Your editorial “More Singurs ahead” (May 10) makes the important point that Indian industry, including mines, will need another 10 lakh hectares (i.e. 10,000 sq km) in the next two decades; the total land used by industry in India currently being 7 lakh hectares (i.e. 7,000 sq km).
It needs to be noted in this connection that the total 17,000 sq km under discussion forms just half per cent of the land area of India. Moreover, India has about 56 per cent of its total land area under crops compared to China that has only 11 per cent of its land area under crops. So, the eventual loss to Indian agriculture due to growth of Indian industry is minuscule, and agitations, like the one at Singur, are totally misconceived and may hamper growth.
Those who are leading these agitations have a lot to account for. The delay these protests are causing in carrying out industrial projects is raising costs enormously and preventing socio-economic development of the poor they are serving. The missed opportunity of socio-economic growth that the Nano project of Tata Motors could have brought to the entire Hooghly district of West Bengal is something that people in and around Singur are ruing.
This, of course, does not mean that land owners in Singur and elsewhere should not be paid a fair price for losing their land. Moreover, it should be made sure the money is not wasted, and, if possible, some rehabilitation support should also be provided to these land owners.
There should, however, be a national consensus that rapid growth of Indian industry is essential for all-round socio-economic progress of the country, and that delay in providing the amount of land that Indian industry needs delays socio-economic growth of the nation.
Alok Sarkar, Kolkata
