What else did Mamta Banerjee want? Her own political agendas hidden behind the deepest concern she had for the farmers whose land had been taken away by the TATAs…And now when TATAs have decided to move away from Singur, she tells a rally that she does not want the TATAs to leave !!! If that was the case, why did she not make efforts to ensure that a compromise is reached when there were discussions…

She also wants the 400 acres to be returned to farmers in Singur !!! Well… I am trying to understand how can the land on which an industry is going to be built will go back to the farmers !!!

I am not a fan of how the land acquisition works in India either… because the poor farmer does not really end up anywhere, except with some compensation for the land he had and maybe a job which does not utilize his key skill, “Farming”… I have had major arguments over this with friends who advocated industrialization and modernization of places as the factor that influences growth !!! While I agree to them that its important, the basic needs of a farmer cannot be neglected and his only means of earning taken away !!! Also the land is a resource which will not increase… its a constant value… taking anything away from that constant is only going to reduce the total !!!

What makes the entire thing worse is the involvement of the politicians who seem to be the only ones gaining anything out of the entire sequence of events !!!

The solutions to these can be simplified, I wonder why this cannot be done !!!

1. Identify parts of land that are less productive or are not major sources of earning/living
2. Break the projects down into smaller chunks and build them up on the land which when taken away causes minimum loss to the farmers.
3. When the plans are initiated, identify the people getting effected, and prepare them for the future (Capacity Building, knowledge sharing) ; I know of this being done for a few highway projects and this prepares the one effected much better and well in advance.
4. Hire professionals to do both the acquisition, and capacity building and at the same time have a governance mechanism in place. The governance mechanism should have everything right from the blueprint to the completion of projects along with the capacity building and compensations in its scope.
5. Ensure the local politicians do not cash on the opportunity in the name of caste, creed, function, area or anything !!!
6. Ensure there is minimum administrative interference during the entire project.

This post is not yet over, so please do not draw conclusions about what I think about it… There is much more to what I have been able to write here as of now… I am still thinking !!!

while I do that… please keep the politicians away !!! Someone for the country’s sake !!!!