Article Analysis
Name: Parnamoy Dutta.
Class: PGDM (IB)
Year: 2012-14
Roll No: 13
Geography:
* Situated on the Ganges delta. * Singur railway station is 34 km from Howrah Station on the Howrah-Tarakeshwar line. * It is on the Durgapur Expressway/ National Highway 2 that joins Kolkata with the national capital-Delhi. It also forms an important part of the golden quadrilateral.

Economy: * As it is situated in the Ganges delta, Singur has a fertile land which is utilized by the people residing there for agriculture purposes. Hence it is mainly an agricultural economy. * Along with agriculture cattle breeding is also practised.

History: * The controversy was generated by land acquisition of the proposed Nano factory of Tata Motors at Singur in Hooghly district, West Bengal, India. * The state government of West Bengal (then Left Front) facilitated the controversy by using an old rule to conduct an eminent domain takeover of 997 acres (4.03 km2) of farmland to have Tata build its factory. * The project was opposed by activists, displaced land owners and the then opposition party in Bengal (Trinamool Congress). * The Tatas finally decided to move out of Singur on 3 October 2008. Ratan Tata blamed agitation for the pullout decision. * Also if there would have been further delay in operations it would have been difficult for the small car to be priced at `1 lakh due to rise of inflation, as it was promised to be so.

Developments: * The government has changed. The then opposition party TMC have now come to power in the 2011 elections. * As declared by the party agenda in the pre-election scenario the state government started implementing steps to return the land to the farmers through the Singur Land Rehabilitation & Development Act, 2011. * Tatas challenge the Act. The Kolkata High Court declares the Act invalid as President’s Assent was not sought. * The fate of 400 farmers who refused to accept compensation from the left front government hangs in balance.

Analysis:
Why?
* Geographical reasons: Situated on Ganges delta, considered being fertile and hence acquisition of such fertile farm land for industrial purposes sent a negative sentiment for the farmers. * The Tatas were adamant on this location because of its easy connectivity as it was well connected by Rail and Road network. * Almost 30% of the land was taken from the farmers without the consent of the farmers. * Only 10% of the total land acquired was headed by someone who was a pure owner cultivator. So we can see even if the owner of the land agreed for the compensation the actual farmers who worked on the land would have been hit badly financially. * Owners of superior grade lands (grade on the basis of fertility) were under-compensated relative to market value. * Also the market value did not consider other factors like financial security, complementary with farming skills, or location preferences. * The land owners/farmers were not educated about the pros and cons of giving up land for industrial use. * A large amount of discontent was initiated as the farmers who were illiterate were forced to sign on the documents. * The government did nothing for the compensation to the sub contractor farmers as in Bengal third party Barga system is followed where fragmented farming is the general form. * The method of procuring the land from unwilling farmers was not by convincing them but by forcing, torturing and threatening them.

How it could have been avoided? * Instead of giving agricultural land for industrial use, land which was not suitable for irrigation should have been given on lease. * The minimum necessity for success in this route is to conduct a detailed socioeconomic survey among the residents of the potential project-affected area by experienced social scientists. * Compensation given to the farmers should have been more. It should not necessarily imply that the land taken from them had to be purchased at higher rate but instead the land acquired could have been dealt as an investment of capital by the farmers thereby making them stakeholders in the business.

Personal Opinion: * Bengal suffered from indecision for almost 20 years regarding its stand toward private capital, initially domestic later foreign. One cannot expect to win a 100-metre hurdle race after inaction for such a long period - it needed a gradual change, through creation of infrastructure and land bank and a time-consistent balance among small, medium and large industries. * There are significant areas in Bengal that are not agriculturally viable. But as these lands does not have proper infrastructure it fails to attract the eyes of industries. All these land require proper infrastructure such as rail-road networks, power, etc. * The country requires both agricultural and industrial sector to co-exist side by side. * Already the land which has become unsuitable for agriculture due to extensive construction should be utilized for small scale industry relating to manufacturing or production or generation. * Micro-financing policies should have been taken by the government to facilitate the dispossessed farmers to earn their livelihood. * Reforms must be necessary in the Land Acquisition Act of the state.

Few tricky questions that are left to be answered: * If Maruti requires 300 acres for its manufacturing unit at Gurgaon to produce 3 lakhs units, why did the TATAs need 1000 acres to produce 1 lakh unit? Is it that they would renounce the left over land as not needed and then when the government would auction that part of the land they would buy the same at a cheaper rate for their subsidiary and ancillary units?