[dgogold]

Being born & brought up in Kolkata, couldn't stop the impulse to reply. The opposition party was not quite strong as said, they had only 34 MLA s in an assembly of 270 odd seats. The major reason for the agitation was the ruling party's inability to educate the land owners. They just grabbed the land. And not only in Singur, it was done in other places like Nandigram etc. The farmers were apprehensive about their future and the opposition took full advantage of it.

Ratan Tata was not to be bullied and he moved out. The sole benfactor, and a huge one was the opposition party who romped home with more than two-third majority in the assembly polls. But the state of Bengal and its people are the biggest loser in the bargain. It really pains to see cows grazing in what was supposed to be a benchmark production floor for auto industry.

According to Indian constitution, any land once acquired for industrialization, the same land can not be given back. So whatever new law the state can make or whatever new authority they implement, it will all be futile. The affected farmers will not get back their land.

P.S. My first post in Team-BHP. Will request the mods to remove if found in appropriate

[mi2n]

Wholeheartedly echo Samba's points. Even in this thread cannot help but admire your photographs. The Himadri factory looks fantastic all lit up at night. The abandoned Tata plant on the other hand bears glaring testimony to betrayal. A case of multiple cynical plans formulated, executed and propelled by motivated interests.

Originally Posted by Samba

When TATA decided to make the factory at that time the ruling party of West Bengal had a strong opposition party.

This part I would like to re-structure a bit.

Circa 2006, the Ruling party did not have a strong opposition at all. The opposition badly lacked in potency, intensity and agenda. This made the ruling party arrogant and reckless.First the land acquisition for the Salim group at the proposed Nandigram SEZ followed by the Singur fiasco. The opportunist opposition was smart enough to pounce on these weaknesses and pro-actively and effectively used this Godsend, cultivable agenda. It would be wrong to accuse only political outfits for taking advantage of this situation. Our very own Art-Culture-Film industry, which needless to say have been doing as badly as the other industries in the state, if not worse, jumped in to scavenge. The gullible public fell for the fan-fare. The not so gullible ones left behind were coerced.

Losing hope is not an option. Here's hoping that some day sanity will prevail and the infrastructure will be put to good use.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by Samba

Ruling party wanted to get the land from farmers in dirt cheap rate and give it to TATA, where as the opposition party wanted to take that advantage and highlight the farmers that they have been cheated.

I think this happens almost everywhere, isn't it? Whenever a big industry has to be setup, govt attracts it by offering so many sops, one of which is to give the land for a throw away price. So, i don't think anything different happened here.

Originally Posted by Samba

Later they expected to get jobs from the factory which could compensate there loss. But it didnt happen like that.

I believe, this might have made locals getting agitated and subsequently this situation being 'used' by a political party for it's own gain.

But, at the end, as someone rightly pointed out, except for that political party, rest all ended up on the losing side. It is pity that the same party which is in power now, seemed to have completely forgotten this whole thing and locals are still suffering.

[peterjim13]

This is typical, how many instances we have had like the above mentioned Tata Factory. I am sure that the construction of the Factory and arranging the associated infrastructure would have taken more than an year.

To safeguard such investments, the agitation should have been when the construction was sanctioned and not when they are about completing the construction. The prime objective of most of these agitations are to cause some trouble to the investor, and what eventually happens is nobody gains.

Ratan Tata could afford such a change and what would have been in the case of a smaller organization who had already paid all the bribes to get to this stage.

This explains why nobody is interested in setting up factories in Kerala.

[kirans]

Originally Posted by kavensri

But, at the end, as someone rightly pointed out, except for that political party, rest all ended up on the losing side. It is pity that the same party which is in power now, seemed to have completely forgotten this whole thing and locals are still suffering.

The locals everywhere, especially ones from the rural region are taken for a ride by all political parties. They round them up like cattle with false promises and pittance thrown around as a carrot. Then when their own vested interests are satisfied, the locals are left high and dry with no knowledge of what even happened.

Ratan Tata is one of the most respected and the person of highest integrity in our country in the private sector. With TATA establishing a plant here, the locals in the long run would certainly have gained in one way or the other. Even if the current locals didn't get a job, it would certainly have provided a livelihood to the next generation if they acquired the skills.

We see the same in Karnataka, Tamilnadu and elsewhere. Unless the rural community have a chance to read, understand and think for themselves, the politicos will continue to milk them for what they need. Neither is this limited to India only, it is true everywhere.

In Bangalore I have witnessed hundreds upon hundreds of farmers brought to the Palace grounds (I live right opposite to Palace grounds) for some political dharna. I have often walked to these folks and asked them what is going on, just to gauge if they know what they've come there for. 99% of the time, the reply is "I don't know, but I'm getting 200 rupees and biriyani, if I come here for the day". How sad it is that our leaders who we ourselves elect, reduce us to mere pawns for sacrifice.

[tharian]

The book - 'The Small Wonder, making of the Nano' by Philip Chacko and two other authors is a good read.
It tells the detailed story of the setting up the plant in Singur as part of bigger story of the Nano starting off as a concept to reality. It also goes on to say why they finally decided to move out.
No company would build a factory completely and slowly start functioning as well and then decide to abandon.
It was almost like the TATA's had zero options to stay and continue. It was sad, since they gave it many chances.

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by kavensri

I think this happens almost everywhere, isn't it? Whenever a big industry has to be setup, govt attracts it by offering so many sops, one of which is to give the land for a throw away price. So, i don't think anything different happened here....

No it does not happen every where. Look at the land acquisition trends in Haryana/Punjab and you will realize that farmers are handsomely compensated, that's why there seldom are any protests.

Everyone seems to be lamenting the fact that the factory did not get setup. But if the land was grabbed at throw away prices by the ruling party (going by the replies here that seems to be the case) then the whole process was damned to begin with.

I have seen similar day light robbery happen in Noida where land was grabbed at throw away prices from farmers by the previous regime, and simply passed to builders for construction of flats!

It's a terrible shame what has happened, but the biggest losers still remain the poor farmers in Singur and elsewhere whom our unhealthy obsession with 'progress' and 'growth' has damned.

[blackasta]

This article describes the situation well:

http://forbesindia.com/printcontent/26902

[MDED]

Witnessing what Bengal lost and Gujarat gained, makes me ponder about the rights enshrined in our Constitution. Governments after governments have ruined the state of Bengal with their archaic policy and myopic understanding of development. Pure vote Bank politics have ensured development taking a back seat at the cost of emancipation of the state.
I work at a leading Public Sector Bank in Chennai and posted at Sriperumbudur. For starters, Sriperumbudur is the automobile hub of Tamilnadu, housing Hyundai's plant, Samsung, Yamaha and loads of tier one, two and three suppliers of Hyundai and Yamaha. Today I visited the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamilnadu (SIPCOT) Yamaha Vendor Business Park for official work. This dedicated business Park is opened for the suppliers of Yamaha and other leading ancillary units providing parts to the automobile industry.

The sipcot is not only restricted to the area which I visited, even Hyundai plant is located on Sipcot property. The state government has done their bit by providing round the clock power supply, excellent infrastructure and ease of doing business. Hyundai was wooed by the state of Tamilnadu way back in early 90's and since then it has helped the people of Tamilnadu and country at large by supporting growth of numerous companies, small time sme Enterprises and catering firms by direct or indirect employment.

The central government at best can project the image of country for bringing investment and formulate Central laws to be followed by the state governments. Since, land is the prerogative of respective state governments, I feel it is pertinent on the part of state government to support industrialization activity in order to have a holistic development.
The people of WB lost an historic opportunity to enjoy the fruits of development by the opportunism of nefarious designs.

[VRPAI]

It's realy sad to see the state of the factory. All these farmers would've got jobs or at least would've got indirect jobs if the factory came to existence. Where are the people to lead these protests, these situations happen all the time in a few states our country and the people never learn from all these.

The state where I live has many such factories which have been closed down due to protests. At the end of day it's not only the industrialists that have made great losses, the people who would've got employed, the indirect jobs, the image of the state all get impacted. This is the reason why no industrialist comes to Kerala. There are very few factories here that run here without strikes.

At the end of the day, no body would want to invest in something that would never run, right?!.

[Krishnan83]

After reading through this, George Orwell's lines came to my mind -- "In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia."

What I don't understand is how these politicians were able to turn the tables and rile up a whole state against TATAs and also came to power by voting out the established commies? What made those people gullible to believe the politicians? I don't think it's lack of education, man has an innate ability to reason himself even without any formal education. Perplexing!

At the end of the day, what was somebody's loss was somebodyelse's gain!

[aargee]

Politicians at both East & West made a good opportunity to gain power
Industrialists moved away from the sinking ship

End of the day, common man/land owners are the ones to have lost what they had.

Pity are the ones who borrowed money to start some new business hoping to improvise their livelihood if the Singur plant would've kicked off. Sadly they're still repaying their debts which they didn't have to begin with

[deetjohn]

As many rightly pointed out, the biggest loser is the state of West Bengal.

And that is not just wastage of land at Singur, or the lack of industrial growth that would have happened if Tata was successful in the commissioning of the plant but the reputation of the state itself.

And that is highly damaging in the long run. I know as I come from a state with a similar reputation. If a home grown manufacturer had so many obstacles standing in front of success, the multinationals will be even more vary to set up any sort of manufacturing there.

And it pains to see huge waste of land. And that is for a country where the population density is one of the highest in the world. Either a fertile farm land or a efficient factory would have been a much better sight for the state.

The actual land under dispute is 241 acres out of the 997 acres.


Source: From the Forbes link shared above.

[napster1311]

Originally Posted by blackasta

It was only politics that drove away TATA from Singur.
First the agitators stated that there were unwilling farmers for 400 acres of land. In the latest court hearing, no one could even furnish a list of unwilling farmers.
Then the new govt made a faulty law to return the land to farmers which was challenged in court and is being dragged.
Also - does anybody have any idea what the farmers will do even if they get their parcel of land back? the land has been filled, flattened, built on and the nature of the land has changed. Can you farm on a concrete floor?
If TATA factory would have been operational, other companies and ancillary industries would have followed. The very economy of the place would have changed.
Bengal is the only loser in this case.

And disgusting Politicians of Bengal are the only Winners. I don't understand why term after term people elect such corrupt, blood sucking monsters with Thumping Majority. I am not supporting any party, but when growth engines of economy and social welfare are killed like this, the people of the state are to be blamed for their fate equally. Situation in many other states is not rosy as well, but at least its not worse like WB and some other similar states.

[Asifgrkhan]

Originally Posted by avisidhu

No it does not happen every where. Look at the land acquisition trends in Haryana/Punjab and you will realize that farmers are handsomely compensated, that's why there seldom are any protests.

Everyone seems to be lamenting the fact that the factory did not get setup. But if the land was grabbed at throw away prices by the ruling party (going by the replies here that seems to be the case) then the whole process was damned to begin with.

I have seen similar day light robbery happen in Noida where land was grabbed at throw away prices from farmers by the previous regime, and simply passed to builders for construction of flats!

It's a terrible shame what has happened, but the biggest losers still remain the poor farmers in Singur and elsewhere whom our unhealthy obsession with 'progress' and 'growth' has damned.

This.

Don't make a saint out of a businessman. A very successful businessman but have no doubt where he will stand on an ethics vs profits conundrum. I admit he is not the robber baron type of businessman either but he is no Mother Theresa.

Ask any TCS employee who has been on an L1 visa to the US and figure out where a leading Tata Company would fall on the ethics vs profitability debate as long as you can get away with it.

The measure of greatness is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Not taking advantage of each and every loophole possible and then crying foul when the actual aggrieved victims cry out.

If the Tata's had propriety in mind, they would have arranged for an equitable price for the land, afterall it was agricultural land and the literal livelihood of people that was in questions. This wasn't the only case of Tata and land causing problems. Tata Steel has similar issues with locals on land grab in two locations in Orissa and one location in Chhattisgarh enforcing the notion of impropriety.

You know how the saying goes.
Once is chance, twice is coincidence, third time is enemy action.

Blame politics, farmers etc all you want, the primary reason for the Nano to fail was that it was terrible for the price. When only a few thousands more could get you a M800, why would you go for an untested 660cc product which had an engine and sounded like an auto (actual layman comment I heard on the street on seeing one). When you/your product is laughed upon then it is game over.

There are only three things that automakers need to focus on.
1. Product
2. Product
3. Product

We all know when Nano falls on these parameters.