Tata, West Bengal. Bye-bye, blackmail?

I was most happy to read about news, that the Tatas are considering moving out of Singur in West Bengal, and setting up the Nano plant elsewhere!

It is about time the corporate world stops cowering to pressure from mindless mobs led by out-of-portfolio politicians, and stands up to say: “hey! we bring money into the economy. we give people jobs. our companies create an eco-system that goes beyond the walls of our factories and offices – creating further employment and income in services, retail, and what have you!

And on the issue of land acquisition, typically people make more out of their lands from selling it, than they ever would earn from it in their lifetimes. Plus they usually end up being employed in their own backyards, than having to leave their roots and travel to far off places for employment!”

The above statement is particularly relevant, and should betargeted at the Left parties and their time-warped notion of the economics, and their misplaced understanding of the role of government in modern times.

If the Left parties had their way – The rich will be made poor; The poor will not be allowed to become rich; Everyone’s income would be rationalised and standardised at “Low”; And the government would only exist to subsidise the masses, pay for incompetent public enterprise, and eventually go bankrupt in the name of taking care of the people.

The fact that the Left parties are no longer part of the government (from inside or outside) is a big relief for me, as I am sure it is for the entire corporate world.

The problem with Corporate India is, that it is mostly made up of, and run by decent, professional people. People who live by rules and decency, not anarchy and aggression which they have to face and live with every day of their lives.

The problem with Corporate India is, that it underplays its role in the country today. It lets the politicians and mobs believe they run the country, and that they are responsible for the growth and success the country is going through today.

“If it wasn’t for private sector enterprise and capitalism, we’d be exactly where we were twenty years ago – a deprived, dissatisfied bunch of global nobodies, lacking confidence to stand up or stand out in any arena, just waiting for that house or telephone allotment to materialise, bribing or suffering incompetent and arrogant babus, for the simple things of life.”

So when I hear of the political and so-called social hurdles being placed in front of projects such as the Tata Nano project in West Bengal, I cringe. And am embarassed that this is happening in India today.

But when I hear of Rattan Tata deciding to stand up, and willing to lose money now rather than suffer the mobs anymore, I delight! And I hope, this is just a sign of things to come, in India tomorrow.

Note to Mr. Rattan Tata:
Good for you, Sir! May your tribe increase. And as you increase, rest assured there are many states that see value in what you bring – left, right and center!

Note to the Politicians:
Dear Sir/Ma’am, If you have access to, and power over so many able bodies that you can catch the attention of the entire nation, perhaps you should focus energies and getting better compensation for the farmers, rather than giving them back the land which they will have to sweat over thanklessly.

Perhaps you can use your people to address to clean up the streets and build dams and water tanks (remember the old Hindi movies?). Perhaps your people can go to neighbouring Bihar and help with the flood relief efforts? Perhaps you can simply blockade Buddhadeb’s office demanding control over crime and corruption that’s rampant all over…? I am sure you can come up with a list of at least a 100 things on which your efforts would bear greater fruit for the nation.

Related Reading:
Singur type protests will stall progress - Kamal Nath, to the Economic Times
Rattan Tata should pull out of Singur – Subramanian Swamy, via Sify.com
Not against Tata, but demands return of land – Mamata Banerjee, UNI via webindia

Singur and West Bengal, Are you listening? - By Sudheendra Kulkarni