Stand up for Singur
Almost everyone who reads this post would now know at least some information regarding Singur. The fact that Tata motors wants to construct a car manufacturing unit there and that farmers are not exactly willing to part with their land is old news [1]. The government of West Bengal wants to push the state in the path of industrialization and is pining for the car factory in Singur [2]. Tata motors apparently has the noble cause of empowering Indian youth by supplying them with cars at an affordable rate. Whether this is noble or not so noble is moot and is not relevant to this post. What is relevant is at whose expense is this being done?
The government initially claimed that most of the land was not highly cultivated [3]. Media and many organizations called the governments bluff [4]. Only the most naive person would believe that the land, that too in the gangetic basin, that supports so many people would be fallow. Finally the government admitted that it is difficult to find fallow land in West Bengal and hence implicitly they want the farmers of Singur to subsidize the cost of the Tata Motor small car with their lives.
The government claims that the farmers have been given money above the market value as compensation for their land and that one member of every family will be given a job in the car factory. While this claim in itself is debatable, again it is irrelevant to this post. At face value this might seem like a fair deal and that the farmers lives' are being properly taken care of. All this idealistic talk will hold water only if 'Ram rajya' were in place in Bengal. Unfortunately, the state of affairs in the state being quite different, idealistic statements are no good and practical realities need to be faced.
1.) What steps has the government undertaken to prevent the money given to farmers are not swindled by unscrupulous elements? There have been many reports of how even the few who were compensated by the Narmada dam being swindled [5]. There were many reports of widowed wives of soldiers killed in Kargil being swindled of their compensation too [6].
Is it the farmers fault to not know to handle a 'moneyed' life? What would a city bred person do if he/she is forced to live in say afghanistan albeit with a large amount of arms and ammunition? Will he/she be able to survive there for even a month?
2.) Usually only the people who are in the news are taken care of by the government. For e.g., in the case of the narmada dam, the people who made their living by fishing downstream in the narmada valley were hardly cared for by the government [7]. Similarly what about people who dont directly own farms but are otherwise dependent on the farmlands? Are'nt they humans and arent they entitled to basic human rights? Does the government plan to compensate them?
3.) What jobs will the farmers be given in the factory?
Most farmers would only have skills to farm and handle the crops. How on earth will they be able to handle machinery in the factory? If they are not, what will they be employed as? Scavengers?
4.) What about job security?
Right now, the farmers are primarily dependent only on the vagaries of nature. If the crops are bad one year, the probability of having a better yield next year is always there. But what if a farmer falls foul of a manager in the factory and looses his job? What happens next for the farmer and his family? What if the Tata's decide to modernize the factor and lay off workers? What happens next? As now only one member now works, the whole family will be in dire straits.
5.) What about other members of the family?
Usually the whole family takes part in agricultural activities. This has a salubrious effect on the social fabric as everyone is important and has to perform his/her role. If the factory comes up, only one person from a family gets a job. What happens to the social position of the non-earning members? There are many many such intangible but very important human issues. Is the government even thinking about them?
People such as these farmers in Singur, who are asked to subsidize the comforts of rich people with their lives, are the ones who lose all their dignity and end up in the slums in the big metros. They are the ones who are then found in the traffic signals begging with their perennially wailing children. The beneficiaries of their sacrifices, sitting inside Tata motors' 1 lakh car, display their generosity to the world by giving the beggars a few rupees or talk about developing India by eradicating these slums. A few of these subsidized humans, who are pushed to the very edges of life's existence, join the naxal movement which bombs the market place that the beneficiaries of their sacrifice frequent in Tata's car. They could also become the ones who kidnap children for, god forbid, organ trade.
Please be aware of the facts and Stand up for the farmers of Singur. It is in the interest of respect for human rights and in your own interest too. In order for humans to claim to have evolved past the stage of animals, we need to display a certain sense of right and wrong. Animals work based only on what is good for them and what is not. To claim that humans are any different, we need to show a sense of right and wrong. It is not right to expect even one person to subsidize the comforts of another by sacrificing his/her life. When such this case, asking hundreds of people to sacrifice their right to choice of livelihood, right to dignity, right to survival so as to subsidize the cost of comfort of a few others is diabolical.
Spend some time to muse on this and do your part. For starters, watch this singur documentary on google video and get to know the facts from another perspective. Sign the singur online petition. If you have a personal web space or blog, post your thoughts on that and vow publicly that, if at all the Tata factory comes up there, you will boycott the car.
Stand up for Singur.
Reference
[1] Hindu business line report
[2] West Bengal CM statement from telegraph india
[3] Rediff report on govt's initial claim
[4] Rediff report on Government claims being busted
[5] NBA report about compensation money being swindled
[6] Rediff report on some problems faced by war widows
[7] Report on Narmada dam that touches upon fishermen
Almost everyone who reads this post would now know at least some information regarding Singur. The fact that Tata motors wants to construct a car manufacturing unit there and that farmers are not exactly willing to part with their land is old news [1]. The government of West Bengal wants to push the state in the path of industrialization and is pining for the car factory in Singur [2]. Tata motors apparently has the noble cause of empowering Indian youth by supplying them with cars at an affordable rate. Whether this is noble or not so noble is moot and is not relevant to this post. What is relevant is at whose expense is this being done?
The government initially claimed that most of the land was not highly cultivated [3]. Media and many organizations called the governments bluff [4]. Only the most naive person would believe that the land, that too in the gangetic basin, that supports so many people would be fallow. Finally the government admitted that it is difficult to find fallow land in West Bengal and hence implicitly they want the farmers of Singur to subsidize the cost of the Tata Motor small car with their lives.
The government claims that the farmers have been given money above the market value as compensation for their land and that one member of every family will be given a job in the car factory. While this claim in itself is debatable, again it is irrelevant to this post. At face value this might seem like a fair deal and that the farmers lives' are being properly taken care of. All this idealistic talk will hold water only if 'Ram rajya' were in place in Bengal. Unfortunately, the state of affairs in the state being quite different, idealistic statements are no good and practical realities need to be faced.
1.) What steps has the government undertaken to prevent the money given to farmers are not swindled by unscrupulous elements? There have been many reports of how even the few who were compensated by the Narmada dam being swindled [5]. There were many reports of widowed wives of soldiers killed in Kargil being swindled of their compensation too [6].
Is it the farmers fault to not know to handle a 'moneyed' life? What would a city bred person do if he/she is forced to live in say afghanistan albeit with a large amount of arms and ammunition? Will he/she be able to survive there for even a month?
2.) Usually only the people who are in the news are taken care of by the government. For e.g., in the case of the narmada dam, the people who made their living by fishing downstream in the narmada valley were hardly cared for by the government [7]. Similarly what about people who dont directly own farms but are otherwise dependent on the farmlands? Are'nt they humans and arent they entitled to basic human rights? Does the government plan to compensate them?
3.) What jobs will the farmers be given in the factory?
Most farmers would only have skills to farm and handle the crops. How on earth will they be able to handle machinery in the factory? If they are not, what will they be employed as? Scavengers?
4.) What about job security?
Right now, the farmers are primarily dependent only on the vagaries of nature. If the crops are bad one year, the probability of having a better yield next year is always there. But what if a farmer falls foul of a manager in the factory and looses his job? What happens next for the farmer and his family? What if the Tata's decide to modernize the factor and lay off workers? What happens next? As now only one member now works, the whole family will be in dire straits.
5.) What about other members of the family?
Usually the whole family takes part in agricultural activities. This has a salubrious effect on the social fabric as everyone is important and has to perform his/her role. If the factory comes up, only one person from a family gets a job. What happens to the social position of the non-earning members? There are many many such intangible but very important human issues. Is the government even thinking about them?
People such as these farmers in Singur, who are asked to subsidize the comforts of rich people with their lives, are the ones who lose all their dignity and end up in the slums in the big metros. They are the ones who are then found in the traffic signals begging with their perennially wailing children. The beneficiaries of their sacrifices, sitting inside Tata motors' 1 lakh car, display their generosity to the world by giving the beggars a few rupees or talk about developing India by eradicating these slums. A few of these subsidized humans, who are pushed to the very edges of life's existence, join the naxal movement which bombs the market place that the beneficiaries of their sacrifice frequent in Tata's car. They could also become the ones who kidnap children for, god forbid, organ trade.
Please be aware of the facts and Stand up for the farmers of Singur. It is in the interest of respect for human rights and in your own interest too. In order for humans to claim to have evolved past the stage of animals, we need to display a certain sense of right and wrong. Animals work based only on what is good for them and what is not. To claim that humans are any different, we need to show a sense of right and wrong. It is not right to expect even one person to subsidize the comforts of another by sacrificing his/her life. When such this case, asking hundreds of people to sacrifice their right to choice of livelihood, right to dignity, right to survival so as to subsidize the cost of comfort of a few others is diabolical.
Spend some time to muse on this and do your part. For starters, watch this singur documentary on google video and get to know the facts from another perspective. Sign the singur online petition. If you have a personal web space or blog, post your thoughts on that and vow publicly that, if at all the Tata factory comes up there, you will boycott the car.
Stand up for Singur.
Reference
[1] Hindu business line report
[2] West Bengal CM statement from telegraph india
[3] Rediff report on govt's initial claim
[4] Rediff report on Government claims being busted
[5] NBA report about compensation money being swindled
[6] Rediff report on some problems faced by war widows
[7] Report on Narmada dam that touches upon fishermen
1 comment:
It is a strict no-no to take off the fertile agricultural lands. industries need water and it becomes easy picking to take these lands. a strict NO should be the ans. Cos should be given land I agree that. But not the agri land.
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