Portrait of a Holy City Struck by Capitalism and Tata`s Pull Back

Portrait of a Holy City Struck by Capitalism and Tata`s Pull Back
Option

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 51

Palash Biswas
http://troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/



Calcutta Telegraph Mamata adamant on sit-in at Singur
Hindu, India - 14 Aug 2008
“None has the right to stop a democratic movement,” she said, referring to moves by the State government to disallow any attempt to disrupt peace at Singur. ...
Singur: Govt to take stern steps The Statesman
In Singur, security plan in place for Aug 24 TMC strike Kolkata Newsline
Displaced Singur farmers to get shops Livemint
Calcutta Telegraph
all 5 news articles »

Economic boost: Tata Motors transforms Singur
Times of India, India - 11 Aug 2008
Like it or curse it, the Tata Nano factory in Singur is happening. No matter what Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee say or do from here on, ...
Himalayan Singur, minus Mamata Calcutta Telegraph
CPM signals Tata-Mamata talks Calcutta Telegraph
all 7 news articles »
Congress asks Left to initiate Singur talks
The Statesman, India - 9 Aug 2008
Alleging that the state government's “dictatorial” attitude and hasty administrative steps at Singur has complicated the situation, Madhya Pradesh Congress ...
CPM plans tit for tat in Singur Calcutta Telegraph
Marxists caught in their own trap The Statesman
Govt waits for Mamata request Calcutta Telegraph
all 8 news articles »

Singur under seige, thanks to the Left Front

Bs Reporter / Singur August 22, 2008, 19:00 IST

Singur is under siege today thanks to a meeting organised by the Left Front
Close to 1,000 buses have brought in lakhs of people to Singur, the factory site of Tata Motors. All movement on the National Highway, to and fro from the factory, has been stopped. While some work appears to be underway, only a handful of people are working at the site and the area is paralysed by people walking or squatting around the site.

Many of the buses carrying CPI (M) supporters appeared to be parked inside the site.

Thanks to the show of strength the factory site seems deserted. Very few men and machine appear to be working inside. The action is entirely outside the factory.

In other words, it's a another day of work loss for the Singur factory.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=45152

AFP India's Tata says may shift Nano car plant due to protests
AFP - 4 hours ago
If the protests do not end at the Singur plant, "we will very reluctantly need to move," Tata told reporters following the Tata Motors annual meeting. ...
End of Nano dreams? Tata threatens to pull out project
NDTV.com, India - 7 hours ago
Ratan Tata has threatened to pull out 'Nano' car project from West Bengal if violence continues in Singur. West Bengal's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, ...

FICCI comes out in support of Singur project
Merinews, India - 2 hours ago
FICCI said that Tata’s small car unit in Singur has been a dream project for the state and any number of alternative sites were offered on a platter ...
No industrialisation at cost of farmers: Mamata
Hindu, India - 8 minutes ago
Singur problem would never be solved until and unless 400 acres of land forcibly taken away from unwilling farmers for the small car project was returned ...

Basu welcomes Mamata's willingness to talk on Singur
Press Trust of India, India - 8 Aug 2008
In an apparent softening of her belligerent stand on the Tata Motors' plant at Singur, Mamata Banerjee had said yesterday that she was open for talks with ...
Mamata's Singur agitation 'fascist' in nature: Subhas Hindu
Industry backs Buddha on Singur, takes a dig at bandh culture Expressindia.com
Let Singur be a state showpiece Economic Times
NDTV.com - Hindustan Times
all 236 news articles »
Nationwide strike against price rise cripples Left-ruled states
Times of India, India - 20 Aug 2008
The strike hindered work in the Left Front government's industrial spotlight of Singur as well. Only those workers who’ve been given shelter at the small ...
Small car’s big troubles continue
Daily News & Analysis, India - 17 hours ago
“Should the uncertainty continue, the company will take a call and decide if it makes sense to continue in Singur. Till then, Tata Motors is determined to ...

AFP Farmers talk tough on Singur
The Statesman, India - 8 Aug 2008
8: Although Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee agreed to talk to the authorities of Tata Motors over the “Singur land grab” controversy, ...
Communists assure security to Tata's small car plant at Singur Economic Times
Renewed protests threaten to delay Nano India launch Reuters
Bumpy road for world's cheapest car AFP
Hindu - MarketWatch
all 54 news articles »

VIENNA: A proposed provision in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group draft seeking to halt all nuclear commerce between the Group and India if it conducted further tests seemed to have become the sticking point as the 45-member NSG went into the second round of its meeting here Friday. ( Watch )

Most members are in favour of lifting the current ban that prevents nuclear commerce between the NSG and a non-signatory of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), like India. But some NSG members insist that it should not be lifted unless New Delhi formally says no to further nuclear tests.

India has made it clear it will not accept any "new" provisions in the draft that the United States had prepared for the NSG before its two-day meeting began here Thursday.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_says_no_to_new_provisions_in_NSG_draft/articleshow/3394115.cms

When Mr Obama surged ahead, the news media went into overdrive and, according to the Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Centre, there has been more coverage of him than Mr McCain in the US news media every month this year, BBC reports. According to BBC,` They were watching President George W Bush's approval ratings scrape historic lows, the economy heading for the doldrums and continuing slaughter in Iraq - despite the surge of American troops.

The Republican Party seemed underwhelmed by its choice of presidential candidates and it was not hard to find party activists hunched over a beer and staring blankly into the middle distance, conceding that the Democrats seemed to have the White House wrapped up.’

RSS playing havoc to partition India once again. The movement for land for Amarnath Shrine is doing well as it has provoked the Autonomy demand forgotten.Reviving their strike call, separatist leaders on Friday asked people to observe a complete shutdown in the Kashmir valley for three days in the wake of the Amarnath land row, media reports.

Kolkata did nothing to stop partition in 1947. Rather the Bengali Brahmins did everything to ensure that the power should be transferred to them only ejecting out our indigenous people out of their Home lands in Punjab, Sind and Bengal.

Kolkata civil society has not decided any stance on this burning issue!


In Kolkata, the Sacred Cow of Bengalies worldwide,Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata Friday threatened to pull out of Singur saying that it was not possible to work in an atmosphere of tension and distrust.Even as the agitation in Singur is set to intensify, Tata Motors has assured the West Bengal Government that they will not pull out of the project until forced to. Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata met Bengal Industries Minister, Nirupam Sen, late Thursday night and expressed his anxiety over the proposed agitation on August 24. The meeting was held to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation at the Nano car plant at Singur. Tata aims to roll out the world's cheapest car in October this year.

After the threat from Tata group chairman Ratan Tata to shift the Tata Nano factory out of West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that the government is looking for a solution to the issue.

He said that the government has to find the solution through dialogue on Singur, adding that people of the state want the project.

"There will be future talks. I have appealed to the opposition to have peaceful demonstrations," said Buddhadeb.

He said that Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee wanted some papers that have been sent to her office.

In a surprise move, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya himself kicked off the crucial talks on the Singur deadlock with the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The key issue of the talks is Mamata Banerjee's demand for the return of 400 acres from the Tata factory site to angry farmers.

If the land is not returned, Mamata Banerjee has threatened to indefinitely gherao the Tata Motors factory site from the August 24.

Tata group chief Ratan Tata has threatened to exit West Bengal if there was no let-up in violence at Singur, where the company is building a factory to make the world's cheapest car 'Nano'.

Tata said if the group was unwanted in the state "we would have to make a move despite whatever investments had been already made in the project".

The project is facing political protests, marred by violence. The Opposition, mainly the Trinamool Congress, has been demanding return of 400 acres of land, which the Tatas say, is required for ancillarisation of the project.

Meanwhile,Tata Motors (TML) has reviewed the long-term financing plans it announced in May for the Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) acquisition. Given the market weakness, it plans to raise Rs 3,000 crore through a phased divestment of certain investments over 6-8 months instead of the earlier plan to issue convertible preference shares.

TML had earlier announced that it would raise Rs 7,200 crore through three different rights issues. Now, it would raise Rs 4,200 crore through two different rights issues.

Shares in India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TTM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) ended down on Thursday after having risen nearly 5 percent on its decision to scrap a planned 30 billion rupee ($686 million) convertible preference share issue.

India's top vehicle maker said late on Wednesday it would cancel the issue due to weak stock markets, and instead raise funds by selling some investments over the next six to eight months, within the Tata group where possible.

It now plans to raise 42 billion rupees from two rights issues instead of 72 billion rupees from three simultaneous issues to help fund its $2.3 billion acquisition of the Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands.

Addressing shareholders, Tata said that the company was looking at acquisitions to complement its product range. Without clarifying the segment in which Tata Tea was eyeing acquisitions, Tata said that the acquisitions would be strategic that would add particular strength, footprint in another country or access to technology.Tata Tea will be a beverage and food company, said Ratan Tata, chairman Tata Tea, at the company’s annual general meeting.

Mergers and acquisitions, or investments would be made, which make strategic value for us,” he said.

Responding to queries, on whether Tata Tea would consider changing its name, Tata said that the complexion of the company had changed from a mere tea company and the company would consider it.

Speaking on the sidelines, R K Krishna Kumar, vice-chairman, Tata Tea said that the company was eyeing markets in America and Russia in a big way and could even look at acquisitions.

Tata Tea would also look at spread and expanding its wellness range. The company was now a complete global company with 42 brands in 45 countries.

Tata Motors, one of India`s largest car producers will launch new second-generation Tata Indica by name of Indica Vista, reports Business Standard.
Within days of withdrawing a proposed investment plan of $3 billion in Bangladesh because of the country's prevalent political instability and the non-committal stance of the government, Tata Steel (BOM:500470) (Mumbai, India) firmed up its plans of developing a steel complex with a capacity of 4.5 million tons per year in Vietnam. The project will have an estimated cost of $5 billion. Essar Steel (Mumbai), POSCO (NYSE:PKX) (Pohang, South Korea) and Baosteel (Shanghai, China) were also reported to be in the race with Tata Steel for the project.

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THE £6.2-billion takeover of the Scunthorpe steelworks and the rest of the Corus business has proven to be the buy of the century for the new Indian owners.Tata Steel has made it into the list of the world's wealthiest companies for the first time in its 101-year history.The maiden entry at number 315 in the list of Global 500 companies released by the Fortune magazine comes after the Mumbai-based steelmaker announced its yearly profit had almost trebled to £1.46-billion.Profits for the quarter ending June 30 were also up by 21.78 per cent.But the latest results do not include the consolidated performance of Corus which is due to be announced next month.

Have you watched the live telecast and analysis on your TV browsing National and local channels today?

The press conference was managed with surgical precision.

Ratan Tata was perfect enough to draw the present Industrial scenario and future potentials in West Bengal!

But we have not addressed the basic problems what happened to all those closed industrial units in west Bengal? More than fifty six thousands of them?

What happened to the workers employed there?

What happened to the property owned by those industries?

What happened to Cotton?

What happened to Jute?

What happened to Tea?

What happened to engineering products?

It is the new aesthetics of market to strike the soft targets. Ratan tata quoted the Intelligentsia which eventually leads Singur Insurrection and addressed the Civil Society with a request to decide his option, to be or not to be!

Thus, the Portrait of the Holy city is drawn with intense interaction in between the Corporate and the civil society.

Sharing anguish of Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata, leading industry chambers on Friday asked the West Bengal Government to resolve the land issue with the Opposition and ensure that the Tata's dream small car project is not pulled out of the state.

The three apex chambers -- CII, FICCI and Assocham -- said West Bengal would be a big loser if the Tatas withdraw from the Singur project out of frustration.

"This (Tatas' withdrawing) will create problems for the state not only in the present but also for future in attracting investment," Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Secretary General Amit Mitra said.

He said many alternative sites were offered "on a platter" elsewhere in the country for locating the small car project. But the Tatas decided on Singur because they were "committed to bring investment into a state which had attracted little investor attention".

An angry Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry Chandrajit Banerjee said, "Small car is a world story. It is an issue of the country's image."

Banerjee said if the Tatas pull out of West Bengal, it would "irreversibly hamper the future industrialisation of the state and could take it back to an age of industrial vacuum".

Asked who is to blame for the impasse, Banerjee said, "anybody trying to create roadblock is wrong".

Assocham President Sajjan Jindal, whose JSW group has also lined up big-time investment in the State, said if the Tatas leave it would take West Bengal "back to the 1970s when the state witnessed large exodus of industry".

My friends, despite the aggressive stance taken by the Resistance Hegemony, Singur People have no chance in the bargain!
Not at all.
Anad Bazar Patrica leads the media to defend indiscriminate Industrialisation and Urbanisation! It defends Nuke Deal and US interests in India! It is fighting to build up Public Opinion for Tatas, Salem and Zindal and all the corporate houses. It is perverting Bengali language and literature. It has published so many issues of Desh to focus on Industrialisation! It has launched a campaign to promote Brand Buddha and at the same time it is the fiercest critic of the Left, specially CPIM! It mocks the third front and alliance of the Left with Mayawati. it is the only media Hose which shamelessly supports any US aggression anywhere in the world.
Pardon me!All the dignitaries of the so called Civil society have been produced by this Anad Bazar Group. Only exceptions are Mahashweta di and Nabarun Bhattacharya, her son!
Would all the writers and artists belonging to SWAJAN, SANHATI and Nagarik Manch be ready to boycott this anti people Media House?
Would Icon Writers not write in Puja specials published by the media houses helping the Ruling Gestapo?
Would they have enough courage to boycott the electronic media booms?
Zee network has taken over all government auditoriums including the cluster of Rabindra Sadan as they had tried in vain to capture the News Agency UNI. UNI workers sent back Subhash Chandra? Who dares in Bengal?
Dr Amartya sen is another Holy Cow of Bangla Caste Hindu Nationality who is the most powerful spokesman of US corporate Imperialism and the Ruling Gestapo in West Bengal? Who is also pleading for TATAs. The so called Nobel laureate spares Imperialism in significant works on Famine in India as well as China.
May the Civil society try to eject out this global Icon out of Bengal?
Nothing is going to happen,Mr Ratan Tata knows it correctly and hence, he leaves the Option of Industrialisation open to be decided by the Civil Society only. he has staked his money on the Right choice and he is not going to fail!
On Thursday, a section of city Intelligentsia led by Mahashweta Devi addressed another Press conference. Tushar Talukdar was on of the intellectual present. Talukdar was Kolkat Police commissioner during Jyoti Basu tenure. The so called civil society is tempted to field ex IPS, WBCS and IPS officers to defend Singur and Nandigram cases! is it not contradictory. The Butcher of Marichjhanpi genocide, Amiya Sanyal speaks on democratic norms. All those officials, known policy makers and executives of Ruling Hegemony gestapo accompany Mahashweta Devi and waste tonnes of news prints on edit pages! How the massacre Brigade has changed it`s heart?
Where is the space for the victims? Those who are uprooted from life and livelihood? Those who are being annihilated?
Neither Ruling nor Resistance Hegemony is interested to save our indigenous aboriginal communities!
I beg your pardon!


The Government of Bengal has been holding talks with the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee for the last few days to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution to the opposition of the villagers to the Tata Motors plant which is to produce the low cost car Nano. The controversy surrounds the acquisition of 997-acre plot by the Bengal Government for the Rs 1 lakh car plant at Singur, 40km west of Kolkata.While the Trinamul Congress led resistance demands that the Government return 400 acres to those who did not want to sell their land, the Government has refused to do so.
Where the fire brand leader was hidden all the time while Tatas were allowed to go on with construction works?
Tats were allowed to invest Rs 15,000 corore! Now Ratan Tata leaves the Option to be decided by the Civil Society whether to pull out or not!
Where has been our dearest NGO leader Medha Patkar?
On 24th, I am sure . we will see another Olympiad of Reality Show where all the unexpected faces would be presented. We may guess some of them as Amar Singh and Somen Mitra!
Congress has also jumped in the fray as the marriage between UPA and Left is broken abruptly!
I won`t be surprised if the ruling left fields Mayawati to plead for Industry!
What is this all about?
Please explain!
What the Indigenous people, the peasants would get in this power game?
Mamata has clarified that she is against neither industrialisation nor the Tatas. It is understood that she is against the Ruling left Front! What to do with this stance?
Mamata and Medha and the Civil society have allowed Tatas and the State government to go on with Singur Project! Now they are just bargaining for some hundred acres of land!
What is the development we see in POSCO, Orissa?
What happened in Barnala?
What was the case of Navi Mumbai?
What we see in Noida?
Are all these cases not linked at all?
Just trace the developments in the sovereign Open Market!
Just have a look on the changing Geopolitics which has been turned into a war zone, a killing field with realliance of Global ruling Classes and strategic realliance in US Lead!
Who is leading the movement against the anti people policy making of the central government? What about Inflation, price rise, retail chain, nuclear plants and parks,GM seeds, natural resources, food security and starvation?
The Resistance Hegemony is either ignorant or cooperative to the task of annihilation!
Matters took a dramatic turn yesterday with the Trinamool Congress (TC) controlled gram panchayat in Singur saying that it would not grant any permissions to the plant like environmental and water use licences, and also threatened to take action against the company as its factory was blocking the rainwater drainage channel of the entire area leading onto the Hooghly river.
Speaking to reporters after the Tata Tea AGM, Ratan Tata said today: "We are deeply concerned at the violence and disruption and at the safety of our employees, equipment and investments at the project site at Singur," He said: "It is for the people of West Bengal and Kolkata to decide whether we are unwanted or accept us as a good corporate citizen.
"If it is the latter, then it is good."
He said that if it was the other, then it would be impossible to alter the plan "following which we would have to make a move despite whatever investments had been already made in the project."

Visibly disturbed Tata said that Rs 1500 crore of investments had been already made in the project.
"There is a sense of tension, violence and disruption (at Singur). Obviously it is not a conducive atmosphere. The compound wall is broken down, materials stolen." "Whatever be the cost, we will move out if the situation demands so," he said.
Tata said that there was a general perception that Tatas were exploiting the State. "We are extremely sensitive to the needs of the rural community. We have not come to exploit anyone. We have got the land on lease and not bought it."
The State had been long ignored by industrial houses, including the Tatas. "Despite much flak which we have drawn for locating the dream project at Singur, we have decided to locate the project here.
"We are also gifting a hospital to the State which would be commissioned in March 2009," he said. Saying that he had no regret for coming to West Bengal, he said "I am an optimist."
If the project was moved out of Singur, then it would definitely affect the future flow of investments by the Tatas in the State, he said.
Explaining the situation at Singur, Tata said: "It is not possible to work under police protection."
On the issue of 400 acres which had been earmarked for the ancillary units, Tata said that the small car 'Nano' was a unique product. "It is necessary to incorporate the ancillary units in the same location to keep the logistics cost low." 
The main opposition Trinamool Congress in the State is insisting that the company set up operations on 600 acres and return 400 acres of land earmarked for ancillary units to farmers from whom the property was acquired forcibly.
With the State Government not relenting to the opposition party's demands, a deadlock has been created leading to tension and violence in the project area.

TC chief Mamata Banerjee meanwhile has said that she would go ahead with the indefinite dharna near the Tata Motors' small car plant from August 24 but was open to dialogue.
She said yesterday that her party had already offered to the state government a solution for return of the 400 acres at Singur to 'unwilling' farmers.
Banerjee offered, “Let the company take whatever land it wants for its 600 acre factory and only after that will the farmers who have not accepted compensation take back their land- I am not insisting on return of the exact land”.
Tata Motors had written a “confidential” letter to Banerjee on the Nano small car project in Singur saying it needed only 600 acres for its car plant, while the other 400-odd acres at Singur would house auto component companies which would supply to the Nano project and also to other clients.
According to the government, this had emboldened Banerjee to ask for return of 400 acres.
To combat this, the state government yesterday produced a letter by Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant giving an “update” to West Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen reportedly saying that it needed the full 997 acres now.

And now see what is all about the Policy making?
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval for compulsory packaging of food grains and sugar in jute bags on 100 per cent basis for the jute year 2008-09 (July-June).
In the 2007-08 jute year too, following a meeting of the CCEA that was held under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, it was decided that jute bags must be used on 100 per cent basis for packaging of food grains and sugar.
The decision has been welcomed by the Rs 6,500-crore turnover jute industry, which had earlier apprehended a dilution of the Jute Packaging Materials Act, 1987, which makes it mandatory for food grains and sugar to be packed on 100 per cent basis in jute bags.
The move will directly benefit four million jute growers and two-and-a-half lakh workers engaged in the jute mills industry. The decision will ensure offtake of nine lakh tonnes of jute goods, out of the 17 lakh tonnes produced by the industry.
However, some exemptions have been prescribed in the order under the JPM Act. In the case of shortage or disruption in the supply of jute packaging material, the Union Ministry of Textiles will, in consultation with the user ministries concerned, further relax these provisions up to a maximum of 20 per cent for food grains and sugar, respectively.

The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 12.63 per cent during the week ended August 9, above the previous week’s year-on-year rise of 12.44 per cent, Government data showed on Thursday. The Union Government, on Thursday, approved a new open market sale scheme (OMSS) for wheat and rice in order to keep grain prices in check ahead of the upcoming festival season.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), at its meeting here, decided to allocate wheat under the OMSS both to State Governments/Union Territories as well as bulk consumers, such as roller flour mills.
“We plan to channelise about 50 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat under the scheme between September and March next.
Another 10 lt will be allocated to States/UTs as additional above-poverty-line (APL) quota”, a senior Food Ministry official said.
The exact distribution of the overall 50 lt OMSS quantities between the States/UTs and bulk consumers, and also the timing of intervention and locations, will be decided by the Ministry based on the recommendation of a Committee of Secretaries (CoS).
The official WPI for ‘All Commodities’ for the week ended August 9 rose to 240.7 points, up from 240.4 points for the previous week.

The annual inflation rate was recorded at 4.24 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.
On a disaggregated basis, during the latest reported week, the index for the Primary Articles group rose marginally as the Food Articles’ group index rose by 0.3 per cent due to higher prices of masur (3 per cent), tea, moong and gram (2 per cent each) and milk (1 per cent). However, the prices of urad, fish-marine and arhar (1 per cent each) declined.
In a move that would keep the roll out of third generation services on track, the Department of Telecom has rejected telecom regulator’s call to review some parts of the recently announced third generation policy. The TRAI had sought a review on several issues in the policy – the key one being DoT’s decision to allocate spectrum to CDMA players based on subscriber numbers. The regulator had also asked the Government to refer the issue of allowing new and foreign players back to TRAI so that it can suggest the terms and conditions of the new licence category.Rejecting TRAI’s view on foreign players, an internal DoT note said, “ The unified access licence are authorised to provide triple play – voice, data and video without any limit on speed of data. 3G service providers are not new category of licensees and they shall be offering 3G services under terms & conditions of the UASL licence. Therefore, the provision of the TRAI ACT 1997 is not applicable in this situation.”
Faced with falling margins due to rising interest rates, banks are focusing on the small and medium enterprises sector. Although lending to SMEs is slightly more risky compared with big corporates, with defaults ranging from 1-3 per cent, the higher returns make up for the defaults, said bankers.
It is, as one banker said, the ‘bread and butter’ for banks.
An SME client is usually charged interest rates slightly higher than the benchmark prime-lending rate of banks. “While a ‘AAA’ rated corporate can get loans at PLR or even 1-1.5 per cent lower than PLR, lending to SME is usually never lower than PLR,” said Mr V.K. Dhingra, Executive Director, UCO Bank.
Besides earning a higher yield, banks also benefit from a host of ancillary businesses from an SME client, according to Mr T.M. Bhasin, Executive Director, United Bank of India.
“Ancillary businesses such as Letter of Credits and guarantee from SME clients give banks an opportunity to earn fee-based income,” he said.
Banks are also taking additional initiatives to increase lending to this segment. For instance, ICICI Bank is planning to launch a private equity fund for SMEs and State Bank of India has recruited dedicated customer relationship executives to serve SME customers and to acquire new business.
Union Bank of India is redesigning its SME segment into clusters, based on both geography and industry; setting up processing centres called ‘SME Sarals’ and hiring specialised credit officers for this segment. So far, the bank has set up seven SME Sarals and hired 280 officers.
United Bank of India is looking at a 40 per cent growth in its SME portfolio in 2008-09, up from 27 per cent last year.
UCO Bank is looking at 20 per cent growth, against 18 per cent last year. “Gems and jewellery, auto components, engineering and textiles are the sectors our bank will be focusing in a big way this year,” said Mr Dhingra.
Union Bank of India saw its SME segment grow by 41 per cent to Rs 12,630 crore, in the first quarter, up from Rs 8,962 crore last year. For this fiscal, the bank has set a target of Rs 17,000 crore or 35-37 per cent growth.
Bank of India, which had an SME portfolio of Rs 21,000 crore as on June 30, 2008, expects growth in this segment to be around 22-23 per cent, which is in line with earlier years, said Mr S. C. Jain, General Manager, in charge of SME.
The lack of bargaining power with SMEs is also one of the reasons that banks would continue to focus on this segment.
“For SMEs there is no other capital available. They have to go in only for loan capital,” said Mr T. S. Krishnaswamy, Deputy General Manager, SME, SBI.
Given the overall economic slowdown, SBI is expecting its SME growth to see slight moderation, he added.
This year the bank is expecting the growth to be around 25-27 per cent, down from 31 per cent over the last three years.
The bank’s outstanding SME advances as on June 30, 2008 were around Rs 90,000 crore.
“SME is a segment of high growth. So our focus on this segment will remain. But because of the overall slowdown, new investments could be lesser this year,” he said.
This year, engineering goods sector may be hit by the high steel prices and the food processing sector too may be affected due to sluggish monsoon and curbs on exports of pulses, he added.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday gave its approval for continuing the ongoing schemes of Ground Water Survey, Exploration and Investigation, Central Ground Water Authority, and Study of Recharge to Ground Water as one integrated scheme on Ground Water Management and Regulation at an outlay of Rs 460 crore during the Eleventh Plan period.
The scheme will help strengthen the ground water resource management system, delineation of ground water development-worthy areas, developing area-specific artificial recharge and rain water harvesting techniques, development of web-enabled ground water information system for quick dissemination of ground water data, and strengthening of coordination and synergy amongst all other stakeholders.


The state government has said the Calcutta High Court order in the Rizwanur Rahman case was an “emotional judgment” and that it would contest Thursday’s ruling.
The court has allowed the CBI to file chargesheets against seven persons, including Rizwanur’s father-in-law Ashok Todi, his brother Pradip and three police officers, for abetment of suicide
But Subrata Mukhopadhyay, the junior counsel for the state, said: “There has been no trial and unless this is done no one can be seen as guilty of abetment of suicide. This is clearly an emotional judgment.”
The court has also termed the city police’s attempts to arm-twist the couple “unconstitutional” and “inhuman”.
Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee appealed to the Tata group chief, Mr Ratan Tata to persuade the state government to return to the unwilling farmers 400 acres of the 997 acres acquired for the small car project at Singur since “industrialists should have a human face and show concern for the people.”
The state government, on the other hand, claimed that Tata Motors had clarified that the vendors' park was indispensable for their small car factory, contradicting Miss Banerjee's stand that the ancillary units on the controversial land could be shifted elsewhere .
Miss Banerjee pleaded that the Tatas require only 650 acres for their small car plant and claimed the letter written to her by the managing director of Tata Motors Limited, Mr Ravi Kant, mentioned the quantum of land needed for the mother plant.
The state commerce and industries minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, said he had enquired with the TML MD about the matter. The Tatas have given details of the land use in the total project area of 997 acres including the vendors' park.
“The Trinamul Congress chairperson had cited a letter at the meeting with industrialists. Since we were not aware of anything I enquired about it with Mr Kant. He gave us details of the land use which includes the land for ancillary units,” said Mr Sen.
The state government also said it was yet to receive any document from the Trinamul on the modalities for returning the controversial land. Miss Banerjee said: "We have already given the documents to them but again if they want we can always provide them with the relevant documents.''
After talks with the Trinamul-led Opposition the state government, it was learnt, believes there is “scope for negotiation over the 400 acres of land”. Over 60 acres of the controversial portion have been set aside for building roads and installing power lines.
The Trinamul chief insisted that they would go ahead with the agitation at Singur for an indefinite period from 24 August and any attempt by the administration to scuttle it would meet with stiff resistance. The state government would be “solely” responsible for the consequences, she said.
Miss Banerjee, who oversaw the agitation programme during the day, said the CPI-M would deploy one of its mass organisations to block roads of Singur on 24 August. “The intention is quite clear. The state government would be responsible for any eventuality,” she said. The administration is worried as the President is scheduled to visit Joykrishna Library on the same day at Uttarpara in Hooghly district.
The state home secretary, Mr AM Chakrabarti, said he would meet representatives of the Krishi Jomi Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee, spearheading the agitation, in a day or two.

The Statesman, Kolkata reports:
Two days after Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee drew applause from captains of industry for her views on industrialisation, CPI-M politburo member Mr Sitaram Yechury (photograph right) today was locked in a verbal duel with ICC committee members over the Marxists’ politics of forcing a shutdown on economic life by calling frequent bandhs like the one that paralysed life in three Left-ruled states yesterday.
“You seem to be in a mental state of the 1960s as you frequently call bandhs when the economy takes a beating and people are forced to remain indoors. What did you gain by yesterday's bandh ?” one industrialist asked Mr Yechury. “No wonder investors move away from West Bengal to Gujarat because the economic climate there is more congenial than here,” said another. “How can it be that the people of the three Left-ruled states have a perception about bandhs that is not shared by the rest of the country which carries on normally on such days ?” a third asked.
Mr Yechury had the stock Left response that bandhs or strikes were “but a last resort of the people when their pent-up feelings go unresponded." But he immediately became belligerent in his response to the barrage of criticism and asked the industrialists why they had remained silent during the past three years when prices of essential commodities had skyrocketed because of forward trading.
“If you want a serious debate, don't be led by prejudices (against the Left),” he almost chided the industrialists. “If investors shy away from Bengal, it's not because of bandhs, but for other reasons”, he said, without spelling out the “reasons.” He, however, claimed Bengal now ranked first among states attracting investment. In the end, Mr Yechury said politicians and industrialists need to collaborate rather than confront each other for the country's growth. He also felt a solution to the Singur stalemate through discussion would help the state’s economy
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet Thursday accepted most of the recommendations of a parliamentary standing committee to improve the Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2008, which has already been introduced in Parliament.
The information and broadcasting minister, Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, told reporters that the government would incorporate the committee’s recommendations in the Bill through amendments in the next session of Parliament.
The minister said the Cabinet extended by six months a 29 August 2006 Central Notification concerning wheat, rice and pulses. The extension would be effective from 1 September 2008. The scope of the notification has been extended to paddy. Official sources said the order would help state governments check hoarding, and thereby control price-rise.
CGHS facilities: Mr Dasmunsi said the Cabinet considered proposals on extending CGHS facilities to journalists accredited to the Central government. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, constituted a three-member ministerial committee to examine if the CGHS facilities could be extended to families of the journalists. The committee includes the health minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, and the I&B minister. The committee would come out with its views this month, Mr Dasmunsi said.
MEA posts: The Cabinet also decided to create 518 posts in the external affairs ministry. Of these, 249 posts would be within the country, comprising 139 officers and 110 staff. The remaining 269 posts ~ 175 officers and 94 staff ~ would be created in Indian missions abroad.
The Cabinet decided to merge the two Centrally-sponsored schemes of Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) and Computerization of Land Records (CLR), and to replace them with a modified Centrally-sponsored scheme of National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP).

Worried’, Tata flashes Singur alert
OUR BUREAU


Tata, Sen
Calcutta, Aug. 21: A “worried” Ratan Tata has no intention to pull out of Singur “until and unless forced to do so”, the Bengal government said tonight in the first public admission that the car project is not as foregone as was being made out.
“Actually, he is quite worried about the developments in Singur. He did not anticipate this kind of thing to happen for such a project,” industries minister Nirupam Sen said tonight after meeting Ratan Tata at a city hotel.
Asked whether there was any possibility of the Tatas withdrawing from the Singur project, Sen said: “He has made a lot of investment and it is not his intention to pull out until and unless he is forced to do so by circumstances.”
The comments attributed to Tata are certain to winch up pressure on Mamata, who has been trying hard to shed the tag of “anti-industry”.
Tata has said the fate of the project will ultimately be decided by the people of Bengal. “Tata thought that the small car project will be beneficial to the people of Bengal and that it will be welcomed by all,” the minister said.
The dramatic late-evening meeting took place on the eve of the Tata Tea annual general meeting — the official purpose behind Tata’s visit to the city — and on a day Mamata announced that she would go ahead with the siege of Singur from Sunday.
“We have told Tata that as far as discussions with the Trinamul Congress are concerned, they have assured us that there would be no lawlessness… there will be peaceful demonstration,” Sen said, indirectly putting the onus on the Opposition party to ensure the protest does not spin out of control — a possibility when charged crowds assemble.
Sen, who was accompanied by industries secretary Sabysachi Sen, said Tata expressed “anxiety” over what would happen on August 24. “I hope all parties, even those who are opposing us, will think before any kind of action so that the project can go through peacefully,” the minister said.
He declined to say if the government discussed any compromise formula with Tata.
Tata landed in the city at 6.25pm and reached the hotel after an hour or so. Sen called on Tata a little after 9pm and the talks lasted one and a half hours.
Trinamul has demanded the return of 400 acres meant for vendors to “unwilling farmers”, saying the car plant needed only “600-650 acres”.
The Tatas have clarified in a letter to the government today that the entire project needed 1,000 acres as the ancillary units were an integral part of the small-car project.
Trinamul sources said late tonight that Mamata wanted to meet Tata but the state government was preventing the industrialist from holding talks with her.
The party sources said the situation could be defused even now if the government made a public admission that land was acquired “forcibly”.
In return for such an acknowledgement, the Trinamul leadership will scale down the size of “the land to be returned” to “250 or 200” acres from 400, the sources said. According to government figures, the number of acres belonging to “unwilling farmers” stands at 167.
An official at the chief minister’s secretariat said the government and Trinamul might hold a second meeting in the next few days, after Mamata’s representatives met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Sen at Writers’ Buildings yesterday.
“I can’t say whether the second meeting will be held tomorrow or the day after, but it may take place,’’ the official said. Asked about this, the Trinamul chief merely said: “Our door is open for positive dialogue.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080822/jsp/frontpage/story_9727496.jsp
Sir, people feel bandh is Left’s first option
A STAFF REPORTER

Sitaram Yechury at the session. Telegraph picture
Calcutta, Aug. 21: Interactive session is the flavour of the season but not everyone is as fortunate as Mamata Banerjee to enjoy an uncontested run. Sitaram Yechury, the CPM politburo member who addressed a meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce at Bengal Club on Thursday, should know.
Yechury, whose party’s labour union Citu is celebrating the “success” of a 24-hour bandh on Wednesday, held forth before the industrialists on issues such as the nuclear deal, price rise and land acquisition.
As soon as his speech was over, an industrialist asked a question on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, and Yechury breezed through the familiar territory. But the next question rang out like a pistol shot in sharp contrast with the diffident queries that greeted Mamata at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
Over to Bengal Club, Thursday afternoon.
Harsh Jha (MD, Tata Metaliks): Please forgive me if I am being a bit harsh, but I think the Left is still wrapped up in the 60s and 70s. Why else do we have so many bandhs in this particular state? Yesterday’s strike call forced the state to come to a halt. What did the country gain?…
Yechury: (Tries to say something)
Jha: We have heard you. Please hear us, too.
Weren’t you contributing to inflation as well through this bandh? What impression are you sending out? The daily labourers lost out on their income.
Yechury: I think you are being too partisan. It’s not that we call for industrial strike too often. If I remember, the last such strike was called three years ago. And what impression are you talking about? If you are so concerned, why didn’t you support us when the CPM sought imposition of tax on windfall gains on private, joint venture oil firms and private refineries?….
Jha: (Tries to speak)
Yechury: I have heard you. Please listen.
We don’t want oil companies to make this windfall profit and let the common man bear the burden of increase in oil prices. Please don’t think in isolation.
Gaurav Swarup (MD, Paharpur Cooling Towers): I think we are deviating. Sir, without being so blunt, I think you will appreciate that bandh does affect the image of the state. Apart from other things, it does speak of the work culture as well. In fact, frequent bandhs affect the overall environment for investments in the state.
Yechury: I think you must appreciate that the CPM has always believed that strike is the last option. What do you do? We have been trying to attract the attention of the Prime Minister on the price rise of essential commodities and other issues for the last three years. Forget the figures of inflation. It’s the normal people who go out to the market who are the worst hit.
Yechury: And I would like to know whether the impression of the state is being hit owing to the bandh call or the agitation in Singur? Please understand that it’s the pent-up frustration of the people that force us to tread the path of a bandh. It’s the last resort.
Dibyendu Bose (MD, Tata Martrade International Logistics Ltd): But Sir, people outside feel bandh is the first option for the Left in Bengal. OK, even if we accept this bandh culture, can we just ensure that during a bandh, you can at least keep planes and trains out of its ambit? The aged and ailing, waiting for long-distance trains, suffer tremendously during such bandhs. At least, if it can be ensured that the sick can reach hospitals on a bandh day, that would make a lot of difference.
Yechury: I know what people feel about Bengal from outside and it’s not what you claim. Even Kerala had a bandh yesterday. But yes, I think what you are suggesting is true. We do try and ensure that the sick and the ailing don’t bear the brunt of the strike call. Trust me, we tried really hard and when there was no option, we had to go for a strike.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080822/jsp/frontpage/story_9727498.jsp
Land-grab cry from churches
MITA MUKHERJEE
Calcutta, Aug. 16: The land-grab cry against the government, till now heard only from Singur and Nandigram, is coming from some Christian missionaries, too.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church that runs a school for poor children on 375 acres in Falakata, Jalpaiguri, has been told by the government that it can keep only 24 acres.
“It (the government) wants to take the rest of the property,” said Bernard Halder, the principal of Seventh Day Adventist Church School, Calcutta, who also manages the property matters of the Falakata school.
The government informed the church about its decision two years ago. Halder said the compensation the church was getting was measly.
A senior land and land reforms department official said the church had flouted land ceiling norms, hence the acquisition. “Going by the land ceiling rules, an organisation cannot hold over 7.5 acres in urban areas and 24.20 acres in other areas,” he said.
The government can allow an organisation to possess more land in special cases, for instance, if it is for setting up an industry or for implementing a developmental project of the state or central government. But in such a case, cabinet approval is required.
“So, the church in Jalpaiguri will have to hand over the excess land,” the official said.
Citing the land ceiling rules, the state has started acquiring 60 acres from the Methodist Church in Asansol, 21 acres from the Baptist Union Church in Midnapore, 21 acres from the Evangelical Luthera Church in Purulia and 14 acres from the Church of North India in Jiagunge, Murshidabad.
“Ours is a philanthropist organisation,” Halder, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, said. “We give free education, boarding, food and vocational training to poor children. A Christian missionary had donated the land and our main source of income is from cultivation of paddy, dairy farming and pisciulture on this land,” he said. “It will be impossible for us to run the institution if the land is taken away.”
The Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, a state-level organisation of Christian members and churches, has contended in court that the government cannot include church plots under land ceiling rules. The Pariseba will organise protests from September.
The organisation has written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar and land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah.
Mollah said: “I am only aware about the problem with a church in Jalpaiguri. I am looking into the complaints of the other churches.”
Herod Mullick, general secretary of the Pariseba, said: “If the state government turns a blind eye, we will organise law violation programmes and march to the Assembly.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080817/jsp/bengal/story_9702861.jsp

It’s Congress vs police at Singur
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Aug 21: Fresh trouble broke out in Singur when Congress supporters clashed with police after being resisted from entering the small car project area this morning.
Angry Congress supporters later blocked Durgapur Expressway for three hours from 11 a.m. today alleging that police resorted to lathicharge without any provocation.
According to reports, more than 2,000 Congress supporters, led by PCC member and former MLA, Mr Abdul Mannan, took out a rally from Singur demanding that land, acquired for the project without the consent of the farmers, be returned. Policemen on duty intercepted the rally at Sahanapara after Congress supporters tried to enter the project area. Soon a scuffle between police and Congress workers ensued. The situation deteriorated after Mr Mannan was allegedly manhandled by some policemen. Congress supporters later clashed with policemen triggering tension in the area. A huge police contingent was deployed to bring the situation under control. No one, however, was injured in the clash.
After being chased away by policemen, Congress workers sat on Durgapur Expressway and blocked the road for three hours that led to heavy traffic jam. The road block was withdrawn around 2 p.m. after senior police officers intervened. It may be mentioned here that home secretary, Mr Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti, during his visit to Singur car project last week, had made it clear that strong action would be taken against those who disrupt project work. He also told the reporters that no outsiders would be allowed to enter the project site.
“Congress supporters had planned to disrupt construction work for which they were not allowed to enter the project site. Only a scuffle between police and a section of agitators took place in front of the main gate of the project area today. The allegation of Congress leaders being humiliated by policemen is false. We didn't resort to lathicharge," said a senior district police officer. Meanwhile, a farmer from Beraberi Purbapara village at Singur, Narendranath Das (80), whose 4 bigha land came under the project area, died at his house following a cardiac arrest early today. His family alleged that Das was mentally upset after his land was forcibly taken away by the state government. He had been an active supporter of Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee which organised group meetings at various places across Singur today. Leaders of the peasants’ body urged people to participate in the indefinite dharna scheduled to start from 24 August outside the project area.

Protestors block road in Purulia
PURULIA, Aug. 21: Protesting against the closure of a polysacks factory at Jhalda in Purulia, employees blocked the Purulia-Jhalda road today.
It was reported that the employees failed to turn up yesterday due to the 24-hour industrial strike. Following yesterday's strike, the management decided not to open the factory today as well. As a result of which the Citu-backed employees’ union, protested against the closure and demanded the factory’s opening as soon as possible. However, Mr Bishnu Agarwal, a spokesperson of the management, expressed his displeasure at yesterday's forceful strike. The bandh in Purulia district actually started from Monday night itself. The situation finally returnedto normal today with a few stray incidents. On Monday most shops were closed due to Mansa Puja (snake worship). The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren) organised a ‘rail roko' and Maoists called a bandh on Tuesday and there was an industrial strike yesterday.

State seeks relief for forest land bldgs
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Jharkhand political turmoil may hinder new projects
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