india as a weak reflection of china: as usual, with all the negatives but none of the positives.
this is of course the usual nehruvian prescription: india has had all the negatives of both capitalism and socialism, but none of the positives.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yashwini1
Singur: Reflection of China
By: Dr.Dipak Basu
(The author is a Professor in International Economics in Nagasaki University, Japan)
The incidents in Singur, West Bengal is reflecting a growing tendency of the government to force people to give up their land and houses for the private sector without paying proper compensation. These incidents are the reflection of similar incidents in China in recent years. As India is trying to emulate China the ill effects of Chinese repressive policies on the farmers are also visible in India.
It is not so well known, but alongside China's booming economy has come much strife especially in the countryside. The growing internal unrest has drawn the attention of the world already. The violence, "spontaneous" riots, injuries and deaths is extensive and undeniable. China's Minister of Public security acknowledged that 2005 had 87,000 "incidents" of unrest involving 15 or more people, which was a 6.5% increase from 2004. This means on any given day, the state has to deal with 240 or more uprisings or incidents of unrest someplace in the country.
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The incidents in Singur, West Bengal is reflecting a growing tendency of the government to force people to give up their land and houses for the private sector without paying proper compensation. These incidents are the reflection of similar incidents in China in recent years. As India is trying to emulate China the ill effects of Chinese repressive policies on the farmers are also visible in India.
It is not so well known, but alongside China's booming economy has come much strife especially in the countryside. The growing internal unrest has drawn the attention of the world already. The violence, "spontaneous" riots, injuries and deaths is extensive and undeniable. China's Minister of Public security acknowledged that 2005 had 87,000 "incidents" of unrest involving 15 or more people, which was a 6.5% increase from 2004. This means on any given day, the state has to deal with 240 or more uprisings or incidents of unrest someplace in the country.
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3 comments:
I have some issues with that article
"In the former socialist countries like the Soviet Union, farmers would either retain their houses or would get new houses in different areas, they would be retrained to work as industrial workers in the new industry or would be transferred to another agricultural farm without any loss of income or entitlements."
This is too too difficult to believe. Stalin used to shift entire tribes to Siberia - hey maybe he gave ten times the land in Siberia - frrrrooooozzzen land.
"India is following the fascist regime of China. Incidents in Singur, Narmada Valley and Orissa, are the results of these inhuman policy."
The concept of eminent domain is present in all civilized societies. Until the Kelo judgement the US always allowed the Government to take away your land if it was in the "public good" as long as market price was paid to the land/house owner (of course there can be lawsuits if the amount paid is believed to be less)
The Kelo judgement for the first time defined "public interest" more broadly by claiming that a shopping complex being built by a private developer was in hte "public good" - it was the lefty judges that approved the Kelo judgement (for the public good obviously!)
The Singur issue is for private development hence eminent domain does not apply. The Narmada dam was built by the govt not the private sector hence eminent domain applies.
Also see this
Earlier, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat had spoken on the same vein. “We will continue to oppose farmland acquisition for SEZs in other states,” Karat said, while welcoming SEZs in West Bengal. “Here, farmers are getting much better prices for their land,” he commented.
This article was written on January 4. The Nandigram violence happened on January 7
I think that the Bong commies tried to push their own SEZ and block MP and Haryana's SEZs just out of sheer jealousy and pettiness. I think the bad karma came back and bit them.
Is it not fun watching Commies vs NGO's (alien vs predator)
Folks - I feel eminent domain, legalese and Prakash Karat aside - the issue in India is that the political class uses the state as a racket.
This SEPZ land sale - as I am sure several others - are essentially rackets. When the commies are involved the rackets are bigger. That is all there is to it. It has very little to do with 'fair prices' (how do you assign a fair price to land? It is economically a non-sensical question I feel. Can you discount cash-flows from land and arrive at an NAV? What is fair or not-fair?). It has even less to do with "inclusive development".
Not being able to make money of industrial licensing (the quota raj is now over) - the political class (of all stripes - but specially those louts the Commies) has started a new racket
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