Issue 29 Vol II, December 15, 2006

F O C U S

Blow to Farmers
Gobind Thukral

INDIAN political class is a bundle of contradictions. Indian constitution that enshrines socialism in its preamble and grants variety of rights, takes most of these by a stroke of pen through amendments and different laws. It is, perhaps, in the nature of democracy that different competing ideologies make their mark on the political map. But what we can make out of the ideologies when these turn out to be a bag full of opportunism and catchy slogans.

Take the case of Special Economic Zones. Each province whether ruled by Congress, the BJP or the Communists is vying with others to have as many zones as possible without paying attention to the basic parameters of development. Ever since this model was shown to be successful in China, India along with some other industrially less developed countries has taken the road with zeal. Entrepreneurs seeing the bonanza in tax concessions and other incentives have rushed in to reap big profits. They have gained a neat Rs 10,000 crore last year in the shape of tax concessions alone.

There is not much of disagreement that India if it has to over come poverty and become a rich nation must develop industrial and other sectors like service and trade. Farming alone can not take care of the huge army of unemployed and poverty. There should be no worry if the states compete with each other for economic developments. But this rush should not blind them from the realities of Indian economic and social life. If industrial development deprives farmers of their rich lands and devours fertile farms, it is not going to help. Since competition is clouding understanding, the political parties are caught in vortex. Congress and the BJP carry mixed bags of ideologies and opportunism, but it is quite exciting to watch the Indian Leftists stumble for answers for these vexed questions.

In West Bengal, a state ruled by the communists for the past 24 years. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the CPM chief minister in order to take the state on a fast track of industrialisation, offered the Tatas for their prestigious small car project 927 acres of land in Singur in Hooghly district. It would give the state ten thousand jobs and money in taxes. Tatas were keen for this land which is close to the already developed infra structure and fearing that they might shift to any other state where cheap land of similar kind was being offered, the Left Front government made this offer to seize the opportunity. A good section of the farmers opposed this acquisition as their land was fertile and could fetch better price in future. A badly defeated Trinamul Congress leader Mamta Banerjee in search of a stick to beat the Left government with discovered this prospect ideal. The BJP whose governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat are taking away fertile farms for industrial and urban development did not think twice and jumped into Mamta’s bandwagon. Its president Rajnath Singh, always short of ideas to launch an agitation was in Kolkata to court arrest along with Mamta. The Congress is caught in a pincer as its government in Delhi is the architect of the laws establishing Special Economic Zones and a large section of the party including its president Mrs. Sonia Gandhi oppose the ouster of farmers from rich fertile lands.  While in many state like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Andhra Pradesh ruled by the Congress, the party is merrily taking away farm lands and giving these for songs to the real estate sharks and industrialists, in West Bengal, it is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

It is true that the Left government in West Bengal has offered good compensation to the farmers and also some skill up gradation to take up new avocations, yet does it have any right to evict them from productive lands. This question not only haunts the public, but even many Left sympathizers feel agonized. Why setup a car plant in Hooghly district which has just 5 per cent wasteland compared to Bankura and Purulia districts where plenty of waste land is available. The reasons given are that the Tatas would not agree and Bengal needed a good doze of industrialisation to keep the monster of unemployment and also the Naxalites away. Fair enough and yet the question remains: why rich farm lands? Tatas had earlier faced similar situation in Gopalpur in Orissa where ten protesting advasis were killed and the Tatas forced to abandon their prestigious steel plant. Why risk another such fate?

There is no doubt that the political parties are caught in their own cross fire and their hypocrisy stands exposed. BJP and the Congress ruled states have offered better terms to the Tatas and farmers less compensation than what the West Bengal government has offered. There is every danger of industrialisation getting impeded due to this no holds barred competing politics.

Land is either not available in the cities or its cost is prohibitive. Industry shall have to move to rural areas as it has been happening in the past decades. Thus there is thus urgent need to put the country on a fast track of industrialisation and for that a wholesome land acquisition policy needs to be in place. At the first instance the country has plenty of barren land. According to government records 21 per cent or 68 million hectares land is still barren in India. Is there any logic to oust farmers from their costly productive lands and force them into the occupations they know nothing of? This is hurting their cultural roots too. Punjab has 9 and Haryana just 4 percent barren land and yet these are the states witnessing rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Experts who tell us that Punjab and Haryana would have villages only in museums in another hundred years may not be wrong. Death of a village means demise of its cultural and language too. Let us not forget.

Companies while establishing new units take into consideration the developed infrastructure should also factor in conflict and the cost of ousting communities from the land. It might make more sense to locate new industries in less fertile areas and avoid the cost of conflict. Also, why divest the farmers from their land at all? Why not make them partners in the new projects by offering them equity and long terms investment. Industrialisation ought to be less painful and more just and should take the right route.

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