2. Introduction
• Tata Nano Singur Movement refers to the controversy generated by the Rs. 1
lakh Nano plant at Singur in Hooghly district of West Bengal.
• Singur gained international media attention since Tata Motors started
constructing a factory to manufacture their 2500 car.
• The then state govt. facilitated the controversy by using an old rule to conduct
an eminent domain takeover of 997.11 acres (4.02 sq. km.) of farmland to
have Tata build its factory.
• The rule is meant for public improvement projects and the WB govt. wanted
Tata to build in its state. Displaced farmers and land-rights people became
opponents.
3. Context
• Singur is a town in Hooghly District, West Bengal, India.
• This place gained international attention after Tata Motors proposed the idea
of setting a factory to manufacture the world’s cheapest car- The Tata Nano.
• The land taken up was a fertile one. 83% of the land was irrigated and the crop
density was 220%.
• In the face of continued opposition, the Tata shifted the project from Singur to
Gujarat in October 2008.
4. Background of Struggle
• The government expropriated landfor the factory using the 1894 Land
Acquisition Act.
• Of over 13,000 people held claims on the land acquired for the Nano, about
2,250 refused to accept the government's compensation.
• The lost acres proved equally fertile grounds for a political fight.
• The cause was quickly seized by the main opposition in West Bengal, led by
Mamata Banerjee.
6. Impacts of the Movement
• On October 3rd, 2008, Tata Motors pulled the plug on manufacturing the Nano
out of Bengal, leaving behind rubble of dashed hopes.
• 267 stories of broken dream are there, who were selected by Tata Motors for
training and permanent jobs.
• It resulted in displacement of mass peasantry to the cities to search for
earning their breads and they marked as urban beggars, unskilled laborers and
odd city workers.
• The huge lands remain unproductive and fallow till now.
