The Hindu Business Line : Industry vs agriculture

Why is it that, suddenly, land acquisition for setting up industry has become such an important subject of discussion among policy-makers and in society at large?

One answer would be that, in recent years, there has been a spurt in the planning and implementation of industrial projects, to such an extent that the displacement of people living on and off the land concerned has become a serious enough issue to affect the livelihood of a group of people large enough to attract the attention of society.

What does it say about the pace of economic progress of our national economy?

Among other things, it says that the economy has entered a phase of development which is not only relatively rapid but is also qualitatively different from past patterns of growth, so much so that it is leading to disruptions in established forms of economic activity serious enough to get the political class hijacking the issue for their own narrow, tactical ends.

A stage of evolution

If what is happening in West Bengal is any indication, it may even be postulated that the country has reached a phase in its economic, social and administrative evolution where politics and politicians will have to play a far more important role than they have in the past to educate the average public — more so the unlettered but not unaware rural people — about the long-term benefits of industrialisation and, more crucially, the inevitability of adjusting to the process even if it means a permanent wrench from established patterns of life and living.

In short, for the politician, the stake involved here is not merely accession to the seat of political power but also the furthering economic growth propsects, especially in a direction which would enable the country to take on the economic powerhouses of the world, thus directly enabling the republic to find its rightful place in the comity of nations.

It is an accepted fact that India has been among the under-developed, or developing, nations of the world, the past forte of which has been in the production and marketing of primary products.

Industrial development has of course been important, particularly, since the First Five Year Plan, but it has always played second fiddle to the mammoth volume of agrarian economic activity. In view of this, one can perhaps argue that this structure of economic activity has been the hallmark of under-development, not merely in our own country but even in the world at large.

Quantum policy shift

If this is so, it would mean that the search for land on a big scale to facilitate the setting up of industrial projects — the scale being large enough to generate serious political opposition — represents a quantum shift in the development policy of a country, which would bring in its wake a structural shift in the pattern of economic activity affecting the lives and livelihood of a substantial number of people living in the rural areas.

In fact, it would not be inappropriate to describe such a movement in economic policy as some sort of a `revolution' which, if the other parameters are favourable, could possibly lead to a radical shift in the economic status of the country on the international scene.

Since, in the long run, keeping the `big picture' in mind, such a shift cannot but be to the ultimate good of the nation, one could argue that it should be facilitated, if for nothing else than the welfare of our children even if, in the execution of the change, there is some pain.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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