Tata Motors

Should Tatas pull out from West Bengal?

Posted by : novice1000

dear Nodik,

I do accept some of the points mentioned by you and the Tata\\`s hypocricy.

Infact they are trying to get benefitted from this issue in every possible manner while they are facing the problem of providing the Nano at the said price of one lakh.

Tatas always say they dont like retrenchment.But they did it many a times and every time they come with sugar coated words.

They were so reluctant for TCS IPO when there was real steam in it.When the entire IT services sector crossed the high growth phase, they let TCS came for IPO.

On the other hand, in industries with less NPM , they were always having very less holdings...

It can be summarized as \\` privatize gains and socialize pains \\`.

Howmany people know KK Birla? The one with real humanity.Just to establish an educational institute like BITS pilani, one needs to spend more than 3000 crores for the capex itself apart from the regular funding for the smooth functioning of the institute.

And it is only a part of this greatman\\`s charity program.And to everyone\\`s surprise, this group is only 10000 crore group( in terms of Indian Rupees) and no where in comparision to Tatas.

But no one gives the due credit this great human-being deserves.

There is more to the issue in Singur than what one can see.

Every party involved in the issue is having its own interest including Tatas.

When the country is having more serious issues like Kashmir and the episode in Orissa and the higher inflation and the severe infrastructure bottlenecks... unnecessarily media is wrongly projecting it as the biggest issue in the country.And naturally the entire industrial community is supporting it.

Hope citizens of this country will use their dicretion in the right time in the right manner.

regards

TATA Motors- On ground zero............

Posted by : NODIK

Gaba jee,
What you are saying is right , but we cannot also ignore the fact that development has to go on & land is reqd for urbanization . As such the state or central agencies have to have a proper system on land management. Right now govt is acquiring land , without putting any thought , on the type of land to be aquired. The land aquization officials are doing a mathematical job, rather than giving a thought into the type of land to be aquired for given purpose.
The 2nd most important problem is ' Why should Govt aquire land for private enterprise. Its a free economy, the private should aquire land directly from who's so ever land belongs to, me or u or any one else. Simple as that.
We have out dated archic laws, from british times which govern the aquization of land by the govt, which are just not in tune with time.
State govts are literraly grabbing land under the cover of that archic section.
THIS IS WHAT IS TERMED AS ' ROBBING PAUL TO PAY PETER'/

When so much anomlies/ faults are in the land aquization law,SO THE HEART burning , protests & suicides , & then the ugly politicians step in to make matters worse, & every thing comes to stand still , & everyone is a loser xcept the dirty politicians, who has no interest in anything xcept himself.
In singur case tata should have acted more 'GENTLEMANLY', rather than a mere shopkeper, asking CM of WB to fight for him.
If he would have wanted , he could have easily solved the matter with the farmers directly, & not black mailed the entire nation. This cry baby immage of TATA will not be forgotten by the general public & specially his share holders. thanks gaba jee for reading all this.May be we can differ on many counts , but this is what I KNOW.

Nodi ....k

TATA Motors- On ground zero............

Posted by : JAGDISH GABA

NODIK,I happened to go to ROHTAK in MAY end was surprise to see all fertile lands around the city is acquired for industrilisation n was shocked,how much such lands are acquired n what will happen to food grain shortage?

Should Tatas pull out from West Bengal?

Posted by : ravipratap61

NO SIR...i differ.they r prob the best managed group for shareholders ,employees and people, that is why corus mgmt decided in TATA's favour and even employees sided with TATAs.yes they are businessmen and earning profit is their duty so what is wrong...see all tata cos bonus, div history...thanks

Should Tatas pull out from West Bengal?

Posted by : NODIK

What is the problem,'Tata, Nano,or Singur'. This has bcome the burning topic for weeks & could go on for weeks.Why cant TATA'S PUT A stop to this whole drama. Tata's are giving a wrong impression that it is difficult to industilize in our country & even more difficult in Bengal & if they will threaten to move out , noboy else will enter. This is the 'notion'Tata's are playing on, instead of trying to solve the issue.The problem is not Singur, the Nano, but the TATA Themselves.
Tata's basically are a by-product of Nehruvian Socialism. In those days things were different in 'land aquisations' cases, & people would gladly forgo their land holdings for sake of ushering socialism as the country was seeped in emotions after indipendence. So Tatas faced no problem. They prospered , partly on emotions of the people & partly on the Largsee of the Govt, thro LIC & other govt agencies.
Now the things are very different from those time, Its a market economy, & Tatas are aware of it & shouting, touting ' market economy' in all speres of Business, but when it is Land aquization in Singur & mkt orientated compensation, they are running to Chief minister for ' khuch karro'.Why C.M, & Why not negotiate with the farmers directly on whose land you are building the 'Nano'.Why do you want 'NANO'at the cost of poor farmer.Land Aquization under sectin 5, for public welfare can be considered with proper compensation, but same for Private & profit purposes shall have to be'BOUGHT' from the seller directly.A wake up call 'TATA SAHIB'.
'Tata Nagars' not that easy to come now.A little xtra effort is reqd.... others are waiting in the Q. 'Tu nahin aur sahi'. Thank you for reading this boring message but this is the truth.
Last heard Tata decides to suspend works at Singur. Another Tatas tantrum. What a hipocracy, on one side you are for free market , on the other hand you want free sops & subsidised lands to put your factories.No more 'JAMSHEDPURS' at the cost poor gullible farmers.

Should Tatas pull out from West Bengal?

Posted by : nadhi

Dear NODIK,

I share your views on TATA. TATA is like a tamarind tree under which nothing can grow and that includes the retail investors. They rare the worst manipulators. All the profit is going to an unlisted company owned by them. But what is going on in singur is a simple political game. Mamata dont want to lose the opportunity of waging a war with the leftists who grabbed the land around the industry. The centre is silently watching the game as it is the communists who are at the receiving end for a change. Nobody is fighting for the farmers. They are all fighting for the votes. Dirty game is going on and that benefits only the media.

regards

nadhi

Should Tatas pull out from West Bengal?

Posted by : NODIK

What is the problem,'Tata, Nano,or Singur'. This has bcome the burning topic for weeks & could go on for weeks.Why cant TATA'S PUT A stop to this whole drama. Tata's are giving a wrong impression that it is difficult to industilize in our country & even more difficult in Bengal & if they will threaten to move out , noboy else will enter. This is the 'notion'Tata's are playing on, instead of trying to solve the issue.The problem is not Singur, the Nano, but the TATA Themselves.
Tata's basically are a by-product of Nehruvian Socialism. In those days things were different in 'land aquisations' cases, & people would gladly forgo their land holdings for sake of ushering socialism as the country was seeped in emotions after indipendence. So Tatas faced no problem. They prospered , partly on emotions of the people & partly on the Largsee of the Govt, thro LIC & other govt agencies.
Now the things are very different from those time, Its a market economy, & Tatas are aware of it & shouting, touting ' market economy' in all speres of Business, but when it is Land aquization in Singur & mkt orientated compensation, they are running to Chief minister for ' khuch karro'.Why C.M, & Why not negotiate with the farmers directly on whose land you are building the 'Nano'.Why do you want 'NANO'at the cost of poor farmer.Land Aquization under sectin 5, for public welfare can be considered with proper compensation, but same for Private & profit purposes shall have to be'BOUGHT' from the seller directly.A wake up call 'TATA SAHIB'.
'Tata Nagars' not that easy to come now.A little xtra effort is reqd.... others are waiting in the Q. 'Tu nahin aur sahi'. Thank you for reading this boring message but this is the truth.
Last heard Tata decides to suspend works at Singur. Another Tatas tantrum. What a hipocracy, on one side you are for free market , on the other hand you want free sops & subsidised lands to put your factories.No more 'JAMSHEDPURS' at the cost poor gullible farmers.

KING Tata

Posted by : kamleshrut

Truth lies some where in between, probably.
1. Before Nano entry, land was having low value-sale as well as productivity.
2. Some non transparent dealings might have occured. So some one could sniff kick backs at the authority lvel.
3 ? Salim... from Indonesia's role?
4. Nano enters, price escalates of the near by region. Expectations rise by the nearby land owners.
5. But at the same previos price, the land is acquired for the ancillary unts, so the grumbling.
6. Now the politician wants their share of money and votes.
7. Whom to blame? ---State Govt-yes for policy and transparency issue.
Mamta-Yes. Had she been in the power, the story would have been different. Definitely not the Tata's. Who likes begging/ negotiating even after the agrrements being completed/ taking sides/ suffering physical abuses/ being labelled as looter/ risking lives of the staff/ ---

Now what?
Plan A: Tata continue. Mamta gets some money for --- and farmers. Some votes from the beneficieries. Buddhadev some relief with lesser political loss. Who will pay the extra money?Salim/ Ancillary units/ Tata or Bengal Govt?
Plan B: Tata leave for Pantanagar/Maharashtra/Gujarat--etc. Every state wants this gigantic opportunity for the development. Aquired land is given back to the farmers?? Now less fertile, price back to square one--minimal value, as no other industry will dare to enter the sector in near future. 100% los to Mamta, major loss to Buddhadev and 500 cr loss to Tata, supramajor loss to the ancillary auto units.

Lesson learnt: Be transparent. Let the farmers sell the land on their own from the beginning.No Govt interventions. No smell of kick backs/political possibilities. Let the auto untis be organised and negotiate the land in bulk from the day one to reduce price escalation to them/ their sister concerns. Rehabilitate the farmers well-most important task. Reap the benifits of the development.
Kamlesh

TATA Motors- On ground zero............

Posted by : NODIK

Why should such fertile land be aquired in the first place.
As you have described it clearly yourself in the message , which I am reproducing it here again. locational wise it may be good, but for putting a factory on such prductive land is a Sin.I am not talking politics , MAMATA, OR CPI, OR ANY ONE ELSE.I am just talking basic. Rattan Tata , knows the word 'production', whether it is food or NANO. How could he overlook the fact that land , where he is to put the factory is a highly productive land, forget the politicians , & the compensations. Either tata doesnt understand agricltue & the countrymen as a whole, or his managers are stupid who briefed him wrongly. ALL said & done Nano canot be given preference over such idiotic selection of land.
Fed by the river Hooghly, Singur lies in the most fertile part of the Gangetic Delta of Bengal. The land, claim opponents of the project, can support four crops a year and diverting it for industrial use will not only ruin the livelihood of those working on it but also impact food security at a time of rising food prices.

nodi

TATA Motors- On ground zero............

Posted by : latikav

The political backdrop
Unlike most of West Bengal, Hooghly district, where the Singur block is located, has never been a stronghold of the Left parties. Even before the Singur crisis, the ruling Communists had been kicked out of several panchayats in the Singur block. It got worse for the Left Front last November when the Trinamool Congress won all 16 panchayats in the gram panchayat elections in the wake of the agitation over the Tata Nano plant.
The Singur attraction
The 997.11-acre Tata Motors facility for the Nano and its ancillary vendors is located on land mostly belonging to the villagers of Beraberi. This village adjoins National Highway (NH) 2, better known as the Grand Trunk Road, the lifeline between north and east India. A few kilometres south of the plant near Howrah, NH2 connects with NH6, the main east-west artery of India, linking Kolkata with Surat (and onward to Mumbai via NH3 or NH8). This highway also connects with NH5, the main east-south highway, linking Kolkata with Chennai. Short point: the Tatas chose Singur because of the excellent road connectivity it had on offer.

So, what is the problem?
Fed by the river Hooghly, Singur lies in the most fertile part of the Gangetic Delta of Bengal. The land, claim opponents of the project, can support four crops a year and diverting it for industrial use will not only ruin the livelihood of those working on it but also impact food security at a time of rising food prices.

Did the Tatas get a sweet deal?
The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) was so desperate to get the Nano project that the Comptroller & Auditor General of West Bengal claims that the WBIDC will make a loss of Rs 76.11 crore over the 90-year lease period for the land acquired for the project. Tata Motors will pay an annual lease rental of Rs 94.3 crore for the land (including the land for ancillary units). That said, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was so desperate to get the project, he made sure the state machinery bent over backwards to woo the Tatas.

400 acres or else!
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee isn’t attacking the project anymore (as she was doing in the early days of the agitation, when a Tata Motor showroom was vandalised). Her demand now is that the Tatas return 400 acres to the people who have refused to hand their land over to Tata Motors. This can be done outside the project area, but the patchwork of plots inside the plant cannot be feasibly returned.

But is it really 400 acres?
Both local and state-level Communist leaders poke holes in Banerjee’s “400 acre” theory; they claim that rehabilitation cheques for only 193 acres remain to be distributed and show maps of plots to prove their point.

Common misconception
That the Tatas acquired the land. The land was given by the West Bengal government. So, compensation, too, has to be handled by the government. But clearly, it has made a hash of its R&R programme
Is it all about money?
Ever since the Tata project was announced, land prices in the surrounding area have shot up. While the Left Front government compensated farmers at prevailing market prices in 2006 at a maximum of Rs 12 lakh per bigha (three bighas=one acre), prices have shot up to over Rs 20 lakh per bigha in the adjoining area; villagers are talking about land values touching Rs 1 crore an acre if and when the Nano plant starts production.
Why can’t 400 acres be returned?
The anti-Tata movement says: return 400 acres and build the rest of the plant on ‘Communist’-owned land across the road. Sounds simple, but unfortunately, car factories don’t quite work like that. The 400 acres, the Tatas claim, are required for the planned expansion of the Nano factory. After all, in case the people’s car does well, demand will soon outstrip the planned 250,000 units a year initial planned capacity. Besides, as the map shows, the 400 acres isn’t contiguous, which means the Tatas have to take all or none of it.

Can the Tatas return the land reserved for ancillary industries?
To be able to sell a car at Rs 1 lakh or thereabouts, the Tatas need to strip costs to the bone. Integrating the ancillary plants with the main one is one way to make the project cost-competitive. Moving them away could make the low-cost car unviable.

Why did Ratan Tata threaten to pull out?
There were occasional threats of violence against Tata plant workers. Workers have been reportedly attacked, and prevented from entering the plant. At the time of writing, the Tatas had issued a terse statement: “There has been no improvement in the ground situation so far, hence, the conditions are still not conducive for resuming work today. We continue to assess the situation closely.”

Where will he go if he pulls out?
At least five states have sent signals that they are willing to accommodate the Nano project. The Tatas have their own facilities, too; it might just be possible for the company to produce the Nano at its Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand (currently the mini-truck Ace is made there).

What happens to West Bengal if Tata pulls out?
It will dent its image, and few promoters will be willing to come near the state. The Nano project is highprofile but will only bring in Rs 1,500 crore; if the Tatas pull out, promoters planning investments running into tens of thousands of crores will block West Bengal out of their vision.

Reaction from Corporate India
Right from Mukesh Ambani to Sunil Munjal to Jamshyd Godrej, India Inc. is with the Tatas on this one.


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