A year after protesting against the Nano plant, invites companies to partner with the railways for its proposed 'auto hubs' .
Developments in Nandigram and Singur, where the government's bid to acquire farm land for industrialization ran into stiff resistance from locals and main opposition Trinamool Congress, have given enough worries to the ruling alliance.
NRI businessman Prasoon Mukherjee, chairman, Universal Success Enterprises, said that the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was briefed about the status of the projects in the state. Universal Success is also investing in the projects. The main projects were the housing project under Kolkata West International City, the chemical hub of NKID, the power project of Universal Success and the motorcycle project to be undertaken by Mahabharat Motors.
The Ambassador and Nano plants are in the same district. Now to get the Bajaj Lite
Releasing a report on manufacturing sector in India, Venugopal Dhoot, promoter of Videocon and past president of Assocham, said state governments should restrict their roles only to infrastructure-related issues and manufacturers should themselves talk to farmers on land acquisitions. He said the formula of employment, equity and money should be used to compensate farmers and if they wanted land for land, they should be given that.
Investors can take heart from the first Cabinet meeting in the second innings.
A vendor said that Tata Motors had sent a mail that a meeting with the West Bengal commerce and industry secretary was scheduled for Thursday. Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen was not available for comment. However, WBIDC's public relations agency said that Sen had not sent any mail to vendors.
Industrialisation in India is increasingly acquiring the characteristics of crony capitalism in which states are perceived to be ganging up with businessmen at the cost of the aam aadmi
When minister of state for industries Saurabh Patel announced on Monday the new industrial policy in a press conference, there were a flurry of questions pertaining to the incentives given to the Tata's car project, which was relocated from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand near Ahmedabad.
Last year it was the transfer of Nano project and this year it is the scrapping of the IT park. Bengal's pre-Puja economic scene turned gloomy once again this time with the West Bengal government deciding to give up the ambitious information technology township plan at Rajarhat in Greater Kolkata.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
What is meant by Mamata's land bank? Will it be effecetive? How far will it be successful in solving the problem of land acquisition that plagues West Bengal?
In 2006, the Left Front won the Assembly elections in West Bengal on the basis of its pro-industrialisation campaign led by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Many vendors who had lost their investment in Singur, West Bengal, after being forced to abort production there, are yet to decide on relocating to Sanand. Most of these suppliers will address the demand for components from their existing plant locations to meet this year's Nano production needs.
Sources in the West Bengal government's finance department said the state had made budgetary provisions that would run into several hundred crores every year for 20 to 30 years to attract Tata Motors' Nano project to Singur.
''The meeting between the state government and the Tata Motors officials will be held on September 28,'' Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb told reporters at the state secretariat. The meeting will take place amidst speculation that Tata Motors is preparing to pull out from Singur due to continued agitation by Trinamool Congress-led opposition demanding return of 400 acres of land to 'unwilling' farmers.
Tata Motors, which suspended work at the Nano plant in West Bengal's Singur in view of continued confrontation at the site early this month, has held talks with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over relocating the facility to the state.
In a state in which the "demonstration effect" of industrialisation is thin on the ground it is not surprising that unemployed, educated youth and dispossessed farmers facing the insecurity of limited employment options flock to her support.
Allegedly owned by CPI(M) promoters, it is not cultivated, says Trinamool leader. Rally turnout lower than expected.
High interest rates and lack of retail finance, coupled with rising input costs, threw plans out of gear for automakers and in November the industry saw the worst ever monthly vehicle sales with a decline of 17.98 per cent.
High interest rates and lack of retail finance, coupled with rising input costs, threw plans out of gear for automakers and in November the industry saw the worst ever monthly vehicle sales with a decline of 17.98 per cent.
The distinction between "cheap" and "affordable" is a fine one, but no one understands this better than India's aspirational first-time car-owner, says Kanika Datta.
In an open letter to the people of West Bengal, Ratan Tata said the citizens should decide whether they wanted education and jobs in the industrial and hi-tech sectors or 'want to stay as they are.' The letter said, 'The people of West Bengal, particularly the younger citizens, will need to express their views and aspirations as to what they would like to see West Bengal become in the years ahead.'
The land acquisition row seems to chasing the Tata's Nano car project even out of Singur as farmers of villages near Sanand, the project's new address, have staked claim on the plot.
Sources in Greenpeace said the representatives of different environmental NGOs are meeting Tata Steel MD B Muthuraman next month. Despite the allegations from various quarters that it has twisted facts and forged reports about the presence of rare Olive Ridley turtles near Dhamra coast in Orissa -- the site where Tatas with partner L&T are developing Rs 2,400-crore (Rs 24 billion) port -- global environmental NGO Greenpeace is bracing for its next phase of action, which may w
The software major has plans to invest Rs 500 crore at Kolkata campus that will create employment for 5,000 professionals. The company is yet to get possession of 90 acres of land assured by the state government. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that Infosys had shown apprehension about investing in the state following recent incidents in Singur where Trinamool Congress has been agitating against acquisition of farmland by the state governme
The protestors' claim was made after the much-anctipated first inspection of the factory site on Wednesday by a committee set up under the aegis of West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi to examine the ways of solving a controversy that had arisen after some farmers had refused compensation for the land acquired for the project.
On the company's performance after entering the Indian market last year, he said the car maker has so far sold 100 units. The company right now delivers cars to customers as completely built units from its headquarters in Sweden.
State commerce and industry minister, Nirupam Sen, and secretary, Sabysachi Sen are in Mumbai and have held a series of meetings with industrialists in Mumbai, including Tata group chairman, Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance and Ashok Hinduja of the Hinduja group.
Noting that the company's Nano plant in Singur, West Bengal, was expected to come into operation in the last quarter of 2008, Ratan Tata, in a letter to shareholders in the annual report for 2007-08, said that manufacturing facilities would be expanded to meet domestic and global demand in the future. "New variants of the Nano are also currently under development to meet the new environmental and fuel price challenges".
A new government plan aims to multiply the number of skill development centres and the number of people who get vocational training.
"I hope there's a bad 'M' and a good 'M'," Ratan Tata quipped shortly after Gujarat became a new home for his Nano small car project.
Car-maker sends another strongly-worded letter on vendor park.
'If the CPI-M cannot mend relations with Dr Manmohan Singh, it may find that Congress boss Sonia Gandhi is still willing to talk.'
If Tata pulls out now, it will be a huge blow to the state, and will be expensive for Tata too, as the company has irretrievable sunk cost in Singur of between Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) and Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion). Among the will be Mamata Banerjee, who will find it hard to live down the ignominy of having deprived her state of a project that has made news the world over.
"If need be we will move and relocated the Nano project elsewhere. Relocation will cost both the Tatas and the West Bengal government, but I will not bring my employees here if they will be beaten up," the Tata Group chairman said.
The much-awaited policy for mandatory rehabilitation of land owners displaced by industrial projects and SEZs might get delayed with the matter being referred to a Group of Ministers.
'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
Briefing the media after a three-hour tour at the project site, Ravi Kant said the trial production would commence in June-July and after a month or two, regular production would begin. "Commercial production, that is the real thing, will start in October, around the Durga Puja time," he said.
Mahasweta Devi has taken a break from writing and is engaged in social work these days.
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