Reality Show on Marxism V/S SEZ continues
Palash Biswas
( Pl Publish the article with latest update and send a copy. If any one wants a Hindi or Bengali copy, pl contact me.Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata-700110, Phone: 91-33-25659551. India.)
The great Reality show, a purely deshi on with flavour original racist, castist, communal, feudal and anti peasant, continues countrywide. The country is run by corporate, imperialist, capitalist NRI Centre and state governments. All chief ministers support the SEZ like Buddhadev, Narendra Modi, Vilas Rao Desmukh, Raman Singh, Basundhara Raje, Hudda, Mulayam, Gogoi, Naveen Patnaik and all of them. But the political parties including Indian congress which is responsible for all these nonsense and left parties, BJP oppose Sez. Only the Marxists have to defend the Bengal government. Mamata`s fast came to an end with initiative taken by President, Prime Minister, Ex Prime ministers and Governor. She has not recovered as yet. No talks. But the dream project of Tatas have got flying start with prohibitory orders. Nono generaian Marxist leader Jyoti Basu fights a proxy war fielding Subhash Chakrabarti in CAB Kurukshetra to express his differences with his party and government.
TV shows are targeted to sponsors and this India great reality show is targeted to Vote Bank. Muslims have taken the streets and communists have to defend its Quila in Bengal.
Who will see the exit like Jed Gooddie, we may not say at this point.
Pl come and enjoy the Global show.
After the controversy over the land allotment issue, the Tatas Yesterday started over their dream project of producing Rs. one lakh car.The ambitious Rs. 1,000 crore project will roll out next year. The Tata Motor officials performed a puja at the construction site in the presence of state government officials.Undeterred by the agitation against the project, Ratan Tata had announced last month that the group would not pull out of the state while blaming corporate rivals for fuelling the controversy.Immediately after the construction work started, a Tata spokesperson from Mumbai told reporters, "The small car will be launched as planned in the year 2008 and already a number of vendors for the project have been identified."
With tension mounting at Singur after Tata Motors formally started construction work there for its small car project, the West Bengal government today said it was still open for talks with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on compensation for affected farmers in the land deal.Asked whether the state government would write a fresh letter to the Trinamool chief, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen told reporters, "There is no such possibility." Banerjee had yesterday expressed shock at the "surreptitious" manner in which construction work had begun at Singur with the area under prohibitory orders.
Sen said the Chief Minister's Secretariat had already sent four letters to the Trinamool Congress chief, inviting her for talks on the compensation to farmers affected by the land acquisition for the Tata Motors small car project.He said that as Opposition leader Mamata Banerjee was free to submit her views on the issue.Sen said that talks could be held any day according to the Trinamool leader's convenience. "But there is no possibility of making a fresh communication with Banerjee for talks," he said.
On the other hand , the grand Marxist Reality show in West Bengal continues with CAB turn as following a diktat from the CPI-M leadership to stay away from the Cricket Association of Bengal election, sports minister Mr Subhas Chakraborty today tried to put counter pressure on party leaders to stop Kolkata Police commissioner Mr Prasun Mukherjee from contesting the post of president.Mr Chakraborty refused to comment on a meeting with Mr Jyoti Basu at the latter’s Salt Lake residence this morning. But party sources said the former chief minister advised his protege not to challenge the CPI-M state secretariat’s decision as it would lead to disciplinary action. At their meeting yesterday, secretariat members said that no full time member of the party can contest election in an autonomous body like the CAB.
The question of the compulsory purchase of farm land for industrial development is becoming one of the most controversial issues facing Indian economic policy makers. The resistance in West Bengal has been particularly intense as its long-serving communist rulers have redistributed land to millions of poor peasants, part of Indiaís most successful land reform programmes.
"Reversing the mindset of the farmers is proving to be difficult as their attachment to land, especially in West Bengal, is more," Abhirup Sarkar, a Kolkata-based economist, said.
But in the past few years, the communists have been wooing foreign and domestic investors and want the special zones for new factories.
Meanwhile,the meeting of the empowered group of ministers on special economic zones could not reach any firm view on on Monday while the government will take the rehabilitation policy to the Cabinet next month. After the meeting, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters the Board of Approval would not clear any fresh applications till the EGoM reaches a decision.The Centre has asked the state governments to submit the details of land acquisition for all purposes, including SEZs. "The EGoM discussed land issues, rehabilitation question and possible misuse of tax concessions," Nath said. The meeting remained inconclusive because the EGoM chairman and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had to go for another meeting, he said.
The SEZ policy has come in under increased pressure following violent protests at Nandigram in West Bengal where Indonesia's Salim Group had proposed an SEZ.
Earlier this month, the Board of Approval meeting was cancelled twice pending the finalisation of the rehabilitation policy as announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. So far, the BoA has given final approvals to 237 SEZ and in-principle nod to about 165 zones. Besides, another 300 applications are pending before the BoA.
The Group of Ministers also looked at the issue of land acquisition, and the demand for a rehabilitation package and at the Finance Ministry's concerns over SEZs leading to revenue loss.
The EGoM is likely to meet within ten days after Nath returns from the World Economic Forum at Davos. Earlier this month, the board of approval meeting was cancelled twice pending the finalisation of the rehabilitation policy as announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. So far, the BoA has given final approvals to 237 SEZ and in-principle nod to about 165 zones. Besides, another 300 applications are pending before the BoA.
Expressing shock at the manner in which construction work for the Tata Motors' small car project began today at Singur keeping the area under prohibitory orders, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today accused the Left Front Government of deceiving her and said the people would not forgive the State Government and the Tatas for their "audacity". Banerjee, who was discharged from the nursing home last week, told PTI, "I am not well, I'm still under treatment. The way construction work started surreptitiously for the Tata project shocked me and hurt me deeply."
Banerjee said she had called off her 25-day hunger strike after she received an assurance of the President, the Prime Minister, state Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and the letter written by the State Government to her said the issue of "Forcible acquisition of land for the project will be settled through discussion. But I still can't go out of home due to my illness. The construction work for the project began surreptitiously at gunpoint imposing Section 144 CrPC in the area."
"They have forgotten all courtesy. It has hurt me deeply People in the country and the State will not forgive the West Bengal Government and the Tatas for their audacity," she said.
The prohibitory orders at Singur, promulgated in view of political agitations against acquisition of farmland for the proposed Tata Motors car project, will be in force till January 28 midnight, a senior state official said on Saturday.Duration of the ban orders under section 144 CrPC at Singur, earlier extended for 20 days, would be further in force till January 28 midnight after assessing the situation there, the official said.He said there were reports that some groups, opposed to farmland acquisition for the Tata project, might instigate trouble if the orders were lifted. "In fact there had been some attempts to weaken the poles of the fenced area and damage the barbed wire," he said.
The Krishi Jami Bachao Committee -- comprising Trinamool Congress, PDS and some Naxalite outfits -- have already stated they would continue to oppose the administration's land acquisition plans. The SUCI, APDR is also waging a movement against farmland acquisition
Another Enemy of People, Aruna Roy
Right to Information campaigner and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy has asked the Left Front government in West Bengal to stop construction work for a Tata Motors car project at Singur and have a public debate on the issue.
"I think the construction work should be stopped immediately and a debate begin on the issue. The dissent and objections should be heard in complete fairness and in a forum that is open," the noted community leader told IANS here in an exclusive interview. Tata Motors Sunday began construction work at Singur to build a plant that would produce about 100,000 cars a year.
"Carrying on construction work there under Section 144 (order prohibiting assembly of five or more people) in itself is rather odd. How can you erect a wall (by Tatas) between the industry and the people. This wall will become a source of potential conflict between the locals and the industry," said Roy, a bureaucrat-turned-community activist.
"I think the project is not transparent. If they place all documents in public domain then alone can it be transparent. If they say that the terms or conditions cannot be made public then the information about the location of the project or the land need make no sense. The terms and conditions are neither a national security nor are they a trade security," said Roy, who won the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2000 for Community Leadership and International Understanding.
Muslims protest against ‘land grab’Published: Friday, 19 January, 2007, 10:54 AM Doha Time
KOLKATA: Tens of thousands of Muslims marched in the city of Kolkata yesterday, some holding placards reading "Shed your blood, don’t give up your land", to protest against the acquisition of farm land for industry. They were angry at efforts by the communist government of West Bengal state to secure land for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and large-scale manufacturing projects.
"We are not against industry and we want progress but please, spare our agriculture fields," said Siddiqullah Choudhury, general secretary of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, one of the biggest bodies for India’s 140mn Muslims.
Nearby, some protesters, wearing white tunics and colourful skull caps, shouted slogans against the government while holding up placards which read: "No industry on farmland."
Many farmers who stand to lose their lands are Muslims. The community makes up around 27% of the eastern stateís population of 80mn.
Sanjay Sangvai, Sampat Kale, Ulka Mahajan write:
50000 farmers challenge Maharashtra Government, and corporations against proposed establishment of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) near Mumbai even as Pune trade unions oppose this plan.
Over 50,000 farmers from the Pen-Panvel tehsils of Raigad district in Maharashtra, near Mumbai, called for the do away with the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) by the Government of India, in a massive rally on September 21 (Thursday) and condemned the nexus between the corporate company reliance and the Maharashtra government. On the same day, over 25 trade unions in Pune area opposed the 'anti-farmer and anti-labour SEZ policy and projects. " It is pure and simple land-grab by the rich corporate powers, builders and real estate owners in the name of export and economic activity'.
The rally from Kharghar near Panvel to Konkan Bhavan in CBD-Belapur was organized by various farmers' organizations in Raigad district, including the Peasants and Workers' Party, Pen Panchkroshi Shetkari Bachao Parishad, Anti-SEZ People's Struggle Committee of Maharashtra and others. The unprecedented rally, held in the neighbourhood of the 'financial capital of India ', in which the farmers gave a warning in no uncertain terms against usurping their lands. They opposed the acquisition of their lands, and the tax concessions of billions of rupees and winding of the laws of land for the sake of corporate powers. Comrade Sitaram Yechury, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), listed down the ill-effects and demanded 'rethinking' of the SEZ Act on various counts. However, the farmers and other villagers rejected outright the SEZ and its politically strong corporate-promoter, the Reliance Company of Mukesh Ambani. Ambani brothers are darling of Government and the ruling elites in India, including the Ministers, Chief Ministers and even the Prime Minister along with all the political parties of this country are eager to placate the corporate czar. No wonder the Ambanis are offered 25,000 acres in Haryana, 3000 acres in Uttar Pradesh, about 1,000 hectares in W. Bengal and about 12,000 hectares in Maharashtra.
In the rally the people poured their scorn on the Reliance company in choicest abusive words and demanded throwing out the Company from area. The villagers ire was not without reason, as had to undergo the continuous attempts to divide their villages, incite dissensions, feuds in the communities and thus disturb the harmonious relations within the area by the paid agents of the Reliance company, to make the people to give away the land. It was evident that despite the attempts by the agents of the company, the people were steadfast in their resolve and were not afraid to come out to speak.
In Akurdi, an industrial suburb near Pune, over 25 trade unions held a day-long meeting to protest against the SEZ and demanded to the state government and the corporate giants to stop all the activities of land acquisition or setting up of their units. The workers came heavily down upon the non-application of labour laws in the SEZ areas. " It is the contempt of the Indian Sovereignty, Indian laws and rights of farmers and workers along with the large land-grant by the government for the corporates. It is the extension of the neo-liberal Globalization' contended the senior leader of Communist Party of India (CPI) Mr. Govindrao Pansare. Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Employees' Union, Bajaj Auto Employees' Union, CITU, AITUC and TUCC along with various trade unions of various industrial units supported the resistance to the SEZs.
Meanwhile, various representatives of people's organizations and prominent persons janded out a memorandum to the Union Ministry of Industries and demanded repeal of the SEZ Act "in the light of the undemocratic nature of its conceptualisation, adoption and severe implications it has on marginalised groups." They alleged that the SEZ policy tilted heavily in favour of corporate houses by providing tax holidays, minimum environmental regulations and no labour laws.
The delegation included Rajendra Sachar of People's Union of Covil Liberties, noted journalist, Kuldip Nayar, jurist Prashant Bhushan, Rajendra Ravi of NAPM, Rifat Mumtaz of National Centre of Advocacy Studies, Kanchi Kohli of Kalpavriksha and others.
Reflecting similar views, CPI national executive adopted a resolution demanding a halt to the creation of SEZs, re-examination of the SEZ Act and amendments to the Land Acquisition Act. "These fenced off tax exempt and labour laws exempt enclaves will be deemed foreign territory for our own citizenry and only the dictates of the SEZ foreign authority will apply," the resolution said. "This is veritable loot sanctioned by the government," the CPI said.
Delay in getting SEZs off ground would cost developers dear
New Delhi, Jan 20: Government has planned major changes in the special economic zones (SEZ) rules that it will come down heavily on developers who do not start work for operationalising their zones even after final clearance of the board of approvals.
"We propose to make it mandatory on developers to complete all formalities for notification of their zones within six months of getting final approval, failing which their clearances will be cancelled," Commerce Secretary and Chairman of Board of Approvals G K Pillai said.
There are as many as 70-80 cases where the more than six months have passed and the developers have not come for getting their projects notified, he said during a stock-taking exercise on SEZs.
The today's interactive session with Export Promotion Council for EoU and SEZs will provide inputs to the boa for fine tuning of the rules.
The scope of changes in rules will also extend to the tax benefits that co-developers of the SEZs and their contractors and sub-contractors should get.
"In the proposed amendments even co-developers and contractors and sub-contractors will be given the tax concessions," he said.
Apart from some of the bigger issues, the amendment to rules will clarify lot of issues that have come up since the SEZ Act has become operational.
When SEZ Act was set a single window clearance mechanism was envisaged but it has not yet come into force.
Pillai said the Commerce Ministry was in touch with state governments to amend their laws so that the single window clearance system could be operationalised.
Earlier inaugurating the interactive session, Pillai said there was no need to amend the SEZ Act but certain concessions would have to be made in SEZ rules.
"Some small issues have come up in implementation of the act and some we will change to suit requirements of everybody," he said.
Pillai said so far 63 SEZs have been notified and investments worth Rs 11,000 crore has been received since the SEZ Act was operationalised.
He said by 2009 more than Rs 60,000 crore investment would flow in to SEZs and they could create nine lakh jobs.
Singur an exception, Nandigram a blunder: CM
Sumit Sen
[ 20 Jan, 2007 0241hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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KOLKATA: Singur is an exception and Nandigram a political blunder. Acquisition of 997.11 acres of farmland for the Tata Motors project is in the best interests of the state.
Future returns from the move are immense and would largely help Bengal take a big leap forward.
On the contrary,whatever happened in Nandigram — sparked off by a notice identifying spots for future acquisition — was due to very poor handling of the issue by Haldia Development Authority chairman Lakshman Seth, the high-profile CPM MP from Tamluk.
But it will not deter the state from acquiring land for industrialisation in future. Of course, food security would be ensured even as cultivable farmland yields place to industries.
Likewise, interests of those displaced by land acquisition would be protected. The state will tread a cautious path and will strive to avoid taking away multicrop land as far as possible.
For sure, there will not be a repeat of Singur and Nandigram. This is what Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in a freewheeling interview, dwelling on a range of issues from dealing firmly with his detractors, both inside and outside, to unfolding his dreams for a resurgent Bengal.
Asked about frequent criticism of the state's land acquisition policy by some of CPM's allies, the chief minister admitted there was a lack of understanding on the former's part.
"You could either see it as their failure to grasp the significance of the development path the state had embarked on or a complete lack of vision on their part. Even Lenin faced such attacks when he was leading Soviet Russia on the road to socialism."
The CM made no secret of contradictory views over the issue expressed even by renowned Left-leaning scholars, but felt these would be ironed out as he has already initiated steps to explain to them the reasons behind the state's string of actions.
According to Bhattacharjee, if Bengal has to move forward, it has to take recourse to faster industrialisation. For, the state can no longer reap high benefits from agriculture because of too much fragmentation of land.
Nearly 68% of the population still depends on agriculture for a living and about 62% of the total land mass of the state is cultivable.
But the ground reality is that money generation from agriculture is far from satisfactory. Land acquisition is, therefore, unavoidable.
"If we don't acquire cultivable lands for industrialisation, it will simply reverse the progress." The national average of fallow land is 17%, but in Bengal, it's only one percent.
While 24% of the state's territory covers urban and industrial areas, forests comprise 13% of the land mass. Thus, the state is left with no option but to use some parts of the remaining 62% agricultural land for future industrialisation.
"No one should forget that CPM was the principal architect of land reforms and it can never do anything against the interest of farmers, who are beneficiaries of such landmark reforms," Bhattacharjee said.
He welcomed the Centre's decision to postpone a meeting of the Board of Approvals putting on hold all proposals for setting up SEZs, adding that there is a need to amend the SEZ Act and rules under it.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said his party was not against Special Economic Zones.
He asked the Centre to amend laws relating to SEZs so that the farming and labour community is not put at disadvantage and not displaced. The government needs to amend the laws relating to the quality of land to be acquired for SEZs, besides paying "adequate compensation" not only to the farming community but also to the tenants of the agricultural land, he said.
The party MP and Politbureau member said the land use must be given priority for setting up the industry and basic infrastructure rather than real estate which was unproductive."We are not against SEZ but we want that it must favour the agriculturist classes rather than the real estate people and moreover it must give returns to the government too," he said.
Yechury said due to the "inconsistencies" in the laws and bylaws for SEZs, the "property giants" were converting the metro peripherial areas into only residential estates and not industrial or manufacturing units."As is the case of Maha-Mumbai, so is the case of Delhi NCR. The metros are growing fast as the residential properties and not productive units. It is at the disadvantage of the people and the government," he said.
Bengal Government Claims Busted
A report released by a committee of Singur-based organisations investigating the Singur unrest in West Bengal over a land deal between the government and Tata Motors has revealed that the government's claim of most of the land being waste was utterly false.
The report said wasteland constituted a very small portion of the area to be acquired, less than 60 acres out of 997 acres allocated by the government. Please sign this petition hosted by AID to protest such deceit by the government and in support of Singur farmers.
The report further said, 'The people strongly believe that a car project or any industry cannot come up at the cost of destroying the agricultural land, common peoples' livelihoods and perceive the same to be an onslaught on the farmers, who are already indebted and committing suicide, not in Singur, but in other parts of the country.
Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, while giving the committee a gist of the Project's salient features said, 'We know that the land is not a waste land as shown in the old records, most of it multiple crop land. We have a list of people to be trained for the factory, some of whom the Tata will absorb in the course but there can be no written guarantee.'
The report mentions that neither West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya or his ministers for industries, agriculture, land reforms turned up for the hearing on the issue, organized by Krishi Bhumi Raksha Committee and 'Samhati Udyog' -- an alliance of about ten organizations, including the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights, NAPM, Khet Mazdoor Samiti, MKP, Nari Atyachar Virodhi Manch and others in Gopalnagar on October 27.
'If we do not agree to Tata's choice of land, they will go away to other state. We cannot afford it. We offered Kharagpur land but they rejected. They wanted land with ready infrastructure as they work out economics of a cheap car factory. They also needed it to be closer to Kolkata. There was no alternative.'
'The question is not of money -- it is of livelihoods, right to life and right to cultural diversity too. Instead of getting thrown into the slums on the periphery of urban areas, if farmers prefer to continue in\nagricultural activities, they cannot and should not be forcibly made to get off their present socio-cultural-economic natural environment,' the\nreport stated.
The report appealed to the Left Front government'to take a pro-people position, save farm land and farmers.'
'No project should be forced upon people. Industrialisation must only be complementary and supplementary to agriculture and not take a toll of the agro-economy, providing food security to all and livelihood support to more than 60 per cent of our population,' it concluded.
Trinamool activists hold stir near Tata Centre
Monday, 22 January , 2007, 13:20
Kolkata: A day after construction work for the Tatamotors small car plant took off at Singur, Trinamool Congress activists on Monday staged a demonstration in front of Tata Centre in posh Chowringhee area and smeared the gate of the imposing building with coal tar. Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee told PTI some women demonstrators suddenly drove straight to the Tata Centre building from the Birla Planetarium and threw coal tar at the gate. It was also thrown on the policemen who were on duty at the spot, he said. Police picket has been strengthened in the area and investigation is on, he said. Witnesses said the protestors also pelted stones at the building but no one was injured.
Trinamool Congress youth wing chief Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said party activists also performed a bhoomi puja in front of the Tata office to mock the company's action of performing it at Singur on Sunday before embarking on the construction work. Several of the demonstrators included women of the displaced farmers' families of Singur who had "not given their consent to the land acquisition by the state government", she said.
Nandigram Cutt Off
Villages in Nandigram area remained cut off, as administration failed to repair roads and bridges damaged by the locals weeks ago. The situation prevails despite assurances of help from Bhumi Ucched Birodhi Committee, a 20- party alliance, to the local administration. The administration pointed out the lack of co-operation by the local leaders. District administration and police held meetings with members of Bhumi Ucched Birodhi Committee, a 20-party alliance, in Nandigram yesterday to find a solution to the problem. With Trinamool Congress boycotting the meeting and other major partners like SUCI and Congress backing out, the fresh move is also likely to be a failure. Tension gripped the area in early January, after rumours of land acquisition notice, following which the roads and bridges were dug up by locals to prevent police from entering the villages.
Tapasi’s uncle found dead
Kolkata, January 19: An uncle of Tapasi Malik, whose charred body was found at the site of the Tata Motors’ small car factory at Singur last month, was run over and killed by an express train in the Hooghly district today, police said. The body of Astu Malik (50), Tapasi’s uncle and a railway gangman, was spotted by local people from a place between Madhusudanpur and Chandanpur, shortly after 3.30 pm after the Thiruvananthapuram-Guwahati Express passed the area. The spot is about 20 km away from his home at Bajemelia village in the Singur block area. GRP personnel took away the body which was identified later in the evening.
Sleuths of both the CID and CBI had questioned Malik about the unnatural death of his niece.
Trinamool Congress had accused the CPI-M of being instrumental in the murder of Tapasi on December 18. Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Arun Gupta said the unnatural death of Malik was being investigated. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy, who had reached Tapasi’s house, claimed that Malik had told CBI SP A K Sahay, names of two CPI-M leaders whom he had suspected to be involved in Tapasi’s death. CPI-M MP Anil Basu said he was not willing to respond to such slander. Tapasi’s death occurred on the 15th day of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s hunger-strike in protest against ‘forcible’ acquisition of farmland for the car project.
People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
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Vol. XXXI No. 03
January 21, 2007
Singur, Nandigram And Industrialisation Of West Bengal
Nilotpal Basu
SINGUR and Nandigram have been dominating the media for the last few weeks. An unprecedented focus has remained riveted to the development discourse in West Bengal. But to us, the fine print was also equally apparent. Discrediting the efforts of the Left Front government in order to undermine the principled struggle of the Left, particularly the CPI(M), in opposing the anti-people economic policies of the central government – particularly its current SEZ policy – was the signature tune of this propaganda blitz. Therefore, unravelling the many myths that this blitz has tried to perpetrate and establish the truth in its proper perspective has become imperative.
THE QUESTION OF INDUSTRIALISATION
At the time of independence, West Bengal was one of the more industrially developed states of the country. The great degree of natural resources and the variety of agro-climatic environment had led to development of number of traditional industries like jute, tea and textile. Being the capital of British India, Calcutta was a major hub with the port playing host to a lot of international and domestic trade. Engineering industry also, particularly in the capital goods sector, was one of the major features of industrially developed Bengal. The presence and access to a large amount of coal deposits was a major factor for development of industry in the state.
However, after independence, the situation started going downhill dramatically, due to certain unfair policy approaches adopted by the central government. Foremost of these was the freight equalisation policy for coal which completely undermined the locational advantage of Bengal. Except for the steel industry in Durgapur, there has been no significant public investment in the period since independence. Coupled with this, the Congress misrule in the state kept the agriculture of the state in backwardness. Riding on the struggle against all these, the Left forces wrested the political leadership.
When the Left Front assumed office in 1977 the economy was in tatters. The strategy for development of industry had to face major difficulties with some of the traditional industries facing central neglect and lack of investment for modernisation. New industries in the private sector were also not forthcoming due to the use of general licensing powers for setting up industry more as a political instrument against the Left-led state. A number of sick private sector units which had been nationalised were allowed to languish through virtual withdrawal of State support. While small and cottage industries thrived due to the major intervention to improve the lot of agriculture, heavy industry and infrastructure undoubtedly faced severe constraints.
Therefore, if one reads contemporary history and political discourse it will be found that those who have now taken up cudgels against the Left Front government’s sincere attempt at reindustrialising the state, during most part of the last three decades, were mounting an offensive against the state governm
