Don’t just develop land, develop future

Last week, villagers in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district braved bullets to protest acquisition of land for a power plant.

Some died. This is not the first time we have seen farmer outrage at land acquisition. In the last few years, farmers have been taking up cudgels against forcible buying of land for developmental projects. And, these protests don’t seem to be restricted to a particular state. There was, of course, the famous Singur protest against the Nano plant. Then there have been protests in Mangalore (Karnataka), Nandigram (West Bengal), and, most recently, in Jaitapur (Maharashtra). Farmers across the nation seem to be up in arms against any form of industrialisation.
On the face of it, it seems like a tussle between those who want development and those who want to continue with the traditional way of life. Dig deeper and you will find there is more to it. These are fertile agricultural lands in densely-populated areas being acquired at ‘throwaway’ prices and handed over to large companies to set up factories or SEZs or power plants.

Is this development required? Definitely. But should such hubs be set up on densely-populated agricultural lands? That is a crore-rupee question.

Since independence, our tax money has gone towards making agricultural lands more productive. Billions, if not trillions, have been spent not just on agricultural subsidies, fertiliser subsidies, soft loans and other direct aids to agriculture, but also on linking villages that produce the bulk of our food. The tax payer has built infrastructure — roads, rail tracks, electricity, water connections, etc.

What the current system of land acquisition wants to do is take this productive land and pour concrete on it. A simple question is: If the most fertile land in the country produces cars and chemicals, what do we eat.

Given that industrial- and power-capacity building is needed, what is the solution? All land in India is not productive. Some of it is quite barren. These are areas where economic growth is stunted.

These are also areas, such as Vidarbha, Anantapur, the Deccan plateau and parts of MP and Rajasthan and UP, which see most rural-to-urban migration.

Political will is needed to develop these areas and to usher in education, infrastructure and employment. That is where the new industrial and power hubs need to be built. Companies that are granted these lands need to put in place plans for building infrastructure beyond industries and plants — that is what tax holidays and special treatment are for. And if that sounds idealistic, it isn’t.

At the beginning of last century, Jamsetji Tata had a vision to build India’s first steel plant. But it was more than just the plant. He wanted to create a city around the plant that would house workers, managers and provide the best infrastructure. That city is Jamshedpur, one of the largest industrial regions in modern India.

When Tata took up the task of building the city, it was in the middle of nowhere — no roads, no electricity, no infrastructure. The company built everything. It attracted talent by providing a great environment; it integrated people from across the country; and today, it is one of the most prosperous cities in India. It has one of the highest literacy rates and is a model for development.

Post-independence, when investment in science, technology and industry was seen as the key to growth, some of the more prestigious projects were put up not in Delhi, Bombay, Madras or Calcutta (as they were called then)   but in smaller towns and cities. Pune, Bangalore, Ahmedabad became the hubs for science and technology universities while industries were set up in Baroda, Coimbatore, Faridabad and Rajkot.

Both industrialists and the government showed the vision and the will to develop beyond the existing large cities. Talent moved to these smaller cities and over the next 60 years, these cities became hubs of talent, industry and the new wave of the Indian entrepreneurial dream. Development and progress did not remain concentrated in a few spots but radiated outwards.

India does not need better policies on SEZ, power, or industry. What India needs are visionaries such as Jamsetji Tata, Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. They built more than steel plants and space programmes: they built the foundation for the future.