Singur in passage

A row of paddy fields separates Beraberi from the Tata plant, an awe-inspiring blue and white structure in steel. His father Akhil Chandra gave away three bighas of his land to the project and continues to till the four bighas that are left with him. The 41-year-old farmer does not have the skills to work in the factory but he knows it will create jobs and new means of earning an income. He even worked as a security guard for 14 months when work on the project began.

In 2006, the 16 gram panchayats in Singur block had their share of bad roads, no drainage, and pitch-dark villages where the last bulb would be turned off at 8 p.m. Farming was the only work most of the villagers knew8212;Singur has 14,000 farmer families, apart from a few government employees and small traders. Then, in April 2007, the makeover began. Over 3,000 villagers were hired to build a boundary wall around the project area, lined with rows of halogen lamps. At least 2,000 villagers got jobs as security guards. Gradually, a cottage industry sprouted around the site8212;nearly 30 tea and snack stalls came up near the factory gates to cater to this workforce.

Soon, with the need to supply building and construction material to the project site, opportunities opened up. The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation WBIDC approved 22 8220;syndicates8221; to take care of the supply and the syndicates roped in over 1,000 unskilled villagers. That meant money and with money came spending power and Singur8217;s local market morphed into a colourful bazaar.

Swapan Kumar Khan, who owns a cloth shop in the market, is happy with the way his business has shaped up. 8220;Our market used to come to life only thrice a year, after every harvest. But now, business booms at the beginning of every month of the English calendar as payment schedules have changed overnight.8221;

Last year, Khan and other businessmen in the area visited an industrial zone in Sreerampur and surveyed the market there. They wanted to study the 8220;pattern of trading and the changing choices of people8221;. 8220;Till a year ago, I sold only lungis, dhotis and saris. Now, people are also asking for jeans and Bermuda shorts,8221; said Khan.

Of the total 174.7 sq km in Singur block, the government acquired only around a thousand acres for the Tata Motors project. The Block Development Office says that of the 50,000 households in the block, only around 3,200 households were affected directly by the project. But the changes have been far more widespread. Walk around Singur8217;s market and you see new bank branches and automated teller machines ATMs8212;there is one every 200 metres8212;everywhere. The block now has new 22 banks, with 11 in the market alone. These are in addition to the cooperative banks that were here before the Tatas came.

8220;Do you know how fast the banks here have grown? I have been informed that the Singur branch of Allahabad Bank was promoted from scale 2 to scale 4,8221; said Prasenjit Chakraborty, BDO of Singur.

The change has been good but not many are happy with how it came about. Like Astibala Ghosh, a 70-year-old widow whose land is part of the Tata Motors site. She hasn8217;t accepted the compensation amount the government announced for her eight decimels of land. 8220;I had nothing except that piece of land and now they have taken it away,8221; she said.

Others, however, are not complaining. Earlier, the small farmers barely managed to grow more than what they needed for their own consumption and the 8216;big8217; landowners8212;those with more than three acres8212;hoarded their produce of potato and paddy. But now, they want to put their money to better, more profitable, use. Some of them are investing in the service sector, opening mobile-phone stores or car-hire businesses. 8220;I am ready. When the factory begins work, I will launch a car-hire service. I am sure it will be a profitable business, more profitable than hoarding paddy or potatoes,8221; said Asim Santra of Beraberi. Work at the plant has been halted following an agitation by the Trinamool Congress.

In Singur, caught in political stalemate and niggling uncertainties over whether the Nano project will be shifted out of West Bengal, the farmers working on the fields right outside the plant seem perfectly at ease with the 14 km boundary wall around it. Sometimes, the same family sends some of its members to the factory and some to work in the paddy fields.

Like that of Sanatan Koley from Joymollah village. At 60, Koley works in the fields while his son Pradip is attached to a service provider at the Nano plant as an unskilled labourer. The father leaves home at 4 a.m. and the son at 6 a.m. The father gets home at 6 p.m. after a day8217;s toil while the son is back home by 2 p.m.

8220;My son works less than me, but earns much more. But I am confused. The land has stayed with us through generations. Will we get a job guarantee for generations like we get from our land?8221; asked Koley.

That8217;s where it all began.

The numbers

Population

2,60,827

Area

174.77 sq km

landless farm workers

15,584

Marginal workers

10,591

Household industry

8,788

Literacy

71

state average is 68

Primary schools

122

High schools

10