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Old 29th August 2008, 12:34   #181
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Today's paper says that Naxal leader has threatned tata workers not to go for work. Don't know where will this end up?
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Old 29th August 2008, 12:42   #182
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Here's the linky for the same....

TIMESNOW.tv - Latest Breaking News, Big News Stories, News Videos -
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Old 29th August 2008, 13:21   #183
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Originally Posted by snaronikar View Post
We are witnessing the unraveling of a carefully orchestrated script and this is my opinion. Who knows?. They might find a last minute face-saving situation.

Last edited by nickatnite : 29th August 2008 at 13:23.
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Old 29th August 2008, 13:27   #184
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Hey you seem to be influential or well connected since you seem to guarantee the situation in TN. Tatas got into a mess with their Titanium project in TN in an exactly similiar situation. Only reason it did not receive much attention in the press is because it is not a high profile project like 'Nano'. If what you say about TN is true then you got work on hand. You need to help Tatas out of the mess with TN Govt. and the local politicians.
"If what you say about TN is true"?. It is fact, not fiction. You can google all of the information i posted and you will see for yourself the extent of development going on here. I however, did not know about TN's fracacs with TATA over the titanium project. I have now come to understand that TATA and TN don't get along too well.I wonder if the 400,000 cars a year Renault-Nissan project had anything to do with it?.Anyways, i am a supporter of TATA Inc. and i hope they resolve the Singur issue and move on.
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Old 29th August 2008, 15:01   #185
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[quote=nickatnite;957828I wonder if the 400,000 cars a year Renault-Nissan project had anything to do with it?.Anyways, i am a supporter of TATA Inc. and i hope they resolve the Singur issue and move on.[/quote]

I do not think so. It will be too cheap if these kind of things begin to happen in corporate world. As far as Singur issue is concerned, since the Naxals are involved, i'am sure that nobody wants to get beaten up or killed by the red forces. Hence there is every possibility that this may take a new dimension itself as Naxals have come int picture and MB is supporting Naxals.

Can she be arested as she is getting support from Naxals?
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Old 29th August 2008, 16:06   #186
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Whatever happens, WB will have the Nano plant. The question is when ?
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Old 29th August 2008, 16:28   #187
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Why Farmers are Fighting TATA's Nano

Why farmers are fighting Tata's Nano
Mehul Srivastava, BusinessWeek.com
August 29, 2008

On a highway lined with policemen, in front of protestors armed with anger, one of India's most charismatic politicians has the crowd enthralled.

"We who have so little, have so little greed," yells Mamata Banerjee, a firebrand leader who is leading protests here against a new factory for Tata Motors, part of the powerful conglomerate the Tata Group.

Banerjee throws a rhetorical barb at the group's chairman, Ratan Tata, scion of a family that brought Western-style industrialization to India. "You, Mr. Tata, why are you so greedy?"

Here, in the 90-degree heat of India's never-ending summer, nearly 40,000 protesters have brought to a halt the production of the world's most eagerly awaited car -- the Nano, the $2,500 "People's Car" that Tata unveiled in January and that's supposed to start selling in October.

That timetable is now in jeopardy, after more than a week of protests shuttered the $350 million plant that Tata Motors built in Singur, a small town two hours from Kolkata.

About 5,000 riot police now keep an eye on local farmers, most of them poor and illiterate, who are leading the resistance amid complaints the government and Tata unfairly seized their land in a drawn-out, three-year process.

With the two sides at a standoff, Tata's Nano project -- originally an example of Indian innovation in creating products to suit the needs of low-income consumers -- has now turned into a symbol of one of the most intractable problems facing modern India: How, in a land crowded with more than a billion people, where property holds both profoundly sentimental and measurable economic value, does modern industry find a foothold?

Walling off the land

In Singur, that conflict haunts the life of Mahadev Das. The 34-year-old farmer woke up one day in 2006 to find that the state government of West Bengal had decided to take his three-and-a-half-acre plot of land and add it to the nearly 1,000 acres it was giving to Tata.

In exchange, Tata would bring production of the Nano to the investment-starved state, which has been ruled for more than three decades by a democratically elected Communist government that is only now flirting with large corporations.

Early in 2007, Das remembers being held back by policemen as he watched a wall being constructed around land that he had inherited from his father. "For a farmer, land is life," he says, standing outside the gates of the factory, as almost 30 policemen keep watch on him. "If you take away my land, you might as well take away my life."

On an eight-kilometer motorcycle ride through the lush, green fields of his childhood, where farmers plant paddy fields by hand and women wash their family's laundry in a communal stream, Das is never far away from that gray wall. "I hate that wall," he says. "I never thought I was capable of this kind of hatred."

The government says it paid farmers the current market price for the land -- from $10,000 to $20,000 per acre, depending on fertility. "If the issue is compensation, it can be discussed," says Biman Bose, among the most senior leaders of India's Maoist Communist party. "But this is rejection of progress, these kinds of protests."

Unacceptable Compromise

Farmers nonetheless insist they had no choice but to accept the factory plan. They also say the prime location of the plant, less than 50 yards from a major highway that leads to major cities and to the port of Kolkata, indicates that the land should be worth more than what the government offered to pay.

Back on the highway, now abandoned by cars and crawling with thousands of full-time protestors, opposition leader Banerjee, visibly weakened from nearly a week outside the factory gates, holds a microphone and, with a lusty voice, leads a constantly swelling evening crowd in protest.

"Tata Babu," she says, referring to Chairman Ratan Tata, "you may be rich, but no matter how many times you say Nano, we say No-No."

Later, in a rare interview, Banerjee is adamant that she doesn't want to kick Tata out of West Bengal. "Both agriculture and industry can survive together," she says. "Why should agriculture and industry war with each other?"

Her compromise -- roundly rejected by the state's chief minister and by the Tata Group -- is that Tata be allowed to keep the 600 acres on which it has already built and return the remaining 400 acres to the farmers. "Why does a modern car plant need a thousand acres?" she asks.

Tata Motors declined comment, but on a weekend visit to Kolkata, the company had threatened to pull the project out of West Bengal if the government did not come up with a solution by early September.

That may just be an empty threat -- otherwise, it's a highly expensive option. With the plant 85% complete, Tata would lose its $350 million investment and have to spend another $50 million to $100 million to relocate, says independent auto consultant Ashwin Chotai.

The bigger problem, he says, is that to keep prices low on the world's cheapest car, Tata had planned to have suppliers set up factories on the 400 acres in dispute. For now, most haven't relocated. "We are manufacturing the equipment here" in Gurgaon, a city outside Delhi, "and we ship it to whatever location Tata wants," says Arvind Kapur, chief executive of Rico Industries, which makes engine parts for the Nano. "Wherever the Tatas go, we will be there."


--------------------------------------------------
Rediff.com Special - 29-Aug-2008
--------------------------------------------------

I am not a farmer, neither anyone reading this may be, but as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire... Something was NOT done right in the 1st place... and many are suffering now. Its never a good feeling to wake up one day and get a notice from your local admin that you property is no longer yours and you get some money to move out.

Hope all this distrust and ill feeling ends soon and each gets their rightful share.
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Old 29th August 2008, 16:28   #188
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well well anyone smelling a SARKAR RAJ here???
Look at the links now
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Old 29th August 2008, 16:54   #189
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Quote:
Originally Posted by svsantosh View Post
Something was NOT done right in the 1st place... and many are suffering now. Its never a good feeling to wake up one day and get a notice from your local admin that you property is no longer yours and you get some money to move out.
. Something was not done as per the rules for which Tata might have warned the WB govt and they might not have heeded to this or even the vice versa. But if Tata are pressurised to give 400 acres back, then it will be a bigger problem for containing the costs of Nano.

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well well anyone smelling a SARKAR RAJ here???
Look at the links now
I'am smelling it.

Last edited by snaronikar : 29th August 2008 at 16:56.
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Old 29th August 2008, 19:22   #190
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Quote:
Originally Posted by svsantosh View Post
Early in 2007, Das remembers being held back by policemen as he watched a wall being constructed around land that he had inherited from his father. "For a farmer, land is life," he says, standing outside the gates of the factory, as almost 30 policemen keep watch on him. "If you take away my land, you might as well take away my life."
If people don't want to 'industrialize' or 'develop' you can't force them to. This is democracy.

Bengal ethos are similar to that of - let's say - France. Artistic, Creative people - who have a different outlook towards work life. France obligates 40 hrs a week - at most [in some cases, even less]. They don't 'work' the way we define it. We 'working class' people can easily call them names - like lazy or 'don't-want-to-work' people. But that would be racist. And that would be wrong.

And so are our brothers in Singur.

Calling Mamata Bannerjee names disrespects millions who vote for her. It disrespects our democracy. We are no China. We are no Singapore. We are not the Nazi Germany. We respect people irrespective of their caste/creed/race/sex OR monetary status. We are a free India.

We are proud of the fact that a feeble Das from a small village in WB can take the Tatas head on.

This is Democracy at work. Let us understand and respect that - and work to make it stronger.

As an aside - close to half of Free India's districts have a naxalite influence. Maybe because we - the car-buying-middle-class-lot doesn't show them enough respect.

SD

PS: I'm not a bengali and have no MB connections. I'm an entrepreneur like the original Tata was himself. Entrepreneurship is an euphemism for Freedom. I've spent a nice time in Beijing and China and Kuala Lumpur. And I know the true value of freedom.
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Old 29th August 2008, 19:35   #191
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This just in

This is just in:

Tatas pull out executives, workers to safety

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August 29, 2008 19:13 IST
Irked by constant intimidation of its workforce by agitating Trinamool Congress workers, Tata Motors Tata Motors Ltd.*-*prices,*charts,*news has evacuated its manpower from Singur.

Last edited by Jaggu : 29th August 2008 at 19:45.
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Old 29th August 2008, 19:46   #192
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Originally Posted by agentsmith2 View Post
If people don't want to 'industrialize' or 'develop' you can't force them to. This is democracy.
Agreed

Quote:
Originally Posted by agentsmith2 View Post
Bengal ethos are similar to that of - let's say - France. Artistic, Creative people - who have a different outlook towards work life. France obligates 40 hrs a week - at most [in some cases, even less]. They don't 'work' the way we define it. We 'working class' people can easily call them names - like lazy or 'don't-want-to-work' people. And so are our brothers in Singur. But that would be racist. And that would be wrong.
Please do not compare Bengal with France - there is a HUGE difference in the standard of life. And yes they do lose out on a lot of work because of this attitude (we have one French vendor and we're moving away from them for this very reason - thats a few 10s of million dollars a year).

France is a company that has reached a certain level AFTER industrialization and is now able to take it easy. For the rest of the world, they are lazy - perhaps they think they're being creative, but it will take a while for them to realize that the rest of the world has gone past.

Bengal has never crossed that level, so wanting to enjoy a similar work ethic without an economy to back you up is very much a Rip Van Winkle syndrome.



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Calling Mamata Bannerjee names disrespects millions who vote for her. It disrespects our democracy.
Sorry - in a democracy you are entitled to your opinion, therefore if there are people who wish to call her names, they have every right to do so. Because...

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We are no China. We are no Singapore. We are not the Nazi Germany.
Quote:
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We are proud of the fact that a feeble Das from a small village in WB can take the Tatas head on.
Are we really? I find it quite Quixotic, though that isnt the right term - Don Quixote fought for some form of idealism, in this case the lady is fighting for her political space and nothing else.

There is a fine line between bravado and foolhardiness. She is no feeble Das from a small village - she is a politician, a rabble-rousing, disruptive one at that whose USP is the ability to create conflict. Let us stop worshipping those who hit the headlines for destroying things, and concentrate our attentions on those that actually create things, for a change.

This is not a David-v/s-Goliath story and let us not have any misconceptions on that. This is an instance of a person not willing to let things move unless she is appeased. The fact that you throw stones at a monument, does not make you a hero just because you are small and the monument is large. It makes you a coward, because it took years of effort to build that monument and you are unable to appreciate the fact that the monument will not retaliate.

Last edited by Steeroid : 29th August 2008 at 19:53.
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Old 29th August 2008, 19:46   #193
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Originally Posted by snaronikar View Post
Tata have a bitter experience with TN govt hence they are not approaching or neither TN govt is approaching tatas.
TATA had a bitter experience with SUNbody from the present government (but that person is not with the party anymore).
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Old 29th August 2008, 19:58   #194
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I guess if some one can come up with a win-win situation for everyone - WB Govt, MB, People and Tatas, then the problem automatically evaporates. Question is what could be the win-win situation? Some alternatives that come to mind:

a. Some compromise from Tata and MB, with Tata/WB govt giving up some land and MB giving up some of the tough postures
b. WB govt provides farmers with alternate land in a 10-20 km radius and MB gives up her protest. Farmers have their livelihood, Tata has its plant, MB 'wins' and WB govt retains Tata

and so on.........
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Old 29th August 2008, 20:07   #195
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Originally Posted by Steeroid View Post
There is a fine line between bravado and foolhardiness. She is no feeble Das from a small village - she is a politician, a rabble-rousing, disruptive one at that whose USP is the ability to create conflict. Let us stop worshipping those who hit the headlines for destroying things, and concentrate our attentions on those that actually create things, for a change.

This is not a David-v/s-Goliath story and let us not have any misconceptions on that. This is an instance of a person not willing to let things move unless she is appeased. The fact that you throw stones at a monument, does not make you a hero just because you are small and the monument is large. It makes you a coward, because it took years of effort to build that monument and you are unable to appreciate the fact that the monument will not retaliate.
Extremely well put. You need to take care of a million things when you do something constructive, but putting in a spoke is one small easy thing!
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