Originally Posted by Steeroid

The CM of WB featured on a very frank interview with ET yesterday where he tried to explain the crux of the problem (his version):

Approx 12,000 farmers were affected in Singur of whom 10,000 have collected compensation and agred to the terms. The balance 2,000 are either 'absentee farmers' or those without title to the land, who have not turned up to collect the compensation (for obvious reasons).

He did also indirectly hint that the 'agitation' is also probably aimed at legalizing the holding of those without title so that they would be 'compensated' with land elsewhere with proper title from the government and all and that - the government had offered to take care of this situation by offering the same compensation to title-less farmers and share-croppers who didnt really own the land. However what Mamta wanted is "land within the complex" for such cases and not the compensation offered - which leads one to ponder what exactly her intentions are - why does she want land within a developed complex if not to gain by the rise in prices for 'developed land' with proximity to the complex?

above, is a perfectly valid explanation of what happened, if its not the whole truth, its probably the closest you can get to the truth.
and we're still talking about the "honest" farmer and his unwavering, unselfish champion(MB)?

I think the issue would have worked out more smoothly if mamata bannerjee had rounded up a few of her goondas and stormed Ratan tata's house yelling "THIS IS A STICK -UP!!!!!"(or whatever else dacoits and robbers say in bengali) atleast the whole process would have been more straight forward.

[sam003]

Anyways this chapter is closed now. As TATA already made up their mind to move out of Singur. Some are saying its Mamta's wind, but whateverer its everone loss specially in WB. Now Companies will think 100 times before they look for WB as business opportunity.

[Brabus E V12]

So that means the title of this thread will be:

Indian politicians let India down, yet again - TATA motors pull out of Singur!

I can't believe why our politicians don't want our country to progress. How much money do they want? We should plan a Rang De Basanti style solution to the problem of Ms Banerjee( The "Insert expletives here!").

[snaronikar]

@Brabus: Not sure whether you have read the previous posts. This has already been discussed in length the whole of today...

[bigman]

Got to applaud Ratan Tata for this move. Good on him for not being held to ransom by Banerjee.

Mamta has had her days of media time and can now retire to the small columns. She will never ammount to anything in WB.

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by joslicx

I second this!
The WB govt should really shoulder most of the blame. It was quite shoddy handling of this whole issue from their part. Also Tatas should have known better than to go to a state like Bengal. Even if the factory comes up now, there is no guarantee that there will be no more problems later. Bengal is a strike waiting to happen! Probably MB has only done Tatas a massive favor now by not "allowing" them to set shop there!

That is precisely the problem with WB govt - being the good old CPM, they are autocratic to the core. Just force down their decisions on one and all. No need to take other expert opinions etc. So what its agricultural prime land and everything - they chose which land, and thats it. obviously, such an attitude doesn't go down well with lot of the local folks (it had happened in Nandigram also).
Net net, even if they want to do the good thing for the right reason, their method creates its own problems!
I am a big fan of the House of Tatas, but I still have my doubts why the Tatas needed 1000 acres of land for the Nano and ancilliary factories ? Even Maruti's two plants occupy less land taken together (900 acres). In our country, we do have a high population density and shortage of land resources - shouldn't that be factored in somehow for our industrialization ?

Finally, the central govt needs to make a policy guideline for land acquisition for industrial projects consulting cross-section of experts, so that these issues can't be politicized as easily and can also be defended legally.

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Really? Is this what handed over to TATA? If so, I don't know how did govt choose this fertile land?

Is all the 1000acre (or atleast 50%) was like this is it?

Actually, not quite. The picture is dated 27/08/08. The Tata land was
converted more than a year back, and is virtually unrecognizable as
agricultural land. The acquired land was not prime land, -- most of it was
single crop, some double crop and very little 3-crop. Some of it was also
low-lying which had to be elevated by the developers.

If industrialization has to happen in WB at all, there is no way agricultural
land (62% of total) could be spared. 24% is urban + industrial, 13% forests,
and only 1% waste land. Obviously MB is motivated by other designs!

BTW, the "farmer-loving" MB had herself acquired fertile land for a hospital
in 2004 (when she was the central coal minister), near EM Bypass in Kolkata,
and paid 25 lakhs for 20 acres to owners, while spending 42 lakhs
on advertisements! The hospital has never materialized ...

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by meerkat

BTW, the "farmer-loving" MB had herself acquired fertile land for a hospital
in 2004 (when she was the central coal minister), near EM Bypass in Kolkata,
and paid 25 lakhs for 20 acres to owners, while spending 42 lakhs
on advertisements! The hospital has never materialized ...

This certainly is a news to me atleast. She wanted to gain some political mileage with this activity / agitation of hers. Unfortunately, nothing materialized for her now. Infact, she is further in deep trouble and has to face the people's wrath now.

[amohit]

It will be very interesting to see how does the common man who would have benefited from Nano project will take these developments. LS elections next year will most probably give MB's career a new twist!

By the way, what has happened...has Tata decided to completely move out of WB and dump that piece of land or they have just moved out the Nano project elsewhere and will wait for the issue to get resolved?
Now since Nano is not there in singur, there is no need for tata to have that 400 acres of land(which was meant for support units) they can stil use the existing infra in the remaining 600 acres for something else.right?

Regards,

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by meerkat

BTW, the "farmer-loving" MB had herself acquired fertile land for a hospital
in 2004 (when she was the central coal minister), near EM Bypass in Kolkata,
and paid 25 lakhs for 20 acres to owners, while spending 42 lakhs
on advertisements! The hospital has never materialized ...

Well maybe she had a lot of land in Singur too and she is merely 'protecting her investment' or trying to get higher returns for the same.

25 lakhs for 20 acres is a terrific price. Next time you want to buy land in Bengal, contact Didi.

[Steeroid]

And finally today, the facade comes off:

Insisting that the governor wants land-based rehabilitation and not the monetary package on offer for the Singur farmers, Mamata on Wednesday called on Gandhi at Raj Bhavan, pressing her demand of invoking Article 355 and paving the way for President's rule in Bengal.

Meanwhile its official that Tata will move out of Singur:

No Nano from Singur: West Bengal Minister- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

[sridhga]

All this talk about 'fertile land', 'agricultural land', etc makes no sense when agricultural percapita output is so low. It is just not possible to set up industries only in 'waste lands' whatever that means. Maybe by setting up factories on 'waste lands' you are wiping out some ecosystem and some species. If these politicians are so stubborn, then Tatas (or other industrialists) may look north-wards from Singur and might find lots of 'waste land' in China.

[METISWHG]

In all this finally the winner is still to be announced - the new state that gets the plant. all rest have gained nothing. mamta will have more history being dug up on her by the ruling WB govt once this issue cools down, erstwhile 'farmers' with some cash and no jobs and land now; Tata and Vendors who had a major loss of time, face and moolah and most of all WB wasted another image enhancing oppurtunity.

Originally Posted by amohit

It will be very interesting to see how does the common man who would have benefited from Nano project will take these developments. LS elections next year will most probably give MB's career a new twist!

Elections and aspirations of comman Man (if any one can give a socio economic depiction of this creature, it would help) - Is there a strong correlation in them. After elections EOD there are only 2 options - either communists rule and WB remains where it is, or Didi rules and WB remains where it is.
Though it would be nice to see some people going to vote in a Nano

[snaronikar]

Here's the latest update on this.

Tata is moving out of Singur and they are in discussions with Maharastra for establishing the plant at Pune. They have not yet finalized on the discussions they had with Karnataka CM. Hope they will finalize KA itself.

Mamata is in no mood the relent. Today also she is meeting the Governer for discussing this further. Don't understand why she is doing it now. The tata's are already out of WB. Metro C&C has threatned if the license is not renewed, they will also pull out. I think WB is heading for a disaster in terms of industralization.

It’s official: curtains for Singur project

Ratan Tata Will Talk To Maharashtra CM

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: It’s official. Nano is on its way out. Tata Group chairperson Ratan Tata is in no mood to operate from Singur, given the uncertainty. He will call on Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh along with Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant soon.
In his letter to CM Deshmukh, Ratan Tata said: “The situation in West Bengal continues to be uncertain. We are obliged to actively consider consider plans to shift. The decision to shift has become complicated by virtue of the enormous sunk cost that it would entail, but it would not be possible to operate efficiently without a congenial environment.”
Ratan Tata doesn’t want to resume operations with the help of police force that CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had promised him. The state cabinet, after its meeting on Thursday, appealed to the Tatas to stay, and also to the opposition to cooperate. But to no avail.
Mamata Banerjee reiterated her demand on Thursday. “I never told the Tatas to move out of Singur. They can easily set up the factory over 600 acres and shift the ancillaries across the expressway,” the Trinamool chief said. Mamata will again head for the Singur rally on Friday.

Meanwhile Karnataka waits for the decision from Tatas for the land they have promised to provide to tata if they come here.

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bangalore: Even as truckloads of material have started rolling out of Singur following attacks on security personnel, Karnataka, the next possible destination for the small car project, awaits a reply from Tata group chairman Ratan Tata.
Soon after Tata Motors delegation met chief minister B S Yeddyurappa last week, the government wrote to Ratan Tata seeking an appointment.
Even West Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen has maintained that the possibility of the small car factory coming up in Singur is becoming remoter by the day.
Raising hopes for Karnataka, Tata Motors delegation led by its MD G Ravi Kanth had conducted site inspection of two locations near Dharwad — Tarihal and Gamangatti — 7 to 8 km away from the Telco plant. The visit was followed by an assurance from Karnataka government that it was ready to offer the company 1,000 acres for the small car project. In response, the Tatas had told the government that they will respond in a fortnight.

[Volt]

I was in Kolkata for the past few days and happened to the read the Telegraph where Prof. Amartya Sen has expressed his views on the Singur controversy, he ends his letter to the editor dated 20th Sept thus

"That politics might change over time once the terrible consequences of industrial and economic stagnation are more widely appreciated and understood. But for the moment the political attraction of street activism seems dominant, supplemented intellectually by the old physiocratic illusion of prosperity grounded only on agriculture. The latter piece of romantic thought cannot but fade over time with the influence of realism (no country has ever achieved much prosperity on the basis of agriculture alone). But at this moment realism looks like a distant dream."

Those wanting to go through the whole letter can do so here:
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Frontpage | Huge price of street politics

Overall he presents a very balanced perspective and expresses that the project will be indeed good for WB.