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.