After Nandigram and protests in many parts of the country that have stalled new investments, nobody knows if Singur will force such a change. The uncertainty is partly because of the many and varied demands: Farmers want more compensation for land, industry wants large, contiguous tracts of land that is often arable and New Delhi, having burnt its fingers in the SEZ oven, wants little to do with states' industrialisation plans.
N. Madhavan of the think-tank prs Legislative Research, points out that two central laws—one to secure higher compensation for those displaced by projects and the other to make land acquisition rules more progressive—would have sawn some of the sharp edges off the ongoing protests in Singur and elsewhere. These bills, however, remain pending in Parliament.
It's perhaps the relatively cheaper access to mass media then that has changed the rural psyche and shown them how to protest, while industry and government still struggle with a rupee number that will wean farmers sick of agriculture off their lands. "We all know farmers in India want to leave agriculture," says Dr N.C. Saxena, former secretary of the Planning Commission. "If there are protests against land acquisition, that is because even the minimum they need for a good future is not being given." Till that's done, Singur won't be the last of our crises.
