Singur SEZ it

Tuesday January 23 2007 06:42 IST
It can provide valuable insights

There is no better way to test industry and government leaders on their
promises, than by allowing them the space to act. With construction work
finally commencing at the Tata Motors site at Singur, the onus, in an
opportune way, is on the company and the West Bengal government to
deliver. It is good that the state government has not balked at the
challenge, and has chosen to go ahead with the project. Two aspects of
the project hold significance for the local communities — the
landholders who have sold their property as well as the residents of
Singur curious about how the altered political economy would impact
their lives. The effect could be far-reaching. The Singur project is,
remember, not a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). But as the government
grapples with the issues of SEZs — of rehabilitation, land acquisition
and local interfaces — the experience at Singur will certainly be
illuminating. Contrary to claims by critics, the acquisition process at
Singur has been transparent. Importantly, the government in Kolkata has
taken ownership of the entire process.

It has broken the populist myth of the inviolable integrity of
agricultural tracts. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has stressed
the inevitability of some farmland having to be diverted for
industrialisation. This is not just for the larger common good, but also
for the benefit of sites specifically chosen for such projects. Singur
will test this. Tata Motors officials say they have already employed, in
the first 24 hours of construction activity, 50 villagers and hope to
increase this number to 2,500. In all, they expect 10,000 locals to be
connected with the project. A terrible injustice could be wrought by
critics of such projects who seek to oppose by romanticising the toils
of the marginal farmer. Making ends meet on such small tracts is a daily
challenge, and the economy of small scales gives the farmer no buffer
when drought or flood occurs. Taking industrialisation and manufacturing
to new venues could mean giving marginal farmers and landless labourers
a way to get integrated into, and benefit from, mainstream economic
activity. So, the point is not to be drawn into blanket critiques of
development. But to find ways of integrating specific projects with the
local as well as larger economic good in an optimum manner.
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