Nandigram- take on another take

Anirban has posted a reply to my blog on Nandigram. And when it is Anirban, it has to be something more than ordinary. As expected he has put a new angle to the entire issue, without going into haven is going to fall mode. Also Anirban has considered a larger picture, not only confining to Nandigram. He has considered all SEZs in a whole.

If I pick up the concerns and put them to perspective they are like this
1) With food scarecity looming large as threat, converting agricultural land would mean aggravating the problem
2) SEZs should happen only at non agricultural land, if infrastructure needs to be developed there, wait till that happens.

I have different view on both these issues.
I would start with the second point. Anirban is partially correct when he says necessity of converting non-agricultural land to industrial lands. However, it is like chicken and egg story. If we wait till infrastructure be developed before we leap into industrialization, it would be too late and may not even take place. Also if I consider a state like west Bengal, where most of the land it fertile agricultural land, this solution is simply not practical. If an atmosphere of Industrialization is not created, infrastructural development would not take place. So if need be, fertile land has to be used for creating a positive environment. Once industry starts settling in, parallely, development plans for non agricultural areas to be taken up. Otherwise business houses would move into other places and the chance of reviving state’s economy would remain unmoved.

On the other point of food scarcity, I find the concern misplaced. With industrialization settling in, people would have more and more money to invest into newer technologies of cultivation, which would increase productivity manifold. I read in an article about agricultural advancement in South Asia that in countries like Vietnam & Indonesia, they can produce more than double food grain than us from the same area of farmland. It is like upgrading manufacturing facility to produce more from the same factory. If we really consider agriculture is an industry, we have to start thinking it like one.

Lots of negativity, concerns and fear of unknown would try to bog our mind. But we need to break free from all these deterrents, sacrifice short term comfort for that long term gain, which we are aspiring for since last so many years!!!

Singur & Nandigram
Can govt be blamed for forcibility acquiring land???

Acquiring land and evicting people... If it is with good intention, is fine. At times lack of broader vision and lack of ability to see beyond the boundaries restrict people from having a long term perspective & understanding the brighter days ahead. But ultimately they are the one who would get benefited. Their sons and daughters would go to school and one day would come back as the manager of the plant, built on their erstwhile farm land.

I would again give the old example- given a chance, your kid would never like to go to the school. But you know, which is good for her, you can see beyond that playful day and opportunities ahead, which your kid can not... do u budge under her demands or send her forcibly to school...
Answer is obvious...

Political parties and so called intellectuals have ruined our ability think beyond boundaries and have turned ourselves into a "kup munduk"...
It is time to break free... and think free...

We shouldn’t get moved by what Mamata Banerjee, Sadhan Pane, Kshiti Goswami, Biman Bose, Anandabazar, Kabir Suman say... open eyes and think ourselves...
Want to march toward the light? or complain about the darkness, like we have been doing till date, forever !!!

About Singur & Nandigram

Grow up guys...look beyond the greens of West Bengal... check what has happened to other states during industrialization. U need to have industry for economic progress. Either take a short term approach and be happy for today or take a long term approach and suffer for the day for a better tomorrow. Either keep cultivating the same land for ages and let your children and grand children do the same... or think differently, use the money u get as compensation in some meaningful way to lead a better life.
You may ask who is the Buddhadeb Bhattacharyya to decide which is good and which is not???At times when your kids are acting funny and you know what is good for them, you dont hesitate to force... as long as you are convinced that it would do good to them... no harm in trying that. And I am convinced that industrialization is the right way for progression and development... like it or not.
World is moving ahead, if you dont shake up your bones, prepare to get extinct. It is the attitude which is the problem... not nandi gram or singur. tomorrow when investment stops flowing, remaining industry including IT pulls out, govt fund drys, dont point finger to others... learn a tricks or two on how to cultivate half an acre of land to feed a family of nine. All the best