Mamta Banerjee and Co suspend Singur Protest
Tata Nano's Woes
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Mamta Banerjee and the other farmers who have a bee in their bonnet regarding the Tata Nano's uncomfortable seat covers have finally suspended their protests.
This little change of heart came after the government of West Bengal state offered them all KitKats and promised to return some of the land in Singur where Tata's now deserted plant gathers dust.
In case you didn't already know, Tata, after being poked, prodded, bullied and taunted stopped work last week on the Singur plant that was churning out brand new samples of the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the governor of West Bengal said, "The government has taken the decision to respond to the demand of those farmers who have not received compensation."
Mamta Banerjee was visibly pleased with her share of Kitkats and described this agreement a Big Victory. Tata, who wanted Dairy Milks did not wish to take any part in the talks between the West Bengal government and the protesters.
One other upset person is West Bengal C.M Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had doled up an ambitious plan to revive the industry. He had hoped that his state's image of being hostile to industry would be changed for good after saving Rs 1,500 crore from the Nano project. He's surely had his Kitkats.
TATA Project at Singur
Land in Singur was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, the land acquisition Act still in effect in the state.
Now Indians consider the period 1894 – a time when India was colonized, all laws and regulations favoured the rich / the rulers. Clearly governments do not have a clue regarding the needs of a farmer and therefore have no proper guidelines that ensure security to the farmers and provides no protection to the livelihood of the farmers.
Look at the unfair system – The land for the farmer is evaluated based on today’s market value and the farmer is given his compensation based on that value. The short sightedness of this transaction is appalling. The farmer is now left with money and no land. Does he have the financial skills required to make a good investment to continue earning? Does he have any skills besides farming?
To make things more clear it is like stripping an engineer of his rights to work as an engineer and give him an option of practicing medicine only.
TATA you have an ambitious plan. Why don’t you also include the farmers in it too, by giving them a share in that unit of your business, paying them an yearly dividend from your profits, thereby ensuring that the farmer is not left penniless in the long run? This way you have the goodwill of all.
Moreover, is’nt NANA a car that is out at the wrong time? When the whole world is looking at ways to conserve energy resources you are producing a car that will precipitate the oil shortage crisis.
Millions of Indians would buy the car increasing the consumption of petrol or diesel, increase road traffic..etc, Isn’t it wiser to stay current and look at mass production of hydrogen cars or the likes that looks at alternate energy taking Indian auto industry to a different level? You may say that you are in the business of making money and cannot afford to be the good Samaritan, paying a heavy price. But it is alright for the farmer to pay a heavy price?
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