Background Note On Singur By Dsg

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BACKGROUND Note

Explaining ground realities in Singur; State violence on protesting Local Peasants The Chief Minister of WB announced Singur land acquisition on 16 th May 2006, followed by a 26th May official visit of some sate officials to Singur, Hooghly district (nearly 60 km from Kolkata) for ‘Tata Motors’, for their car-manufacturing unit. Barren land for such a unit is available in plenty in various parts of the state. It is known that the Chief Minister offered the Tatas unarable land in West Medinipur for setting up the manufacturing unit, but the Tatas preferred this fertile multi-cropped highlands at Singur. It is on the insistence of the TATAs that the government is going ahead with acquiring this land also as majority of the land area could be used for non industrial, commercial purposes. RTIs not responded Since then the people of Singur approached the District administration to know the whereabouts, even using the Right to Information Act, but to no avail. People of Singur formed a local organisation to resist land appropriation – the Krishi Zameen Raksha Committee. It should be noted here that Singur is just part of the expanded design to acquire 43,755 acre of land, majority of which agricultural, for 14 different projects in the coming years. Consent through coercion On December 4, the WB government claimed that 920 acres of land is been voluntarily handed over by the land owners. Major highlight of the official version thus substantiate this transfer as a ‘peaceful’ and voluntary process. However the local reality even as it appears in the communication from various concerned peoples’ movements and individuals from WB suggest that the repressive presence of an overwhelming number of state police force and the CPM volunteer force through their coercive actions, including various instances of physical violence, resulted in this so called ‘peaceful sacrifice for industrial growth’. This is just another case happening in India, where the state machinery, with allies supporting coercive designs for appropriating peoples property/ common property resources contrive situations of volunteerism, even when people lay their lives for the protection of their livelihoods. Here the only difference is that the Communist Party of India (Marxist), with an anti-globalisation and anti-privatisation ideology, is heading the Government Misplaced Media Highlight Quite sadly, the visual and the print media do not give a true picture of the local processes. Singur is a crucial case where a political party with professed agenda for protecting livelihoods of people detracts on its stand to give away phenomenal amount of land – compared to the real need for setting up a car manufacturing unit. WB has the example of 

Prepared based on inputs from Fact Finding Reports from various networks and recent articles in the Seminar and other Journals on the Singur case

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the Birlas using the allotted land for industrial purposes for non-industrial private use, in Uttarpara, WB. The problem is not just about rehabilitation and amount of compensation, but about the status of the land under question as source of livelihoods for thousands of families. One time cash compensation benefiting some of these families could be made out through the money power of the state to serve the interest of the TATAs, leading to situation that money could let down genuine collective needs of the society, with force. The question is why is it that a frontline political party, which leads a coalition opposing anti-people privatisation, is using its government to benefit corporates. The affected 15,000 families count on Singur farm lands for their livelihood. They are under the threat of imminent eviction and loss of livelihood with this move of the government. Who are they? Nearly 5000 peasant families from 11 villages, Thousands of agricultural labourers, many of them coming over from nearby places to earn their livelihood, Unregistered sharecroppers, Cottage industry workers Local small business people Fake State claim on volunteerism The state claim that absentee landlords are more in Singur is misplaced. Especially since the CPM cadre under direction from senior leadership is working as a project protection force, one can easily understand how the so-called volunteerism of surrendering land is working out. It is quite unclear under what legal processes that the state is revising the cash compensation, even amounting to doubts that such promises could only be considered as luring tactics than official pronouncements. Even in case of the tenants there is obligation form the state to ensure awarding land for subsistence under the WB land reform Act Politics of NDA Protest The leadership of struggle is represented in the media through Mamta Banerjee and few others from the NDA. The people in various parts of India have discredited this leadership politically as the NDA ruled states at present practice similar violations of peoples’ rights in brutal ways. The media reports as of now is only to help the rehabilitation of the already discredited NDA leadership, avoiding to highlight the genuine peoples demand for stopping forced take over of land. Also it is important to question the dualism in the CPM policy at the states where they rule vis-à-vis the position they air in the national context. Even allies of CPM, other communists groups in various parts of the country and independent individuals have politically questioned the WB model. 2

It is notable to see that the industrial Minister of WB admitting that there is no rehabilitation policy in place in the state to address the question of development induced displacement, which is a greater concern, considering other communities under thereat of forced eviction. In the broader Indian context, displaced families for various projects since 1950s are yet to get the official resettlement benefits. CPM government promises vs. REALITY It is important to note that the 1977 policy- 6-point charter of the WB government talked about nationalising core industries. But what happened was promotion of private interest as in the case of Haldia Petrochem, where the state sold out its stakes to Soros Group. With 36,000 closed and sick industries, the industrial policy preference of the state should be on supporting the local labour serving initiatives, considering that an unemployed population of 66 lakhs is registered in the state. Violation of right to speech and dissent There is a siege on Singur through the network of CPM volunteers and the police. Violence (including against minors by police), arrest and detention of concerned people including Medha Patkar, is highly condemnable. The state is using force to curtail right to expression and right to dissent. Demands • Stop atrocities -state and non state- against the protesting farmers in Singur • Immediate resumption of farming activities in Singur • Provide immediate relief and compensation to affected people • Judicial Inquiry into the widespread violence on the people in Singur • Stop the anti constitutional handover of land to TATAs, which violates the right to livelihoods of people- right which is essential to protect the right to life • Respond to RTI applications regarding the Singur land acquisition immediately • The WB government should immediately release a fact sheet on the processes till date, regarding the appropriation of land General Demand • Repeal the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 which is being grossly misused by states to appropriate common property resources as well as private lands for the paving way for corporate profit maximisation • Political parties involved in the struggle, in any capacity should place a public statement on their position on how they understand the present scenario of development and displacement in India since 1947 • They should also declare publicly how they value right to peoples livelihoods in the context of displacements of all sorts Delhi Solidarity Group Contact Details: F-10/12, Ground Floor, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi - 110017 Phones: +91-11-26680883 / 26680914 Fax: +91-11-26687724

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Emails: [email protected] / [email protected]

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