Wednesday, October 8, 2008

ನ್ಯಾನೋ ಕಲಿಸಿದ ಪಾಠ? Lessons from Nano


ಕಾರು ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾದರೂ ಪಾಠ ದೊಡ್ಡದು

ಉಷ್ಣ ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ ತಯಾರಿ ಘಟಕಗಳಿಗೆ ವಿರೋಧ, ಜಲ ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ ಗೆ ಪರಿಸರ ಕಾಟ, ಏನೇ ಉದ್ದಿಮೆ ಬಂದರೂ ಸ್ವಘೋಷಿತ ಪರಿಸರವಾದಿಗಳ ರಂಪಾಟ...ಇದು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ... ಎಲ್ಲ ರಗಳೆ ಗಳೇ ಟಾಟಾ ಗುಜರಾತ್ ಗೆ ಹೋಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡಿತೆ?
ಗುಜರಾತ್
ನ ರೈತರಿಗೆ ಇರುವ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಜ್ಞಾನ ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಜ್ಯದ "ಬುದ್ದಿವಂತರಿಗೆ" ಇಲ್ಲವಾಯಿತೆ?

(TOI)

For Tatas, I could give my land free, says farmer

SANAND(AHMEDABAD): Farmer-turned-industrialist Ravubha Vaghela was a very happy man on Monday after selling his entire 30 acres of land at Khoda and Nanapura villages to Govt of Gujarat.

He only hoped Tatas would bring their prestigious Nano project to the chosen site. 

Vaghela had earmarked this land for expansion of his firm, Raviraj Foils Limited. But the minute he was approached by state government officials, he willingly sold the land for building approach road from Sanand-Viramgam highway to Anand Agriculture University cattle farm that will hopefully be Nano’s new home. 

Vaghela says he sold the land for Rs 15 crore at Rs 1,000 per square metre , despite the going market rate of Rs 2,500 per sq mt. 

Vaghela says he could have haggled for a better price or even gone to court. “But this would have delayed the process and Nano plant could have gone out of Gujarat’s hands. I was glad to make the sacrifice. For Tata project I could have given my land for free. I am a proud Rajput today that I will be instrumental in bringing Nano project to Gujarat,” said Vaghela, who feels it’s time for him to repay a debt to Tatas. 

“During the great famine of 1900 Jamshetji Tata rescued the Kankrej cows being bred at the farm by making a donation of Rs 1,000,” he explains, adding that his move symbolises the difference in the outlook of farmers in Gujarat and West Bengal. 

What’s more, Vaghela also played a role in convincing other farmers to hand over their land to government. All of them sold their land to government on Monday. Of the nearly 2.05 lakh sq mt private land that Gujarat government has acquired for building the road leading to the site identified for Nano plant, almost two-thirds belong to Vaghela

Deccan Herald:

Nano: A wild goose chase for State
Bangalore, DHNS:
What Gujarat has which Karnataka lacked that made the Tatas to accept Modis offer? To this question, varied arguments and replies were given by the officials of Karnataka who were persuading Tatas to shift their Nano project to Dharwad.

A top bureaucrat in the secretariat said, “Dharwad is a tier II city. But Sanand is just about 25 km from Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat. Dharwad doesn’t even have a five-star hotel. We learnt that the employees of Tatas preferred an urban Sanand to a tier II city like Dharwad. Also, BJP leader L K Advani represents Gandhinagar, which is close to Ahmedabad. It was a prestigious issue for the BJP leaders to get the project to Gujarat.”

Asked whether Karnataka was not willing to give Rs 800 crore which the company reportedly wanted the state to bear as shifting charge, the officer said, “It was mentioned during the negotiations. But that was not an issue. All states extend concessions. But no state will give concessions in the form of hard cash. We too would have given free land or given concession in VAT.” 

Embarrassing moment
“All was well with the State’s offer to Tata Motors. But there were issues with power supply...,” said Home Minister Dr V S Acharya.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The following professional protestors should camp in Gujarat: Medha Patkar, Arundati Roy, Brinda Karat, Teesta Svetalvad, Javed Akthar, Shabana Azmi, Shabnam Hashmi and many others. They will have a new stick to bear Narendra Modi as the face of evil capitalism.

Anonymous said...

How on the earth a monster like Narendra Modi can be sussessful in giving the orphaned NANO a new home. Now this person has killed more than 2000 muslims in post Godhra Riots. Where on earth all the professional secular protestors gone.

When more than 3000 sikhs were killed in Delhi alone, our Prime Minister gave the classic quote "When a big tree fell earth shake". But then he was not an RSS stooge. That killling wasnt genocide.Hence he cannot be compared to Narendra Modi who had never issued any public statement supporting the killing.
After 6 years too Narendra Modi is remebered in media as the butcher. Rajiv Gandhi statement was forgotten the next day. One of the killers even became Cabinet Minister. But then if you are a Congressmen you need proof before he is guilty. For Some RSS stooge his ideology itself is enough to brand him guilty for life.

But then what about the development that has happened in his reign. How he could get all the clearences in the time other states were busy sending delegation and deciding on the concessions they are going to offer.

But then we can never commend a monster even though all the fringe elements like VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders have been gloriously sidelined in Gujarat. We need politicans who work and not preach. Gujarat should best be remembered for that.

After Gujarat BJP wrested Karnataka on platform of development. Sir.. Hope you all will also make Karnataka the premier state in India.

Anonymous said...

Sir,

In this blog you have made a glaring mistake. At the end you have mentioned difference in outlook of farmers in Gujarat and West Bengal. It should be Gujarat and other part of India.

Some Mannina Maga "Humble farmer" would have reached over there and already created a big hue and cry followed by the usual professional trouble like Medha Patkar and brinda Karat. Then there will be Vattala Nagraj version who will be more interested in whether NANO is written in kannada and the how Nano will be a big blow to kannada Pride. There are thousand of ways to excite people. At the end there will always be a villain.
The difference is that Gujarati People have learnt about self development long time back. So wherever they are, they are one of the most prosperous people round.Rest Assure there will be no leader who will be able to exploit them emotionally as they are aware of the benefits and the grim reality.

In other parts farmers are still living in some dream world. So a farmer holding an acre of land having six dependent and thinking of suicide just because he is unable to support his family will listen to some rabble rouser speech and then decide tooppose such project as land is his mother and how can he sell his mother.

This may sound politically incorrect. But this is the difference between Gujarat and rest of India.

Once one Gujarati told me a story.

There was a big landlord holding 200 acres of land. He had five children. At his death all his children became land owners of 40 acre each.
Then each son had four sons. After their death each grandson became owner of 10 acres each. They in turn had 4 children each. so in just three generation one land lord family became marginal farmer family.
Had he started a business then it would have created jobs for 100 people. These people needed house and daily necessity things which had to be provided by the neighboring people. The Business would have grwon inlike land which will shrink and may be the next generation would have been more prosperous.

But then there is no point in blaming politician. At the end of the day they need to win election. It is the people who have to think.

Be assured if any politician tries to oppose this project in Gujarat then he has signed his retirement. But in other state that politician may come to the power. And economics will ensure that the farmer lot will never improve.

Anonymous said...

It's good to see finally Karnataka government is waking up for welcoming automobile companies.

It's good lesson to know why we lost race to Vibrant Gujarth. Hope we will improve from now on and welcome more Auto projects to our state.

Keep up the good work Sir!