A RESPONSE TO HINDUSTAN TIMES ON SINGUR

by B PRASANT

We shall ignore Prem Shankar Jha’s [‘whose brakes failed?’ HT, 6 October 2008] obvious non sequitors that stems from his political position and / or lack of knowledge (‘brink of the class war’ -why not recognise the unpleasant fact that we are right in the midst of it?), his flirting with the untruth (project cost of Tata factory being Rs 1500 crore, Rs 131 crore worth of compensation paid (we are not privy to a capitalist venture’s statistics as he should be, but Mr Jha, check your figures, the compensation-rehabilitation package is worth close to double the amount quoted), 400 people are yet to queue for the compensation package—the number is less than 50 and dwindling yet, his fiction about the number of jobs to have been created – the number in fact is treble the figure he flaunts) – and of course his obscurantism about quoting figures from circa December 2006 – wake up, Mr Jha, nearly two years have since passed you by.

We hold no brief for the Tatas (or for people like Mamata Banerjee who are fed and clothed by the very industrialists one of whom Mr Jha motivatedly lambastes with punditry) who are successful capitalists in a hunt-and-peck operation in an uncertain supply-side dominated, portfolio-financial capitalist scenario, and have been coming to Bengal for purposes of profit – this should be crystal clear to Mr Jha because the corporate house that pays for his columns plays about with much the same philosophy. We shall concentrate instead on the ‘case’ he fails in, to make Mamata Banerjee a heroine.

Mamata Banerjee and her rainbow coalition of Maoists, the SUCI, the BJP, and the good old vacillation called the Pradesh Congress plus sundry other foreign-fed NGOs like the one led by Medha Patkar (who incidentally in her most recent statement make’s a conqueror out of Mamata Banerjee and is critical of Tatas --much in the same language as Mr Jha – ‘opposites attract’ or is it a case of the ‘birds of the same feather flock together?) have been on a one-point programme of destruction and that was to block all developmental projects and thus ‘ensure’ removal of the popularly-elected Communist Party-led Left Front government from office.

The Communist Party and the Left Front, too, possess a one-point programme. They would look to development – pro-poor, pro-employment, pro-people development. Agriculture is no longer a sustainable livelihood given the population curve and its extrapolation. Without industrialisation, Bengal shall ultimately be turned back to the Stone Age even without bombing from George W or his successor (and that is another can of wiggly worms now that the ‘deal’ has been signed).

Thus, the Communist Party and the Left Front went in for what they considered a sustainable development programme via industrialisation and urbanisation plus development of the service sector, widening the agrarian base all the while – the principal aim here was to create jobs, and agriculture was no longer paying (what Mr Jha seeks to point out about ‘little bits of land’ has a ring of truth in it and such bits do not sustain life with any security because the bits are unviable as a means of livelihood).

Yes, the compensation was paid for by the state government and it was a sustainable compensation provided the Tatas were allowed to set up shop. You do not naǐvely expect an industrialist to come and invest without incentives now, do you. Nevertheless, the more pertinent issue is this: how would Mr Jha argue in favour of a political coalition that would not recognise that ancillary units are part of an integrated project and cannot be removed and demand 400 acres of land from within the factory area? How is he able to state in a desperate effort to sanctify his blatantly pro-Mamata Banerjee position when he forgets – intentional or is age catching with him - to note that for two years there was no protest, and that the agitation commenced just when the factory was on its final lap?

Finally what we find intriguing is the ‘inside story’ for, as per Mr Jha’s confession, Mamata Banerjee was ready to strike a deal with the Tatas and that the deal would, and this he would not mention for obvious enough reasons, benefit not the farmers who were mostly forced not to take the two compensation packages on offer, but benefit Mamta Banerjee’s outfit politically, badly battered and cornered as it had become under the joint marauding done on it by the anti-people and ruthless combination of the Maoists and the SUCI.

Pardon me Mr Jha, but whose calculations failed? Who stands to suffer?

Dharna in Singur to urge Tatas to return to Singur

Friday, October 10, 2008 9:35:00 PM

KOLKATA/SINGUR(PTI): Days after the Nano car project went out of West Bengal and found a new home at Sanand in Gujarat a 'Nano Banchao Committee' on Friday organised a dharna at Singur urging the company to reconsider its decision.

''We started the dharna with the hope that the Tatas may reconsider their decision to relocate the Nano project from Singur,'' a spokesman of the committee said.

He said about 90 per cent work of the project in Singur was complete and had there been no agitation which forced the Tatas to suspend work, Nano would have rolled out from Singur.

To a question why they did not take to the street when Trinamool Congress had launched the agitation in Singur, he alleged "they had unleashed terror. But we also never thought that the Tatas will take such a decision so fast".

The spokesman also said that their representatives would meet West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi next Monday to urge him to request Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee to call off her opposition to the Nano plant in Singur, Manash Ghosh, secretary of the Save Nano Committee said here.

Ghosh claimed that people of all walks of life in Singur including some Trinamool Congress activists are members of the Nano Bachao Committee. He also claimed that the committee would hold a public meeting in Kolkata if the Trinamool chief does not call off her opposition to the Nano plant in Singur and would explain to the people the benefits that they would have received if the plant was set up in Singur.

Metro gets licence, to open in 8 weeks

10 Oct 2008, 0530 hrs IST,TNN

KOLKATA: The deal is final. German wholesale major Metro Cash & Carry got the licence on Friday to operate on a business-to-business model and not the unspecified business model it had been insisting on. The Forward Bloc-run State Agricultural Marketing Board also did a climbdown by withdrawing the minimum purchase limit of Rs 5,000 that it had been demanding. This licence will be valid only till next March, board chairman Naren Chatterjee said.

The company will open its wholesale outlet off the EM Bypass within eight weeks. This will be its fifth outlet in the country. There are two in Bangalore and another two in Hyderabad and Mumbai. The business-to-business model entails trading between Metro Cash & Carry and those having a trade licence or the Regulated Market Committee (RMC) licence. Also, the company has to furnish the list of traders it is dealing with to the marketing board for scrutiny. "Some board employees will be posted there at the cash counter to scrutinize the bills and challans," Chatterjee said.

After the board dictated its terms, Metro officials wanted the government to relax the minimum purchase limit, which Forward Bloc state secretary Asok Ghosh did at the prodding of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee two days ago. The conditions discussed at the meeting involved agricultural produce only and not other commodities such as FMCG, electronics and textile. For, the West Bengal State Marketing Board can only regulate procurement and sale of agri-produce under the existing Agricultural Produce Marketing and Control (APMC) Act.

"First, the company cannot go for contract farming even as the recent central guidelines to change the APMC Act provides for it. Agriculture is a state subject and the government won't allow it. Corporates can't influence the farming process while procuring vegetables or crops," the Board chairman said after coming out of the meeting. "Not only that, Metro officials will have to send their stock statements to the marketing board on a regular basis. Any legal dispute with the supply major has to be settled in Calcutta High Court and not in Germany, because that would make things worse for farmers," Chatterjee said. "Metro Cash & Carry would be allowed to do wholesale trade only. And, purchase can only be made with trade and APMC licences, the question of fixing a minimum amount of bill does not arise," Chatterjee said. Against each transaction, the marketing board will get 1% of the trading amount from the German major and another 1% from the trader, as marketing fee. The agreement was signed and the licence issued after four hours of closed-door meeting between Metro and state government officials. Agriculture minister Naren Dey and chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb were present during the signing of the agreement.

Frits van Peski, member of the executive board of directors, Metro Cash & Carry India, after signing the agreement, said 350 trained employees are now ready to serve. According to Metro officials, the wholesale centres are open exclusively for professional business customers, all of them duly registered and provided with a customer identification card. "This means that the company would not sell anything to household customers. Metro Cash & Carry supports its core target groups of hotels, restaurants, caterers as well as kirana stores and other small retailers by offering a wide assortment of 18,000 articles, comprising food and non-food products," a press release said.