A tragic road map

The following article was published in The Statesman on 30 Spetember 2008. Based on the analysis of land reform expert Mr. Debabrata Bandyopadhyay it shows the estimated rate of profit from the Singur Plant. We believe it is worth reading, although the views reflected in the article do not have full agreement with the views of the blog.

Manos Ghosh

The improper resettlement and rehabilitation package for 2,500 agricultural households of Singur owning 164 hectares (400 acres) of rich multicrop land forcibly acquired by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government for the Nano car project would surely lead to their loss of livelihood, starvation, morbidity, social and economic degradation, not to forget a high incidence of untimely deaths. This is the substance of a fact-sheet prepared by Mr D Bandopadhyay, West Bengal’s former land reforms commissioner and secretary, revenue, government of India, on the gross value of production from 400 hectares of land acquired from over 12,000 owners and co-sharers for the Nano project.

Mr Bandopadhyay says that while the shareholders and the corporate house responsible for manufacturing the Nano will reap a windfall profit from this small car project because of a huge amount of visible and invisible subsidies provided by the state government for the project, Singur’s 2,500 households, whose 162 hectares have been coercively acquired for locating ancillaries, will surely face starvation, family disintegration and untimely deaths if the state government continues to ignore the resettlement and rehabilitation policy guidelines laid down by the Union government for land-losers. “This will mark the beginning of a tragic road map charted out by the CPI-M government for West Bengal’s industrialisation.”

According to the fact-sheet, land-losers of 400 hectares, numbering over 12,000, which includes co-sharers, produce crops worth Rs 10 crore annually will be lost. While the paddy crop of 5,220 metric tonnes from 400 hectares annually fetches an annual earning of Rs. 3.50 crore based on the government’s declared minimum support price, potato also fetches an almost identical sum from the sale of 10,000 metric tonnes from almost the same acreage. Income from inter-cropped vegetables is well over a crore of rupees. Oilseeds and pulses, both of which are cultivated over 200 acres, provide an annual income of Rs 42 lakh and Rs 34 lakh, respectively. While 235 tonnes of oilseeds are produced in the acquired land, the yield of pulses is 200 metric tonnes.

The most positive part of the study is that even a marginal Singur farmer, with a holding of just one acre (three bighas) has an earning that puts him well above the poverty line. Highlighting Singur’s economic prosperity from agriculture, Mr Bandopadhyay says this becomes clear when even the area’s marginal farmers and sharecroppers vociferously claim their income from their holdings is good enough to not only meet both ends but also help them enjoy some of the good things of life.

Mr Bandopadhyay says that according to the Centre’s yardstick, a family of five, with an annual income of Rs 22,000 and below, falls below the poverty line (BPL) category. But in Singur, even a marginal farmer and a sharecropper earns an average annual income of at least Rs 32,000, which places him above poverty line (APL) category without any assistance from any quarter.

In other states, according to Mr Bandopadhyay, marginal farmers with such meagre holdings and poor land quality and crop yield have plummeted below the poverty line. “But not in Singur. If proper incentive and price and other forms of support are provided this income is bound to increase significantly in no time”,Mr Bandopadhyay added. According to him an average annual agricultural income of Rs 10 crore, though distributed asymmetrically among 12,000 affected farmers and share croppers, shows the rich quality and high productivity of Singur land on which the Tatas have been allowed to build their car factory. “If the government and the Tatas don’t do anything to provide alternative sources of income, which must ensure higher returns than the existing ones, then a grave human tragedy is about to befall Singur’s 12,000 “unwilling” farmers. What has been announced as an increase in the compensation package by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is, unfortunately, less than half of the benefits that must be given to land losers under the national resettlement and rehabilitation policy of 2007. The new compensation package is a sham. “It will pauperise the land losers in no time and eventually force them into penury and extreme hardship”, Mr Bandopadhyay rued. Pointing out that the Singur project is a “job loss growth” Mr Bandopadhyay’s fact-sheet says that whereas the Tata car unit will create employment only for 650 employees (almost all of whom will be outsiders)whose annual wage element will be around Rs.12 lakh per employee, agriculture in Singur provides “unwilling” farmers with an income of at least Rs.32,000 for each of the affected 2500 households with 12000 heads. Even if the creation of 650 jobs at the Tata factory is factored into the Singur employment scene there would still be a net job loss of 11,350 heads which will spell doom for the local economy and social scene. While calculating Tata Motors’ income and expenditure on the Nano project which is based on very liberal assumptions, Mr Bandopadhyay’s projection is that Tata Motors would be earning annually a profit of Rs.600 crore from the project (See table).

The above calculation of surplus of Tata Motors has not been factored into the benefits that the company got through substantial material resources transferred to it either without cost or at a substantially reduced price. The real value of such transfer has not been made public as, according to both the chief minister and his industries minister Nirupam Sen “these are trade secrets which can not be divulged in the interest of the project which is for public purpose”. But according to valuers’ estimate the benefits so received through below the market price transfer of resources of land, water, electricity, transport, security, local tax concession and a loan of Rs 200 crore bearing one per cent interest would total around Rs 2000 crore.

Not only this, the annexure one and two of the agreement provides that the state government would make good the loss that the TM will suffer if and when there is an upward revision of excise duty and corporate income tax during the current decade. And alternatively if and when the excise duty and corporate tax goes down the benefit will go entirely to the TM with the state government having no share in it.

Thus the company’s net worth/ assets, according to Mr Bandopadhyay, would be far higher than the visible investment made by it as indicated above. The enhancement of net worth would be reflected in the soaring stock prices resulting in creation of instant millionaires and perhaps billionaires.

But this largesse provided to TM has created such an uneven playing field that it is being resented strongly and silently by other leading investors in West Bengal. They say that by doing this the CPI-M government has encouraged and practised a patently unfair trade practice just to favour the TM. It also, according to Mr Bandopadhyay, violates the letter and spirit of the Competition Act. “By having recourse to this the state government has committed a highly unethical and illegal act”. And yet the irony is that both the government and the Tatas are not willing to spend much on proper resettlement and rehabilitation of Singur’s “unwilling” land losers. Gross inadequacies and shortcomings in the state government’s compensation package, which the chief minister and his party as well as their camp followers have hailed as the “best” in the country, come out loud and clear when it is compared with similar package offered by other state governments to their land losers. Their compensation package contains so many provisions that each one of them addresses almost all the concerns connected with acquisition of private property resulting in involuntary displacement of their owners and depriving them of their land, livelihood, shelter and restricting their access to traditional resource base.

For instance, the compensation package offered to those whose 1300 acres had been acquired for building the new privately owned Kochi international airport and 800 acres for constructing the new cargo terminal at Nagpur airport have taken care of the traumatic psychological and socio-cultural fallout on land losers. The package has protected the rights to land, livelihood, and employment besides providing other benefits including financial compensation which is based on four times the price of prevalent market value of land. The Kochi package had such a human face that all the 800 land losers found it hard to resist the offer. Not only one person from each family had been provided with a permanent job, or various contracts but he had also been given shares of the airport company, bus or taxi permits, six cents of land for building a house and a free return air ticket to go to any of the neighbouring metro cities of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka. In fact the Kochi land losers in the Marxist ruled Kerala have been given more benefits than those prescribed under the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy of the Union government.

Against this backdrop, the package offered to Singur farmers is a pittance. If the barren and gravel land in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur, where the Korean car major Hyundai has built two huge car manufacturing units on a 500 acre plot, can fetch over Rs 2.10 crore an acre, why should the state government pay between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 12 lakh an acre for Singur’s best alluvial land, which in terms of land quality is the country’s best? Although Singur in terms of connectivity and proximity to Kolkata is better placed than Sriperambudur. The result is that Singur’s “unwilling” farmers are convinced that the Marxist government is cheating them through land acquisition.. Their general feeling is that the package is “highly exploitative” in nature.

What has shocked many IAS administrators of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which I had recently visited, is the “dehumanised approach” of their service brethren and their political masters in West Bengal. One such officer asked me in Chennai “Does the government’s responsibility towards involuntary land losers end with the collection of compensation cheque?” The officer was reacting after reading “threatening” statements of CPI-M leaders in the Press that the “unwilling” farmers should at once go and collect their compensation cheques from the collectorate.

(The writer is Editor, Dainik Statesman)

Source: TheStatesman 30 September 2008

997 acres? CM, experts must come clean

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Sept. 18: Does Tata Motors need 997 acres for its "integrated" car manufacturing facility at Singur? At his interaction with the media yesterday, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had insisted the company needs all that land. He went on to say the government's experts had independently corroborated this requirement. But inquiries by The Statesman suggest the experts may not have been right and that comparable car manufacturing facilities around the world do with far less and if this is so, the CM ought to explain how his experts came to their finding.

Mr Bhattacharjee had maintained that at the most 70 acres from the project area could be returned to unwilling farmers. He had said that "the central issue was not 50 or 100 acres but how much land would be required for setting up an integrated factory and how much could be taken out of the project area". Mr Bhattacharjee had added that the land requirement was not "merely a claim by the Tatas, but we have consulted experts before arriving at the quantum of land required for the project".

Tata Motors is said to need some 650 acres or so for the manufacturing plant and about 350 acres for ancillary units, to together make up the 997-acre "integrated" facility that Mr Bhattacharjee spoke of. Reports suggest that the company will make 100,000 cars annually, but that the Singur plant will eventually have capacity to produce 350,000 cars.

Proton, the Malaysian car company, makes 250,000 vehicles a year on a 250-acre factory in Shah Alam. Hyundai Motors India has installed capacity to make 530,000 cars at its 500-acre plant near Chennai. Ford Motors makes 300,000 vehicles annually on a 345-acre plot in Turkey. Toyota Motors makes 500,000 cars plus 500,000 engines in a 7 million square feet factory (about 180 acres) in the United States. Honda Motors makes nearly 200,000 cars on a 231-acre plant in Thailand. On the basis of land used by these facilities, it would seem that about one acre of land would be required to make 1,000 cars annually.

Tata Motors would then need 350 acres ~ and not 650 acres ~ to make 350,000 cars, perhaps even less as the Nano is much smaller than the cars made by the other companies.

Source: The Statesman, 19 Sept, 2008.

Ok, tata: Bengal throwing good money after bad?

Anindita Chowdhury
KOLKATA, Sept. 15: The Tatas may have finally endorsed the West Bengal government's fresh rehabilitation and compensation package for land-losers to ensure that Tata Motors Limited stays put it Singur and the Nano can roll out in a "congenial atmosphere", but at what cost? Both literal and figurative, not to mention political. For, according to calculations made by The Statesman, the government will not only have to dig deep dig into an already depleted public exchequer once again to keep its enhanced compensation promise, but government investment in Singur will be at least one third of the Tata Motors' Rs 1,500 crore investment. And if the VAT holiday and subsidised electricity given to the Tatas, and the vague promises of jobs to land-losers are factored in, the total public investment in a private firm's project to build a car, even if it's the world's cheapest, could well be close to the amount being spent by the business house itself!The irony is even more pronounced when one keeps in mind that the Singur project is no private-public-partnership enterprise ~ it's rightly, and unashamedly, a commercial venture by one of India's biggest business houses. And whatever Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee may believe in connection with industrialisation in one state, apparently through one project in the vanguard, to mix a couple of socialist metaphors, the question arises: is it worth it?The state government has already paid close Rs 133.10 crore, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, as compensation to land-losers and the fresh package which promises to pay 50 per cent over and above the present compensation paid would mean an additional outflow of Rs 65 crore from the exchequer. Then there is a new commitment to pay accumulated wages of 300 days to landless labourers. According to the government, the number of such registered landless labourers and unrecorded bargadars is 955. The minimum daily wage is Rs 75 a day according to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NGERA), which amounts to Rs 22,500 for 300 days. Multiplied by 955, that's 2.14 crore rupees. And this, only for landless labourers registered with WBIDC; the government has, indeed, gone a step further by stating that those with EPIC and NREGA job cards will also be eligible for this compensation even if they are not registered.The government has also promised to provide "sustainable economic existence" to land-losing families, jobs, in other words, although not spelt out so bluntly, and that's yet another claim on public money. This applies to around 5,000 to 6,000 families (as many land-losing have gone their separate ways over the past two years), a senior official at Writers' Buildings told The Statesman. Whilst some jobs will be provided in the private sector, an overwhelming majority will have to be accommodated in government jobs with all benefits, said the official. The wage bill is likely to be substantial.All of this only adds to government decisions already taken, no doubt in what it perceives as the public interest and geared towards putative job creation, of giving the Tatas land at a throwaway price, a VAT exemption to match that offered by the Uttarakhand state government, and extending a loan of Rs 200 crore to TML (effectively Rs 143.10 crore).Take the effective government, i.e. public, investment in terms of land cost first: At current market value, the price for the 645.67 acres at Singur (that's the deal with the Tatas; the vendors have been given land at a different rate the figures for which, incidentally, have not been provided to the CAG by the state government) is Rs 93.73 crore. Though the Tatas are paying Rs 855.75 crore over a 90-year period, at present value (according to a February 2006 government directive laying down the basis for making such calculations with reference to a 99-year lease) this would be equivalent to paying Rs 18.62 crore. Given the uncertainty over the Tatas commencing work at Singur, forget a 90-year stay, it would be imminently fair and sensible to regard the state's invest­ment as the difference between current market price and what the Tatas are paying in current terms. That amount is Rs 76.11 crore. As for the government, i.e public, investment in terms of VAT concessions, they are substantial, even if it's a fair discount, as the government claims, to attract private investment to Bengal in a competitive environment.The CAG report has stated that the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) incurred a loss of Rs 81.52 crore on account of the Tata Motors plant at Singur. "The company incurred excess expenditure of Rs 2.99 crore towards payment of avoidable interest of Rs 1.44 crore and delayed consent awards of Rs 1.55 crore to landowners beyond statutory provisions. Further, it subsidised TML by 76.11 crore on leasing of 645.67 acres of land for 90 years," the report reads. Government also paid Rs 3.19 crore for direct purchase of land and payment to bargadars, and another Rs 2.96 crore as development expenses and training programme expenses for the land-losers for economic reha­bilitation came to Rs 78.52 lakh.The state commerce and industries minister has justified the state governments' munificence towards the Tatas say­ing that an auto-cluster would lead to an economic boom for both Singur and the state. It may be recalled that the same state government has now asked the investors to finalise their rehabilitation package for land-losers along with their detailed project report.
Source: The Statesman, 16 Sept, 2008

We demand return of Singur farmland to the peasants

The West Bengal government, CPM and a section of media have been engaged in campaign that if Tata has to quit from Singur, then it will be a great loss for West Bengal as already chief ministers of five different states invited Tata to shift the nano project in their states.

It is now important to remember that Tata had to quite from Kalinganag (Orissa) and Dhaka (Bangladesh) because of strong public protest. There is no point to believe that in other states Tata will not face any resistance from the people as the government has to acquire land for the proposed project; none of the chief ministers will donate their paternal property to Tata. These chief ministers and the state machinery are the agents of multinationals and comprador big capitalists. They have engaged themselves in a race to prove their loyalty to their masters.

The CPM says and a section of Bengalee middle class believe that the Singur nano project along with ancillary units will generate a huge job market that could help relieve the problem of unemployment in the state. It is better to remember that having engaged somewhere with a salary not sufficient to meet the ends should be termed as severe exploitation rather than employment. All over the country and in the West Bengal people have to work mostly in contractual basis more than eight hours a day for mere Rs 60 to 80. In Singur project the scenario will not be the different. The project is not to solve the problem of poverty and unemployment, but to maximize the exploitation.

Our critics, at this point will say, if there will be no investment by the multinational or comprador giants, then whatever people can earn now will be stopped. Therefore, for the interest of people we need their investment although the working condition may not be ideal. To improve the condition, we should negotiate with them, but must not oppose.

With due respect to our critics we would like to mention that people simply cannot negotiate with these sharks. They are motivated by maximization of their profit; and it means maximization of exploitation of people. Here negotiation means acceptance of the terms and conditions which favours the interest of the multinationals and comprador capitalists. And we already showed why we should not call the engagement of the people in their projects as employment.

Our intellectual critics sometimes remind us the huge value addition that takes place in a factory. From the same land the annual income must be far less if it is engaged in agriculture. Here we need to mention that we do not consider the issue as a simple matter of industry versus agriculture. In contrast, we see what fraction of the income will be for the people from a given land. In case a factory is built by a corporate giant on a land, the fraction of the income retained with the people is far les than that retained if it were engaged in self-farming. We do not blindly oppose building a factory on a land, but do oppose maximization of the extraction of profit for the interest of corporate sectors.

We have no doubt over the dwindling situation of agriculture. But, it is because of the severe semi-feudal (for example in the form of usury) and imperialist exploitation. Peasants do not have any control over the seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Introduction of the 'hi-fi' technology actually devastated our crop diversity and organic basis of the farming. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are being used indiscriminately and unscientifically, which is just to promote their sale (and essentially magnifying the profit). There is no way under the circumstances peasantry can survive. The only way out from this situation is to demolish the semi-feudal basis of the Indian socio-economic foundation which is the support of the imperialist plunder.

Looking for an alternative outside the agriculture only helps strengthening the imperialist clutch over the people.

In order to strengthen the unity against multinational corporations, comprador big capitalists, we support the resistance against any attempt for the maximization of their profit. We therefore demand unconditional return of farmland to the peasantry of Singur.

A VICTIM OF SINGUR LAND GRAB COMMITS SUICIDE

Prasanta Das, a 43 year old marginal peasant of Khaser Bheri mouza in Singur, who had declined to give up his land for the Tata Motors small car factory, committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of a cowshed at his residence. His body was found in the wee hours of 25th May, 2007. Incidentally it was the day of the first anniversary of the land struggle in Singur against forcible land acquisition. The villagers strongly alleged that the suicide was because of the land loss. Prasanta's bereaved relatives and neighbours said that he was very much depressed and "mentally upset" ever since his family's land (around 4 bighas and 4 Cottah) was forcefully acquired by the state government for the Tata Motors project. His mother Geeta Das said, "He was prescribed treatment and counseling by the doctor. He didn't say anything unusual before his death. He was always worried how the family would live without the land." The deceased Prasanta has two minor daughters, only 9 years and 6 years old respectively. His widow, Sandhya Das has no alternative source of earnings.

The farmland was held jointly by Prasanta, his father Mahadeb Das (65) along with his two younger brothers Tapas and Sushanta. The Das family, consisting of three brothers, their wives and children were solely dependent on their agricultural land for their life and livelihood and after the government took over the land for the Tata project, they have been living in penury. But despite their destitution, Prasanta and his family straightaway turned down to receive compensation cheques alleging that their land was forcibly grabbed by the government against their will. "We didn't take money for the land because the family did not want to part with the land," Prasanta's mother said. Besides he was one of the earliest and active members of "Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee" (Singur Save Farmlands Committee), a people's organisation against the land acquisition. He was also injured in the police's lathi-charge on September, 2006 in front of BDO office during the peak of Singur land struggle.

A protest rally was taken out in the evening by the members of Krishi Jami Raksha Committee carrying Prasanta's dead body along the newly erected wall of the Tata's project site.

Earlier on 12th March, a similar incident had taken place in Singur when another poor peasant Haradhan Bag of Beraberi Purbapara, whose land had also been acquired without his consent, had committed suicide consuming pesticide.

Singur is now simmering in a terrible anguish and perturbation over the heart-rending suicides of two peasants. A fresh turmoil is brewing here after May 20th, when hundreds of peasants and agricultural workers determined to recover their lands acquired for the project, conflicted with the police who fired teargas shells, rubber bullets and charged with batons resulting 25 villagers including a 13 years old boy severely injured.

Later on, the police filed a large number of false cases (Ref: Singur P.S. Case 113, dated 20.05.07) against 53 protesters including Becharam Manna, Convener of Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee and Anuradha Talwar, President of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity and 400 others under the following sections of IPC.
1. Section 147– Punishment for rioting.
2. Section 148 – Rioting armed with deadly weapon.
3. Section 149 – Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in
prosecution of common object.
4. Section 186 – Obstructing public servant in discharge of public function.
5. Section 332 – Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty.
6. Section 333 – Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty.
7. Section 325 – Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
8. Section 326 – Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.
9. Section 353 – Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty.
10. Section 307 – Attempt to murder. and I.P.C/9 (B) (1) I. E. Act.
Three activists, Kush Kumar Das, Jagannath Roy and Tarun Santra were arrested and detained under jail custody till the next hearing on 4th June 2007.

Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity

Singur simmers over farmer's suicide

Kolkata : In the second such suicide since March, a farmer Thursday hanged himself in Singur, triggering fresh tension in the trouble-torn area in West Bengal that is on the boil over land acquisition for a Tata Motors project.

The 40-year-old farmer hanged himself from the ceiling of the cowshed of his house and his body was found in the wee hours of Friday, senior police official Kalyan Mukherjee said.

He was a resident of Khaserveri area in Singur, about 40 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district.

Das was a member of the anti-land acquisition Singur Krishijami Raksha Committee (SKRC) and was one of those injured in the September 2006 police baton charge in the area during the peak of Singur protests.

While the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said the farmer's suicide was not related to land acquisition, Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy admitted that Das probably was one of the farmers who refused cheque (money as compensation for the project).

"We are waiting for the post-mortem report. He probably did not accept money for the land," Roy said.

Das' land was acquired by the government for the Tata Motors small car factory coming up in the area, Becharam Manna, a leader of SKRC, told IANS.

"He was depressed. He had not been able to till his land for one year and was worried about the future of his two daughters. He had refused to accept money as compensation for the Tata project and was an active member of the movement," Manna said.

The dead farmer's father Mahadeb Das said: "He (Prasanta) said 'I will not live' after the land was acquired."

Earlier on March 13, farmer Haradhan Bag had committed suicide in Singur. Anti-Tata project activists had claimed that land loss was behind that death too.

Fresh tension is brewing at the site of the upcoming Tata Motors' small car unit in Singur. On May 20, hundreds of Singur Krishjami Raksha Committee members clashed with police who had to fire teargas shells and charge with batons to disperse the mob that seemed determined to reclaim their lands acquired for the project.

Link

Fresh violence in Singur

Fresh trouble erupted at Singur today when farmers tried to demolish the boundary wall of the proposed Tata small car factory in a bid to reoccupy their land taken away for the project and police used lathis, burst tear gas shells and fired rubber bullets to quell the mob.
At least 60 villagers, including six women, and five policemen and the sub-divisional police officer were injured in the clash that ensued. Two of the injured villagers were admitted to Singur block hospital. Three persons were arrested.
Trouble began soon after farmers from Bajemelia mouza gathered near a local club to attend a rally organised by Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee (SKJRC). The villagers became agitated when the SKJRC leaders exhorted them to demolish the boundary wall and reoccupy their land which, according to them, the state government had “grabbed at gun-point”.
The farmers marched towards the project site and tried to break the police cordon. They also unsuccessfully tried to break the wall with shovels and pick-axes.
Police appealed to the farmers not to damage the walls, but to no effect. There was a scuffle following which agitating farmers threw stones at the cops and the police responded by using lathis and bursting tear gas shells. Rubber bullets were also fired.
A senior police officer claimed that six policemen, including Chandernagore SDPO, Mr Kalyan Mukherjee, were injured in the clash which continued for about an hour. The farmers retreated about an hour after the trouble had begun.
The SDPO later said: “About 350 villagers, including scores of women, were mobilised outside the boundary wall, whereas the SKJRC positioned its other activists at neighbouring villages.”
However, the CPI-M leaders repeated their old charge that “outsiders” had taken part in the agitation and there were about 100 people who resorted to violence. This contradicted the SDPO’s estimate of the strength of the mob.
“We learnt from local sources that it was the handiwork of about 100 outsiders, while only a few local residents joined them,” said Mr Ranjit Mondal, a CPI-M Singur zonal committee member and also president of the Left Front-controlled Singur Panchayat Samiti.
On the other hand, Mr Becharam Manna, convener, SKJRC, claimed that at least 60 farmers were injured in today’s police action. “Even aged farmers were beaten up mercilessly and police didn’t spare women and children who were unarmed,” Mr Manna alleged.
He claimed 13-year-old Somnath Koley and Haripada Das (72), both residents of Bajemelia Mouza, were rushed to Singur block hospital after being beaten up by police while 21-year-old Amita Bag was taken to a private clinic.

Link: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=156796

Is Singur A Lost Game? Should We Now Forget About Singur?

We are often asked these question these days. Our answer is - No, Singur is not a lost game, and we cannot forget it . The many reasons for this are given below.

Though there is now a 10 foot brick and mortar wall around 997 acres of land, the future of the project is still uncertain. The State Government continues to use a heavy police presence along with the special riot police Rapid Action Force to guard the wall that has been forcibly put up around farmers’ lands. It has put up watch towers that are manned round the clock by the police. The Government knows that the wall will only last as long as the police protect it- the project affected people have sworn to break the wall the moment the police is moved out.

The farmers of Singur (owning about 400 acres) have refused to take cheques even now and have refused to part with their land. The wall’s legitimacy, both in legal terms and in ethical terms is therefore questionable.

The Government has lied again and again about the number of farmers who have accepted cheques and given consent, as the table below shows

The farmers of Singur continue to struggle. Camps have been set up in two places near the wall that are constantly occupied by protesting farmers and others who support them. They are also waiting for the Court order. They are ready to build up greater movement in future depending on the Court order.

Every time there is heavy rain and therefore a problem for the police to move around, the people of Singur take advantage of the situation and “attack” the wall. The last attack took place on 8th May 2007. when the people of Bajemelya were in a pitched battle with the police for over an hour and broke the wall.

Agricultural workers, who were not owners of land but got their living from the land have been the first group to face destitution after the building of the wall. PBKMS organised a health check up for them recently along with measurement of Body Mass Index and examination for other signs of nutrition. Many of the workers and their families complained of hunger, fall in wages, greater indebtedness, loss of food sources etc. this year as compared to last year. They have also been visited in the past week by high officials from the district and from the West Bengal Industrial Development Industrial Corporation ( the Government body responsible for facilitating the Tata Motors project). These people have tried to bribe the agricultural workers with promises of free houses, better roads etc. The workers have so far rejected their promises, asking them instead to guarantee them work for 11 months in the year, the amount of work they used to get on the land taken over for the Tata Motors Project.

When workers on the brink of starvation and farmers faced by mounting debts can resist short term inducements like free houses and cheques in order to struggle against the long term effects of the Tata Motors project, should we also not join them in their struggle?

Paschim banga Khet-Majoor Samity

“WB government gives the best possible rate in land acquisition”: The truth behind the myth

There is propaganda that WB government acquires land with a reasonable rate. This becomes the logic to defend the ongoing land acquisition programme in WB. In reality, WB government or other government agencies acquire land and then hand over to different companies. Sometimes they give subsidies, for instance to TATA in Singur and sometimes make huge profit. In Haldia, near Nandigram, East Medinipur, Haldia Development Authority (HDA) acquired land (and it gave the circular for the land acquisition in Nandigram as well). They started land acquisition to ‘develop’ Haldia. Here we will see how HDA made huge profit from the land of poor peasantry.

Couple of days before, Buddha came Haldia to lay the foundation stone of a bio diesel factory of Imamy group. HDA gave 30 acres of land to Imamy with a rate of Rs 7 lakh/acre whereas when it acquired the land from farmers, it spent Rs 75 thousand to 1 lakh/acre. In the same way, HDA gave 25 acres and 3.5 acres to S T V Technologies at Bargashipur for IT park and housing complex respectively. In its 87th board meeting, HDA decided the rate Rs 14 lakh/acre for 25 acres land. The rate for 3.5 acres was Rs 20 lakh/acre. Interestingly when HDA acquired the same land it paid only Rs 1.15 lakh/acre at the most. Similarly, it gave 50 acres of land in Chakdwip and 10 acres more in three other places to R D B Industries for a proposed track terminal. For this land HAD asked the rate of 15 lakh/acre (and additional Rs 1000/acre as annual rent). This land was also acquired with a rate of Rs 1.15 lakh/acre from the farmers.

This is how WB government serves the interest of poor peasants.

On the other hand, in Singur, it continues to subsidize TATA. It decided to spend Rs 18 lakh for the dredging of Julkia canal and overall improvement of the drainage system near the proposed TATA factory in Singur. Interestingly, we have been listening from Buddha and other CPM leaders that TATA will spend money for the infrastructure development in Singur. In reality government is doing that in favour of TATA with our money. Interestingly, people of Singur demanded the dredging so many times in past years; it was turned down because of insufficient funding.

We would like to ask, from where this fund comes now?
Doesn’t it show that the sole job of the government is to lick the boots of big companies?

(Based on two reports in the Bartaman, dated April 24, 2007)

Present status of Singur

Download a report on present status of Singur.

Italian metalworkers advocate for humane development

The Fiat unions have publicly called on the company, and on Tata, to site the plant elsewhere. This is extremely important - the delay in achieving this was the divisions in the Italian trade union movement, publiching a statement/initiative by one union without getting all three would cause further division.

This should in my view be given maximum publicity in India, brought to the attention of all unions, national centers, and be circulated aggressively in the press.

In solidarity
Peter Rossman

Location of new industrial center in India threatens agricultural community

ITALY/INDIA: Italian affiliates of the International Metalworkers’ Federation are urging FIAT for clarification about the establishment of a new production unit in India.

“According to press reports, the Fiat Group is involved in the setting up of a new Tata Motors plant at Singur in the Indian state of West Bengala for the production of a low cost car,” read a joint statement from the Italian unions.

“International and Indian labour groups have voiced concern that such an industrial establishment would have a devastating impact on the fertile agricultural area, which is home to about 22,000 inhabitants, many of whom would receive no indemnity at all for the expropriation of their land.

“The area involved has in recent months been the site of protest demonstrations and, unfortunately, repressive measures taken against the farmers including the arrests of trade union leaders.

“The Fim, Fiom and Uilm National Secretariats in Italy are requesting that clarification be given on any participation of the Fiat Group in this initiative. They are demanding that FIAT, together with Tata Motors, take initiatives so to ensure that the government of West Bengala sets aside a location other than Singur in order to make the necessary industrial development possible while safeguarding the living conditions of the agricultural community.”

Link

Blast damages Singur site wall

Statesman News Service
SINGUR (Hooghly), March 18: A portion of the boundary wall of the Tata Motors’ small car project site at Singur was damaged early today when explosives planted inside hollow iron pipes kept hidden in a drainage outlet went off. Explosives secreted in six other drainage outlets of the boundary wall near a Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee camp at Gopalnagar Bospara were later detected.
The blast was triggered around 3:30 a.m. Officers of the bomb squad of the state police rushed to the spot and unearthed the high-intensity charges which were believed to have been planted to blow up the boundary wall. Police are still not sure of the brain behind the act.
“We are probing the matter. Nothing can be disclosed at this point of time,” Mr Anuj Sharma, DIG (Burdwan range), said. No one has been arrested in this connection.
A senior police officer said that policemen posted at the project site had heard the sound of an explosion coming from the Gopalnagar Bospara-end of the boundary wall early today. They reached the spot to find a portion of the wall damaged. The blast was triggered a few yards off a Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee camp.
Senior officers were later informed of the explosion and a search was eventually mounted. Policemen found six iron pipes packed with explosives in six different drainage outlets of the boundary wall. The objects were later defused.
The incident sparked off tension and rumours of Maoist insurgents planting mines at the project site spread. Officers of the bomb squad said the entire boundary wall would have collapsed had all explosives been detonated at one go. Mr Partha Chattopadhyay, Leader of the Opposition, alleged that CPI-M supporters and policemen had planted the explosives to divert the people’s attention from the “genocide” at Nandigram. “The area has been under a strong security cover for the past couple of months. It is not possible for outsiders to sneak in to wreak havoc,” Mr Chattopadhyay said.

Link

Singur land lease agreement

West Bengal government signed the land agreement with TATA for the proposed Singur plant. It’s a good deal for TATA, no doubt.

Government gives the land to TATA with a lease for 90 years.

The bonanza could be summarized as follows:

We must appreciate the potential of West Bengal government for discovering tricks to make us fool. Apparently, TATA will pay more than Rs 800 crore. But, look at the payments it needs to pay in the first 30 years. Only Rs 56.25 crore. In the next 30 years it will pay Rs ~200 crore. But, if we consider the rate of inflation (currently more than 6%) then this figure will not be that big. The same is true for its payment for last 30 years.

Essentially, TATA doesn’t need to pay anything right now for the land. Although West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has borrowed Rs 150 crore with 10% annual interest to acquire this land. WBIDC has to pay Rs 15 crore per year as interest; for 90 years it has to pay Rs 1350 crore for interest only, whereas for 90 years TATA will pay only Rs 800 core.

It means West Bengal government signed an agreement to subsidize TATA for Rs 700 crore over the period of 90 years. Again consider the figures. For the next 90 years, TATA will pay Rs 800 crores and enjoy Rs 700 crore as subsidy. In reality the actual subsidy is far bigger than what is being reflected in those figures. WBIDC has already borrowed Rs 150 crore. Considering the rate of inflation, after 90 years, this amount will be really huge. And it has to pay Rs 15 crore each year as interest. On the other hand right now TATA needs to pay only Rs 1 crore in a year. And it will pay its most of the payment at its last 30 year period of lease.

Who will actually pay the subsidy?
Buddha?
CPM?
Or other running dogs of imperialism-comprador capitalism?

No. This subsidy will be paid from our hard earn money. With our hard earn money these running dogs of imperialism and comprador capitalists subsidize crores to Multinational and big companies while letting our people dieing of starvation.

This is what they call as DEVELOPMENT.
We call as LOOT.

Don’t you think it is our duty to make an end of it?

(The detail of the lease agreement is taken from the bartamanpatrika.com, March 11, 2007)

Update

Nirupam Sen, the commerce minister of West Bengal government confirmed the above mentioned lease agreement in assembly on March 15, 2007 (source: ganashakti, March 16,2007). He pointed out that TATA will enjoy other facilities like Tax holidays for Singur plant.

Singur: Medha supporters face police brunt

SINGUR: Police on Monday resorted to lathicharge to disperse social activist Medha Patkar-led protesters after they tried to approach the fenced area for the Tata Motors small car project at Singur in West Bengal.

Hooghly Superintendent of Police Supratim Sarkar said two persons were arrested. Patkar said two of her associates, Amita Bag and Dhananjay Das, were injured in the lathicharge.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Hooghly, Asit Pal said police removed the demonstrators. Patkar with her associates then began a sit-in demonstration a few metres away from the fence.

Earlier addressing farmers from Goplanagar and Bajemelia villages who had set up camps in the area since Sunday, Patkar came down heavily on the state government for going ahead with the Tata Motors project at Singur and the Salim project in Nandigram in East Midnapur.

She said the government was using the police in favour of the enterprise and added that it should stop the project as the farmers were unwilling to hand over their land.

Slogan-shouting farmers from Beraberi Purbapara marched upto the fenced area of the Tata Motors small car project where they had an altercation with the police who stood guard. Police then resorted to lathicharge to disperse them.

This is Patkar's first visit here after prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were lifted following the Calcutta High Court's stricture on February 23 against the government's process for acquiring 997 acres for the project.

She had on earlier occasions been prevented from entering Singur.

Link

One more report on Singur

At the behest of the " Singur Bachao Mahila Mancha" (a platform of women's organisations and individual women who have come together to support the land struggle in Singur) three women activists - Ilina Sen, Scholar on women's studies and founder member of Rupantar, Chattisgarh, Madhuri of National Alliance of Agricultural Workers Unions and the Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, M.P. and Kavita Srivastava, National Secretary of the PUCL (all three active in people's struggles in the country) visited the affected villages of Singur over the 16th to the 18th of December.

The objective of their visit was to understand:

• To understand the reasons for the opposition to the Tata Small Car project in Singur, Hoogly District and examine the impact that the consequent displacement and dispossession from land and agriculture would have on the villagers, particularly women.

• Whether force and terror had been used by the West Bengal Government on the people, particularly women in order to acquire the 997.11 acres of land for the purpose of giving it to Tata Motors for setting up a small car plant.

• To understand the process of land acquisition used by the Government of West Bengal in Singur and the nature and amount of compensations being provided to the affected people.

• To examine the issue of a motor vehicle factory being the "Public Purpose" for displacement of people from their multi crop agriculture land. and to examine the viability of the project vis-a vis the stated purpose of "employment generation and socio-economic development."

The team met various stakeholders, including concerned Government officials, those who support the project as well as those who oppose it. The concerned team of women activists met the press on 18^th December, 2006 at the Kolkata Press Club to narrate their experience at Singur to the press and electronic media. Later on, their report was published by Paschimbanga Khet Majoor Samity.

Download full report.

A Mass Song on Singur

Listen a Bengali Mass Song "Mati amader pran", sung by Sutapa Bandyopadhyay. The song is written and composed by Rajesh Datta on the land struggle in Singur.

You are requested to download. Unzip the folder and then open HTML file. You can also play flash file if you have "shockwave flash player" in your computer.

Violence after reimposition of prohibitory orders at Singur

Kamarkundu (Hooghly), February 5: Singur turned into a veritable battlefield on Monday as police lathi-charged and lobbed teargas shells to disperse a violent mob that broke Section 144 and tried to march towards Kamarkundu railway colony ground.

According to reports, 12 persons, including two police personnel, were injured in today’s violence. Six people were arrested and put in a police van but were taken out by fellow protesters, reports said.

Police said they had to use force after the mob started throwing stones on them.

The state government has re-imposed Section 144 till February 14, thereby outlawing all rallies and assemblage in Singur, the site for Tata Motors’ small car project.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, scheduled to address a rally in Singur on February 15, today said: “Things will be all right there. There will be no problem.”

According to reports, the mob today also burnt down a truck and tried to torch the railway track near Kmarkundu railway station. They also put up a blockade at the railway station, and on the road leading there. The police removed the blockade later.

Even journalists could not escape the police ire today, with a few media persons ending up on the wrong side of the khaki baton. The police lobbed teargas shells in the area where journalists hid themselves.

Apologising to the journalists for the police excesses, District Superintendent of Police Supratim Sarker later said: “It was unfortunate. I will look into the matter and fix responsibility for whoever did this.”

Earlier in the day, some villagers uprooted parts of the fence guarding the project site in Beraberi village. The fencing was later put back in place, and a large police contingent was posted there.

Link

Battlefield Singur erupts yet again

SINGUR/KOLKATA: In a fresh spurt of violence, Naxalites and SUCI members, backed by a group of villagers including women, torched five and uprooted more than 30 posts surrounding the Tata Motors' small-car factory site in Singur on Sunday. They clashed with the police, in intervals that continued till late Sunday evening at Bajemelia, against the Buddhadeb government's land acquisition drive. The police fired tear-gas shells and also used rubber bullets to disperse the mob that took shelter in the villages only to come back a little later with household articles and kerosene.

Trouble broke out at 11 in the morning when a motley crowd headed towards the fencing from three different points. Paschimbanga Ganatantrik Mahila Khetmajoor Samity president Anuradha Talwar led a group of 75-100 protesting villagers. Naxal leader Amitava Bhattacharya was leading a rally, while Becharam Manna, convener of the Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee organised another rally at Bajemelia. CPI(M-L) activists were also with him.

The policemen on duty were few in numbers. And before a huge police force from the Durgapur Expressway camp could reach the spot, the protesters led by women clashed with the police with brickbats and started torching the posts along the fencing and uprooted many of them. "The government can't take away our lands at gunpoint," one of the protesters said.

Eight cops were injured in the clash, Hooghly SP Supratim Sarkar said. The protesters had sneaked into the villages on Saturday late night and held a secret meeting with the villagers, apparently without the knowledge of the district administration. Interestingly, the district intelligence branch and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation officials had warned the district administration of a fresh confrontation. Mamata will go to Singur on Monday and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's Sidiquallah Chowdhury is planning a stir in Singur on February 7, the CPM is planning a gathering on February 10.

Link

Condition of guards in Singur

Now it is known to everybody that the West Bengal industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has the responsibility to guard the fence of the acquired land of Singur as the agent of TATA. WBIDC has recruited 350 guards on a daily wage basis. Thanks to CPM’s fascist propaganda machinery that we knew the wage; it is Rs 68/- daily.

Can you imagine the condition of these guards now?

First couple of days after recruitment they received their wages. Then the administration promised to pay on weekly basis instead of daily. Then, after almost two months have passed and they didn’t receive single coin.

Till now CPM and government are claiming that this plant will bring development in Singur and open the scope of employment. We can see that the scope of employment doesn’t secure the wages in hand. And it is one of the policies of exploitation.

Sing a song for Singur

Sing a song for Singur.

Ring the bell for Singur.

Fire the flame for Singur.

Be united, be united

Be united for Singur.

Hear the voice of Singur.

Raise your voice for Singur.

Fight for rights of Singur.

Be united, be united

Be united for Singur.

The name of rage is Singur.

The name of courage is Singur.

The name of blaze is Singur.

Be united, be united

Be united for Singur.

Join the struggle in Singur.

Free the land of Singur.

Say, ‘GO BACK TATA FROM SINGUR’.

Be united, be united

Be united for Singur.

Lyrics and Composition : Rajesh Datta

Bharater Manabatabadi Samity,

Chandannagar

31^st December, 2006