Perhaps it is still too early to say anything definite about the final shape that the Mamata Banerjee Government's policy on the vexed land question will take. But it is clear that the noises being made by certain State Ministers on the subject are not at all conducive to making industry feel generally happy about the future of their activities in the State. The most recent example of this was provided by the West Bengal Industries Minister, Partha Chatterjee, who, at a July 2 conclave in Kolkata attended by more than a hundred CEOs, made it abundantly clear that industry would have to fight its own battle vis-a-vis land acquisition with no assistance whatever being extended by the State Government.

Among other things, Mr Chatterjee (as reported) declared, a trifle stridently: “Let me make this clear: the government will not force landowners — farmers in most cases — to give up their right through coercion. . . Under no circumstance will the government acquire land. It has been our stated stand even before being voted to power. The Chief Minister reiterated this at a recent business meet (on June 18). It is a closed chapter. Why is everyone stuck on land? That (land acquisition) is not possible. Let us move ahead to other enablers and hurdles. Talk about better infrastructure and logistics support, improved roads, power, water supply, communications”.

CANNOT SHIRK RESPONSIBILITY

Why is everyone stuck on land? Quite so, and the answer is simple — because Indian industry, all over the country, has found this issue to be inordinately complex, more so in some States than in others. More importantly, it is just too simplistic to cite the profit motive — which must necessarily propel industry (of whatever sort) to set up shop anywhere — as the reason behind the Government's not agreeing to sort out land issues, as was done by Debabrata Banerjee, a co-author of the land recommendations made to the State Government last month. On June 15, Mr Banerjee told reporters: “Industrialists are coming here to earn profits. Why should the Government acquire land for them?”

Indeed, there is the sneaking suspicion that the Mamata Banerjee Government, given its transparently sincere effort to get the economy of the State moving once again, cannot be truly serious about its current stand on the land issue. Above everything else, it cannot shirk its responsibility of being the principal architect of whatever happens in the State over the next five years, which would most certainly include industrial development.

Mix of politics and economics?

So, if it has an important stake in industrial development, it ought not to adopt a public stand that would appear unhelpful to industry generally. And yet, the public stance that people like the Industries Minister have been adopting on the subject of land has been having just this effect on potential investors in West Bengal.

Is the Mamata Banerjee Government, then, deliberately mixing up politics and economics to bolster its public image among its farming constituency, probably waiting for a later time when it can truly, and quietly, assist industry on land issues? For the sake of West Bengal's economic rejuvenation, one hopes that this is the real state of affairs, a straw in the wind being (as reported) the Chief Minister's announcement at the June 18 meeting that “the Industries Minister would set up a cell to help industry on land matters”. The cell will, of course, discuss price issues; it could discuss other things as well, without much publicity.

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