Thursday, July 26, 2007
Singur Gone & now Nandigram going - - - -- - --
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Singur Project crucial for Bengal, says Minister
The Tata small car project at Singur holds the key to an estimated Rs 50,000 crore investment into West Bengal, said the state's industries minister Nirupam Sen on Monday. Sen maintained that West Bengal would get substantial investment within a year of the small car project starting off. But he agreed that the local opposition to the project would have to end first.Criticising those opposed to the industrialisation of the state, Sen said those opposing the project had simply refused to listen to the appeal of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya."I did not expect that a manufacturing unit would be opposed by opposition parties. Earlier we used to be attacked by the same people who said that despite being in power for 30 years, we have failed attract a single automobile manufacturer," said Sen.He explained that the state government had managed to bring Tata Motors to West Bengal when the Tatas had almost decided to set up the plant at Uttrakhand due to fiscal sops the state offered. "We managed to match them. I cannot divulge the financial details," said Sen and added, "I have taken a calculated risk." He said the officers in his ministry worked hard for six months with the Tata Motors management to hammer out a mutually acceptable agreement.Sen also pointed that the state government has already tied up an investment of about Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000 crore for 2007-08, which is about Rs 3,000 crore more than last year. Further, a number of new ventures are in pipeline that amount to more than Rs 50,000 crore. This is in addition to the total investment of Rs 50,000 crore spread across various industries that have started production, he said.When quizzed about the steps taken by the government to improve the investment climate and promote industrialization following the strong opposition, in Nandigram and Singur, Sen said that the thrust is to build the consensus from the lowest level. "We have asked the District Magistrates to engage people from the lowest level of the administration to build a consensus on industrialisation," said Sen.We are sure Mamata doesnt agree. Well for her, the govt. which has been ruling Bengal for 30 years by will of the people are fools and do not know how to run the state and specifically do not understand what is best for the people. Well, its time you read the pulse of the people Mamata.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Tata's educate the people of Singur. What have you done Mamata?
We spoke to Tata Motors and what more can you expect Mamata? Its easy to crticise. Can you even give employment to 1 person Mamata ? ?
The Tata Motors' operation in Singur is expected to create employment in excess of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs within the plant, amongst vendors and service providers in the vicinity. The company, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the West Bengal Government have jointly undertaken several initiatives to train youth, from the singur villages. When contacted, Tata Motors spokesperson said that " if they successfully clear the training and related tests, they will become eligible for employment."
The Youth from Singur villages who are being trained had earlier registered with the WBIDC to improve their employability.
This exercise on training/improvement in skills for employability started in December 2006 with a focus on ITI-trained youth from the Singur villages. About 36 such youth were found and called for tests, and 17 from among them have been selected and placed in Tata Motors' Jamshedpur facility for extensive 6-month training. Tata Motors has been providing them with hostel facilities and also a monthly stipend during the 6-month period. On successful completion of the training programme and other related tests, they will be eligible for employment in the Small Car project in Singur.
On April 25, 2007, taking such initiatives forward, the Government of West Bengal's Department of Technical Education & Training (DTET), the WBIDC and Tata Motors had signed a memorandum of understanding for an even more extensive training programme for a larger number of Singur residents. The programme includes a 9-month course for freshers, and a 6-month course for those Singur residents whom the WBIDC had earlier begun to train at the Ramakrishna Shilpa Mandir, of the Ramakrishna Mission (Belur Math), Howrah District of the state. To begin with, this initiative is benefitting about 340 individuals, with various educational qualifications.
These two programmes are being run at the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Howrah Homes, Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Hooghly, and the Ramakrishna Shilpa Mandir. The syllabus has been prepared by the Directorate of Industrial Training in consultation with Tata Motors and approved by the State Council of Vocational Training (SCVT), West Bengal. The expenses for the programme at the two ITIs are being equally funded by the WBIDC and Tata Motors. Tata Motors will help the ITI's, where the youth are under training, with equipment and also train, if necessary, the trainers. The expenses for the programme at the Ramakrishna Shilpa Mandir is being fully borne by Tata Motors. WBIDC is paying a monthly stipend to these trainees.
After completing the programme, the trainees will undertake a test to be conducted by the DTET, and successful candidates will receive the State Council of Vocational Training (SCVT) certificate from the DTET. These successful candidates will then undergo a 15-month hands-on training at the Tata Motors plant to endow them with multi-skill abilities and enhance their employability. On successful completion of the training programme, they too will be eligible for employment in the Small Car project in Singur.
Arrangements will also be made to impart relevant training to other individuals, in the WBIDC list, appropriate to their educational background and skills and based on a selection process.
SINGUR FARMERS WILL NOT CHEW CARS
The tantrum of Indian politicians is not a new phenomenon, but surely Mamata Bannerjee takes the cake. It is indeed sad, that such hue and cry has been made for a non-starter issue dubbed “Singur”. Means, have we lost our navigation? Why are we going off course? Does anybody disagree to industrialization? Don’t we all know that if our country has to keep on growing and maintain the current growth rate, then we need to go all out and set up more and more industries? So, what is it that Mamata is trying to do? She seems just hell bent to rouse a rabble and thereby create a vote bank for her. For her own petty selfish gains, she is willing to sacrifice better future of thousands of farmers and their families.
Mamata and her logic defy any and all sense. It certainly is a well thought out plan, or why else did the Trinamool Youth Congress take out a procession demanding return of land of farmers at Singur on 18th, when it was known that on 19th the Govt. would announce the compensation package for the so called effected farmers? Clearly, Mamata had in her mind to refuse straightaway any package that the Govt. was to announce. Undoubtedly, the package is - as described by the patriarch Jyoti Basu – “This is the best package in the country”. The announced package is black and white and not a portion exists which sounds garbled or gives the impression of hidden mines. Just to encapsulate what the package is and how it benefits all, I summarize it below:
- Farmers who are elderly & directly dependent on tilling land cannot be considered for training for employment. Govt is considering putting up shops etc in the 47.11 acre of land that they have at their disposal in Singur and giving it to those farmers as alternate means of sustenance.
- 350 nos. of project affected youth are being trained at different ITIs for 6 and 9 months. These youth will get direct employment at the mother plant
150 more such youth will be selected for training in Ramakrishna Mission. The selection process will start from Sunday 24th June. - To train, as “Test Drivers” 100 people will be given training at Hooghly Motor Training School.
- 40 Ladies have already been trained in sewing at Beraberi High School, who will make uniforms and gloves for the small car plant personnel.
NIIT at Salt Lake, Kolkata has already trained 40 men & women for 2 months. WBIDC has borne expenses of such training. 30 of them have already got jobs.
40 men & women have also been trained at NIIT on Hardware and some of them have already got jobs. - 25 nos. of ladies have been trained in cooking and have formed canteens. More women are expected to join for such training and will open up more canteens.
- 50 people will be trained in gardening and landscaping
- Govt aims to make people self-dependant and entrepreneurs by making them become suppliers of vegetables, detergents etc that will have huge requirement on a daily basis once the project comes up.
- Government will also have an arrangement with Mother Diary for supply of milk by the local villagers
- 400 women will be trained on making cable & circuit board required for the car lant. Pune model training will be followed. Initially 100 women will be trained.
Such a well thought out package is the very first of its kind. The elderly have been taken care of, the youth have been looked after, the women too have been handed economic freedom and the bright future of the Singur farmers ensured.
But then follows the bluffmaster Mamata. It is obvious that Mamata never heard of the saying – First think, and then speak. Mamata doesn’t even bother to think or for that matter to even hear. She gives instant stupid reactions. And that’s exactly what she did after the package was announced. She just went ahead and rejected outright the package announced. Her ground of refusal was a clutter of baseless allegations bereft of any sense or sensibility. She really defines the Height of stupidity and to recap her ludicrous logic:
"It is a rotten package and a deal to give passage to the Tatas in Singur," She claimed that the Tatas were fronting the Singur project while a foreign company had equity in it. "There is equity of a foreign company in the Tata Motors' small car project at Singur,"
We don't need driving schools. Let them train their own people. Farmers don't need to drive cars. They know how to drive tractors and till the land.
What will we do with cars? Do you think farmers will chew cars for dinner?
Now Mamata, what is your source of the first allegation - that a foreign company had equity in the project and that the Tatas were merely fronting it? First if you do have any such information, why didn’t you share it with the people and the media on day 1 itself? Secondly, if what you say is true, then can we have the exact details - the name of this foreign company and its share in the project? As per your statement, it sounds like – this foreign company owns the project since you say – Tatas were fronting the project, thereby ownership obviously is of the foreign company. And Mamata, if all this is true, then why did you hide such vital information from the public all this time, and moreover why are you giving a show of spilling the beans at this point in time? Or is it that questions of national interest and security concerns are secondary to your personal vote bank politics?
As for your second rationale – I would describe it by way of a famous Bengali saying – “Even a donkey would laugh” You say – Farmers don’t need to drive cars. Why Mamata, - are farmers not good enough to own and drive cars? Do we smell here a casteist flavor of politics? Is it like, – farmers like scheduled castes should never prosper, will never ever be able to own cars and so why should they even learn driving? Well for starters Mamata, if the farmers learnt driving, it will add to their skill set and provide an additional means of earning a livelihood.
Going ahead - you reiterate – They know how to drive tractors and till the land. Mamata, do you have any idea as to how many farmers in West Bengal own tractors? And the farmers, who have tractors, are of a different scale and unfortunately the Singur farmer never fell in that class. The land owning has to be huge, huge to make it economically viable to own and maintain a tractor. It seems your idea of farmers has its roots in the cowboy ranchers as shown in Hollywood movies. Mamata, just to enlighten you - most Indian farmers rent out tractors before sowing and get their land tilled.
And last but not the least - Do you think farmers will chew cars for dinner? No we don’t think farmers will chew cars for dinner, but yes we do think that the day the Tata car factory is operational, the farmer is employed and owns his car, that day the farmer will not have to think what he is going to chew for dinner. That day he will surely have his hot piping dinner
Friday, June 15, 2007
We always knew it Mamata: People of Singur were never your concern

We always knew it Mamata: People of Singur were never your concern.
Though Mamata gave an impression that she is as aggressive as she has been in the past, but actually she is becoming rest less to find a solution. She is softening owing to the so called very affected people not supporting her anymore is very evident in her change in stance. Earlier she was against having industry on agricultural land, but now she is fighting for returning the land that has been forcibly acquired. A typical chameleon like color change, common with vote bank politicians.Now, that her reasons for all these moves is clear, lets see what has been the outcome. It has been a disaster for her party TMC, and a number of her close colleagues and confidante’s have internally criticized the whole – “ Tamasha”.1. Many leaders of her party feels that by responding to Jyoti Basu's call for a meeting, Mamata had fallen into the trap of CPI (M) and they are quiet upset on the move taken by her. These leaders feel that if Mamata is unable to get the land back from the Govt. and the car rolls out in 2008, then she will have a major political set back.2. Though Left front had lost the recent panchayat election at Panskura, yet they won the two most crucial seats of Singur - the bone of contention (our blog had carried the election result in an earlier article) and overall the Left Front have done pretty well in the election and given the trend, there is no great hope of TMC doing well in the forthcoming panchayat election to take place after 1 year.3. Next State Assembly elections will be held after 4 years. If she fails to come to any settlement on the issue, then it would be quiet tough for her to continue with the agitation for another 4 years, and Mamata will be held responsible. She already stands responsible for the deaths in Singur.4. On June 18 there is hearing at the High Court on several cases on Singur. Mamata's camp feels that the judgement will not go in their favour for which they are now preparing themselves to move to Supreme Court.
But between all these wheeling and dealings, both Mamata and her party are just singularly focused in increasing the political clout of TMC. Why else are they even refusing to hold talks for the compensation package? At the end, the package would be the biggest benefit for the people of Singur.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Singur - Mamata trying to fool people again

Singur - Mamata trying to fool people again
Mamata Bannerjee Never Learns:
Dear Mamata,
Please grow up. Dont you ever learn? Dont you understand when the people have voted you out? Dont you realize when you are being given the cold shoulder? Can't you feel, that the people of Singur dont want you around their village? If, you do have the guts, then lets see you be truthful and talk of what progress the people of Singur will get out of Industrialization. Means, when will you learn Mamata? tsk tsk!
Today, i saw this news - its very sad Mamata. Even the Media now knows what you are upto. Let me just paste the news as it is for the benefit of millions. So, here goes Mamata -
PRI GEN NAT .SINGUR CAL3TATA-MAMATAMamata announces new anti-farmland acquisition measuresSingur (WB), Jun 3 (PTI) In her bid to rev up the slackening agitation against acquisition of farmland for industries in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today announced a series of programmes including a statewide 'chakka jam' on June nine.In an attempt to spread the agitation beyond Bengal's borders, Mamata also announced that the farmers of Singur and Nandigram would rally in Chennai, Delhi and Jamshedpur apart from Kolkata between the third week of this month and the second week of July. The dates and places of the rallies would be decided in a meeting on June 8, she said.Mamata warned the government that that her party would be forced to abandon the peaceful nature of the stir if it failed to yield the desired result of keeping the government's hands off agricultural land for setting up industry.Asserting that her party would not allow the Tata Motors small car factory to come up, she told a public meeting at Singur, where the factory is to be set up, "The chief minister is saying everywhere that the Tata factory will come up at Singur, but I am telling you it will not."Alleging that the government had tricked her into giving upher hunger strike, Mamata said she would write a book exposing what had happened.
Dear Friends, please take a good look at the letters in bold. If this is not a Goonda, threatening, then nothing is. Here, is this uninvited self acclaimed Guardian of the people, who is threatening to upset the regular life of millions, just to try and boost her sagging political career. Means, today she sent her envoy - the out of work Medha Patkar to do a reccee, and on 8th, she plans to disrupt all. Believe me, this only means few more suicides and more dead bodies. To Mamata, human life is cheap. mamata, all the deaths which predictably will happen, the day you begin your so called agitation will all be your doing. Please, fear God, mamata. Dont become the devil incarnate, you already have donned enough of it. People of Singur - Beware the Plague of Mamata is going to visit you on 8th June
Friday, June 1, 2007
Tata's the best for Singur.
Mumbai, Jun 1 (PTI) Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata today asked
the private sector to focus on social development of the country.
"While we grow we must not forget the fact that there are numerous
people living below the poverty line, especially in rural areas,"
Tata said at a function organised by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce
and Industry at its 171th Annual General Meeting.
The chamber also felicitated Tata for his contribution to the industry.
"Both the public and private sector have a great deal to look
forward to. But they also have a great deal of responsibility towards
the society at large," he said.
Tata said the corporate planning should embody responsibility
besides laying down a path for profit maximisation.
The occasion also marked the beginning of the tenure of Novartis
MD Ranjit Sahani as President of the chamber and IDFC MD Rajiv Lall
as Vice-president
That's what the Tata Corporate house has been doing all these years. One has to ask the millions of Tata steel, past and present employess, as they stand witness to how the Tata group changed their lives around. How a small unknown township of Bihar rose to be called the steel town of Jamshedpur - and is still referred to as mini Bombay . One only has to dwelve in the more then 100 yr old history of the Taj hotels to understand why the Mumbai Taj came up in the first place. Outraged by - Indians and Dogs not allowed, Jamsetji vowed to own a hotel which would be for Indians. Singur, when you place your life in such caring hands, then nothing ever goes wrong.
Regards