Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The government based its land acquisition on the controversial 1894 land acquisition
law's compulsory transfer provisions for 'public purposes', which triggered arguments
about whether the law could be used for a private sector project. Political opposition, and
national and international media coverage, focused on the loss of the agricultural land but
the real issue - as elsewhere in India - was the level of compensation received by agricul-
tural owners and tenants. Under the 1894 law's compulsory purchase rules, compensation
was paid according to the market price at the time, which meant it did not reflect later price
increases when the value of land escalated, as it did two or three times within six months
to a year. There was also resentment that Ratan Tata had given the impression that he was
primarily trying to help West Bengal by building the Nano there - 'almost like a philan-
thropist' as one official put it - when in fact he was insisting on the state providing heavy
investment incentives.
Banerjee escalated the row in December 2006 when she went on a hunger strike for
25 days, but Tata went ahead with construction work in January 2007. This led to fresh
demonstrations that continued through the year and at least two farmers committed suicide.
Tata had been allocated 997 acres, but the Trinamool argued that it only needed 600 acres,
which provided a fresh basis for opposition. Tata said the other 397 acres were needed for
55 component suppliers' factories. Compromises were sought to exclude those acres and
to allow some 2,000 objectors and others not receiving compensation to stay on their land,
which Tata rejected.
Both the factory and the jobs could have been saved, had it not been for the two stubborn
and emotional people involved. One was Banerjee, who was focused single-mindedly on
political victory in the 2011 assembly elections, with little care for the economic and social
damage she caused along the way. The other was Ratan Tata, encouraged by his contro-
versial public relations adviser, Nira Radia, who was regularly in Kolkata liaising on the
Singur negotiations. A peace deal was eventually brokered by West Bengal's governor, Go-
however, sufficiently guarantee the future of the project for Ratan Tata, who had refused to
attend the governor's talks, saying they were political rather than industrial.
Both sides took irreconcilable positions. Banerjee probably felt secure with the thought
that Tata would not leave because it had invested $350m in the factory's workshops and as-
sembly lines that were virtually complete, and the car launch was planned for a few weeks
later. She also probably assumed it could not quickly find an alternative site. Both assump-
tions were wrong. Ratan Tata had earlier accused industry rivals of encouraging the oppos-
tion and assaults on engineers including Japanese and German experts who were installing
machinery. He announced the withdrawal on 3 October and made an emotional departure
