of an historic blunder.
The loss and dejection Ratan Tata’s pullout, caused by Mamata “pulling the trigger”, has left in its numbing wake cannot be measured by the Rs 1,500 crore he was to spend. Nor by the potential loss of investment other businessmen would now be scared to make.
It’s a loss an entire people have suffered that can compare with the individual disappointment of being stopped, by factors beyond one’s control, from fulfilling a lifelong ambition when within handshaking distance.
Such dejection leaves you without the strength to get up. Or, as the minister Nirupam Sen said in the statement defining this state’s moment of despair, “I don’t want to live in Bengal”.
Many, like possibly Sen, can’t afford not to live in Bengal. That includes the willing and unwilling landlosers of Singur who are at the bottom of the despair scale. No land, no work, only the predatory nothing thought.
The Nano had caught the world’s imagination with the halo, ironically, of cheapness, never a ticket to celebritydom. There was no reason for it not to do so in Bengal once Singur became the chosen land. Tata’s entry into Bengal with such a project was the defining moment in Bengal’s history that snapped the trend of industrial desertification.
Just as G.D. Birla packing up and leaving was in the sixties at the height of the Naxalite movement. “I can’t understand how people who worship Lakshmi in every home can do this,” he had said in Bengali with sadness to a young reporter who later worked for an ABP publication.
An exodus that started with a Birla — Philips, Britannia, Brooke Bond, Lipton and Union Carbide followed — would have been reversed by a Tata.
Such was the project’s symbolism. That’s why the emptiness-inducing sense of loss.
Ratan Tata is a businessman who left under duress to cut his losses. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Nirupam Sen are probably a dysfunctional duo at this point in time but will shortly have to pick themselves up by their bootstraps or the ends of their dhotis and get on with governance.
Mamata Banerjee may be feeling lost and sucking on the lollipop of a self-created conspiracy theory while she tries to fall asleep.
On her own she’s unlikely to light upon the realisation of having committed an historic blunder. The responsibility to make her realise lies elsewhere. (END)

Source: The Telegraph

Loss sinks in for Singur unwilling
Trinamul Congress leaders are celebrating a “people’s victory” but many among the “people” have suddenly realised they may have lost. ... Read..

Battle lost, Buddha soldiers on for war
A downcast Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today put up a brave face on the Singur shock, saying he didn’t believe that Tata Motors’ exit marked the end of his industr ... Read..