Our Land, Their Development: A Photo Essay On Singur

lotus blossom

Singur is a thriving farming community in the West Bengal State of India. Its 20,000 habitants, mostly small peasants, agricultural workers and small traders will be displaced soon in the name of "development".

http://www.foodsov.org/html/takeaction05.htm

if you'd like to add your name to a petition to try to stop the forced eviction of the farming communities in west bengal scroll to the bottom of the page on above link.

don't they know that the farmers produce the food that they eat...

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Not all who wander are lost

greenchutney

its interesting how the roles are reversed or maybe swapped i should say. the commies with their traditional stance of standing for the peasants and farmers are now actually thinking of development.....about time i would say?

the commies have always ruled west bengal and in coalitions in kerala...and the commies are now very very slowly adapting and becoming new age commies ....buddhadeb [west bengal CM] has been surprisingly decent to be honest (and he is pushing this TATA project thats been discussed in this thread) but some of the other comrades still remain loyal to marx yeah...go figure that one out....

there is legitimate industrialization needs for india. how to balance this with land for that? its not a easy proposition...at some point, some where people have to be displaced.... the same debate is happening with SEZ...special economic zones that have been proposed (and yesterday many were approved). if you want to read that debate with a left leaning bent...heres in the cover story of the current issue of FrontLine (from the publishers of The Hindu newspaper)...(Frontline is a socialist tinge rag....)...

Conflict Zones
VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN in New Delhi
The Centre's special economic zone initiative evokes protests from farmers and fears of a huge "land scam"
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/storie...0005000400.htm

Subversive enclaves
V. SRIDHAR
The SEZ policy encourages the creation of enclaves where national laws will mean little
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/storie...0003601900.htm

Merchant

I've never really understood why India's farmers have traditionally been so weak politically. India really has no major political movement with its basis in agricultural groups, except in isolated instances. For all the huge numbers of people who work the land in India, they are surprisingly weak politically--just look what is happening to the farmers in the link above.

greenchutney

landlords, zamindari system, bonded labor.....merchant to quote recent history...who held the power in that class soceity?

also the diversity across the land makes them pretty fragmented.

we are still an agricultural country~ and 'some' contemprorary politicians forget that.

its disappointing that our govts have failed in the presenting meaningful, enforceable distinct rural and urban strategies. praise however must be given with the way they have withstood pressure over at WTO talks....and that has been consistent even with the change of governments at the centre. but a lot more needs to be done internally...

farmers have stood up in recent times...against cargill, in kerala...and the communist parties, janata dals have been pretty vociferous in their representation not too long ago but have quickly become corrupt ventures..., with motives, agenda and shortsightedness

and CH ...we are not repeating the same points what we did with the narmada debate

Jorge Reverter

Naxalites were born in West Bengal almost 40 years ago to defend peasants from the injustices of the landlords. Actually they have a left-wing governement in West Bengal and view from Europe looks strange. Probably we don't have the "full" information.

Jorge

greenchutney

if you are looking for full information, look no further than this website...bangla commies hq rag~~~~ and a feature article there...

http://www.ganashakti.com/

FEATURE
Left Front Govt And Bengal's Industrialisation
Benoy Konar
http://www.ganashakti.com/tw/thisweek/feature.htm
(link above might change next week since this is current week feature)

all you want to read about distinguishing between western imperialism, home grown industrialization, purity of marxism...


now let me go cleanse myself cause i have been infected, ugh..ugh and more ugh..!~~~~


ps...if your govts are monitoring your activities, you might not want to go that website..you might make it to that secret database~ ...

crvlvr

Hello? Farmers are the most politically strong group in the country. However, they choose not to vote to lines of occupation, rather religion, caste and fake promises seem to be the motivation. 20,000 farmers is a small group to piss off. My hunch is that village did not vote for the ruling party in the last elections. If that was the case, what do the politicians have to lose by diplacing them?

Merchant

Yeah--farmers have never been a movement, just a vote block of caste/religious interests. That's my point.

capt_mahajan

Any economically, and socially weak, unorganised and culturally diverse group spread across a large country cannot be a political juggernaut.

Similar rules used to apply to the Dalits and other so called lower castes, but that is changing.

All I can say is, should these two get organised politically across the country, it will change forever the power structure in Indian politics.

PortieOwner

This is known as "the exploitation of the great by the small" and it is a well-known political-economic fact. Large groups have difficulty organizing, but small groups find it easy to organize.

Check the books by economists Mancur Olson and Dennis Mueller.

Portie

Merchant

Brazil has proven to be the exception. India has been dominated by urban elites since independence. Even the BJP's pseudo-populist stuff didn't go very far. There's no intrinsic reason why India's rural labor can't be a political force--it has just never happened.

dsenter

Police atrocities on farmers have to be condemned and the Singur episode has tainted the image of leftfront regime in West Bengal more than ever. But, I am writing this to remind the protestors that any regime and its activities have to be judged in a relativistic perspective i.e. relative to the socio-political and economic situation. I fear the opposition parties, the leftists and other leftish activists who are opposing the government move to acquire land judge the regime or the government on absolute terms. How could a self-proclaimed marxist government forcefully acquire land or mercilessly beat up villagers who came to resist the police?--run the usual complaint. I would urge them to compare the leftfront government actions with other state governments. Please place yourselves in the shoes of the ruling regime. I know many of you will hate to be in power or occupy any position of authority. I hold your ideological commitments in high esteem but in a situation where all state governments are hankering after investments from big investors, such as Tata, how could a government not let the Tatas build their dream car-plant on the land that Tatas themselves have chosen. The industry minister of the West Bengal government has said more than once that Tatas were shown many other places but they have stuck to Singur, which apparently they have chosen using satellite pictures. The rivers and relative elevation of the land and its proximity to Calcutta has made singur a suitable site for a factory. The designated opposition party in the assembly Trinamul congress has not been acting very responsibly. They are extremely intransigent with their position that farmers cannot give up their land. Their supporters have obstructed the entry of officials who came to deliver section 4 notifications to the households whose plots lie in the project area.
I know that there are many unregistered sharecroppers in the area but none of the opposition parties have ever attempted to register those sharecroppers lest they loose their supporters among their powerful supporters. So, why only blame the CPIM? Moreover, mamata and her party colleagues have repeatedly rejected offers from the district magistrate and state government to discuss the compensation. Mamata banerjee and congress leaders say they are not anti-industry but they are yet to prove their credentials. Since the left-front government had come to power the congress leaders at the Center have consistently tried to deprive West Bengal. The state leaders have remained passive to please their bosses in delhi. Every five years they have hoped that they will win the elections and do all industrial reforms to establish their stronghold in Bengal politics. They have utterly failed. If Mamata wants industries she also has to go and tell her ardent supporters in singur that in the interest of the economy they have to part with their land in lieu of proper compensation. But she won’t do that.
Mamata Banerjee has recently questioned the UPA government on "keeping mum" regarding the Singur issue. Why is she quiet regarding Kalinga nagar or Gujrat, just because she gets party funds from the marwaris and gujratis in Calcutta? These are the questions that has to be raised. Social activist Medha Patkar has shared podium with miss Banerjee and her party but she has been to singur only once before the day she was taken out of Beraberi by the police. Yes, outsiders may come and raise the consciousness of the peasants but how could she take sides based on what she found from one or two visits and without paying any heed to the historical trajectory of political formations in Singur and West Bengal? Medha may have found out that there are many factories in the area. The most notable among them is the Himadri chemicals which spreads noxious gases. Nobody made any noise when that chemical factory came up in multicrop agricultural land. Himadri chemicals had bought it from local farmers and middle men, hence there was no hue and cry and no medha or mamata. I have been visiting Singur for last four months almost every alternate day of the week to speak with the farmers. Many of them have sold land in the past or plan to convert them into non-agricultural ones. They also buy land from their poorer neighbors to sell that off at a higher price later. The movement would have made sense if it had asked for proper compensation and fought for rehabilitation package for registered and unregistered bargadars.
Contrary to this, the movement led primarily by Trinamul and other formations (medha and mahashweta included) has tried to challenge the legitimacy of the state action on the grounds of declining food security, and faulty development paradigm. Those issues can be addressed at scale of the Central government and policies. A state government, Marxist or not,cannot help. The triumvirate- mamata, medha and mahasweta have all criticized the regime as not being true to Marxist principles and tradition of looking after the interests of the poor. But how do they explain the turning of huge acres of agriculture land in the coastal counties into industrial towns in communist China or declining agricultural output of communist Vietnam, once an anti-imperialist icon. One should not want a china or Vietnam out of West Bengal because we cherish freedom and condemn the police atrocities. But investments, right amount of compensation and ancillarization will definitely bring more prosperity to Bengal than an agrarian economy where too many people huddle to get access to land and a declining amount of ground water. I can assure this is not from a party cadre although it may sound like that. I know many supporters of medha Mahasweta and mamata think like me but they are unable to speak the truth because their ideological and political mileage is at stake.

SANJAY_DEL

Instead of opposing development in toto, politicians and NGOs should help ensure due and just compensation to the land-owners and help with their rehabilitation. Local employment generation can be ensured by providing vocational education to the youth in the area. The corporates can chip in with funding and this can be incorporated in the terms of the leased land.