The Hindu Business Line : Singur: Sowing problems?

A key aspect of the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin is the fertile Hooghly river valley, where year-round multi-cropping is possible. This is because of the copious groundwater and the network of channels. Singur received special attention and it yields a rich harvest of foodgrains and vegetables. Industrialisation in the area would destroy this infrastructure.

Cultivated food is the most vital human survival necessity. The global situation on this is bleak. Food production has failed to keep pace with the burgeoning population. As the Save The Earth Report of the Rio Summit stated, "Despite the use of pesticides and fertilisers, the world's per capita grain production has fallen every year since 1985." It is indeed a losing battle for survival.

Significantly, copious rainfall, extensive water resources and an immensely fertile soil have made the Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvial basin of the Indian sub-continent a prime food producer. Thus any attempt to commandeer even a fraction of such an invaluable cropping zone would be a venal sin. More so with hundreds of millions of Indians needing all the food the country can produce. Unplanned urbanisation and industrial development have already taken their toll.

By a quirk of nature, there is indeed a startling correlation between the distribution of water and soil fertility causing some regions to be ideally suited for agricultural development. A key aspect of the Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvial basin is the Hooghly river valley, capable of diversified multi-cropping the year round. This is because of the rich alluviation during the monsoons, the prolific groundwater and the network of channels. Cultivated with care, virtually every bit of this land is a veritable gold mine. In fact, massive investments of more than a thousand crore rupees for irrigation, canals (DVC network) and large and small borewells have been made. Singur received special attention and it yields a rich harvest of foodgrains and vegetables. A major industrial unit would destroy this infrastructure not only in Singur but all around, by the innumerable smaller units that are bound to be spawned.

Pollution

This would pollute the life-support system of water and air. Already the situation is threatening human survival. Fumes and emissions aggravate global warming, while toxic industrial wastes vitiate the land and the water resources. The Singur area is especially vulnerable because of its geo-hydrological situation. The subsurface formations are almost totally sandy. The rich topsoil is built by the prolonged interaction of biotic elements through cultivation, but not sealed off. This facilitates its transmission into the aquifers along the Hooghly basin. Further west, beyond the Rupnarayan river, the sediments from the Chotanagpur plateau are more consolidated with the surface formations not permitting direct infiltration. This makes the belt near Kharagpur (with adequate access and infrastructure) more suitable, from the pollution point of view. In fact, ventures may be considered west of the Hooghly alluvial basin.

Resurgent West Bengal

The forte of a resurgent West Bengal is its post-land reforms agriculture with small-scale and cottage-based industrialisation; it also has the rare distinction of foodgrain self-sufficiency. The more sensible alternatives that would benefit the overwhelming majority, instead of launching a project for the affluent few at the risk of such environmental and agricultural damage, must be considered — for example, numerous food-processing units with the help of the thriving self-help groups.

Ironically, many countries, such as Australia and the US with hardly any population density, have made food production a major export, while countries such as India and Bangladesh, with some prime farmlands, are bogged down by population density and food shortage. They are waiting to pounce on pliant governments of food producing countries for exports on their humiliating terms and conditions.

Any project or a Special Economic Zone taken up on a food-producing piece of land would thus be suicidal.

(The author is a former Deputy Director-General of Geological Survey of India. He can be contacted at subrata.subrata1932@gmail.com)

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