145;Na146; to Nano?

Bengal can either host the world8217;s costliest political blunder or the world8217;s cheapest car. Ratan Tata and his company have almost had enough of Bengal8217;s politics. It is now up to Bengal8217;s politicians to see whether they can keep the project in the state. The biggest loser if Nano is produced elsewhere will be Bengal. Tatas will lose some of the Rs 1,500 crore they have committed to the Singur project but they will survive and, as Ratan Tata said, Nano will be produced. India will lose some shine globally if the universally anticipated 2,500 car one lakh rupee car in global-speak suffers a postponement. But as long as the project is on, India8217;s business reputation won8217;t take a huge hit. But Bengal8217;s will. A state that still instils fear in the heart of the doughtiest capitalist, a state that can shut down at the drop of a union leader8217;s hat, needed a signature business project to showcase its willingness to transform. Singur has already shown the contours of that transformation. Non-farm jobs have been created where none had existed for decades. Local businesses have prospered as suppliers to the project. A market for rental housing and other services has grown. All these are textbook examples of entrepreneurship8217;s positive externalities. Plus, the state would be the manufacturing site of one of the globally most awaited industrial products, a host to a paradigm shift in Indian engineering, and the impact of that on Bengal8217;s industrial future would be incalculable. So, therefore, would be the impact of Nano driving out of Bengal.

Tragically and farcically this possibility arises despite a thumping majority of Singur8217;s landholders having sold their property and accepted government cheques. Of the 997 acres allocated for the project, 697 acres have been acquired and 10,852 land title holders have no problems with the project. Landholders owning around 300 acres of land are the holdouts for whom Mamata Banerjee is apparently fighting. But of this amount of land, around 140 acres contain plots that have no clear title deeds; therefore those cultivating these plots fear a loss of land and no compensation as by law compensation can only be given to clear title holders. This is not an unsolvable problem, though. Creative administrative solutions can be found for such cases. The other 160 acres apparently are owned by people who simply don8217;t want to sell their land and these plots are scattered, which means not acquiring them violates the integrity of the plant site. Using the force of the land acquisition law for unwilling sellers may not be a smart idea, given Nandigram. Plus, post-panchayat election losses 8212; Singur and adjoining areas voted roundly against the CPM 8212; the CPM may not be as confident anyway.

Perhaps, the government can explore the option of carving out one chunk of land from the factory site and then parcel out the plots for no-sale landowners. The CM therefore has a lot of creative politics to do, and that includes getting Mamata to agree to such solutions.

But the stakes have never been higher for Bengal. Its electoral trend, given that the Left is out of the ruling coalition, already makes it somewhat irrelevant for national politics. It risks economic irrelevance if Tatas pull out. A 8220;na8221; to Nano will invite a 8220;no8221; to Bengal.