Singur SEZ it

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 argued, most recently in this newspaper, 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.