The West Bengal State, under the United Left goverment pushed for giving land to the Tata Group for the development of the Nano car. The Tata Group is the largest industrial conglomerate in India. For long it has been looking for the development of a low cost small car. A site in the region of Singur, in West Bengal some 35 kilometres from Calcutta (Kolkata), was chosen in 2006 for the industrial production process. This transfer of land use, in a terrain that is very fertile and allocated for agriculture, was opposed by the local population and especially its farmers. After intensive protests and killings, splashing local political leaders the project was stopped in September 2008 and the company implanted its project to the state of Gujarat. |
Thanks to the local population severe opposition to the car factory, the company withdrew from the fertile lands of Singur. Still the farmers have not been given back their lands.
| Name of conflict: | Singur FIAT-TATA Project, India |
| Country: | India |
| State or province: | Singur, West Bengala |
| Location of conflict: | Singur |
| Accuracy of location | MEDIUM (Regional level) |
| Type of conflict. 1st level: | Industrial and Utilities conflicts |
| Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Other industries Land acquisition conflicts Manufacturing activities |
| Specific commodities: | Manufactured Products Land |
| Project details | Tata Motors, the groups car and truck division, along with the FIAT group, has been studying the development of a low cost car. Agreement with Fiat was reached in June 2006. The area designated for factory construction was on a very fertile terrain given over to agriculture after land reforms and redistribution following the 'peasant uprisings' in the 1970s. The land covers an area of 1000 acres, around 400 hectares, which is divided into lots of various sizes. This requisition of land is enabled by the application of the colonial Land Acquisition Act. |
| Project area: | 400 |
| Type of population | Rural |
| Start of the conflict: | 2006 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | Tata Group from India Tata Motors from India Fiat from Italy Industrial Development Corporation from India |
| Relevant government actors: | Government of West Bengala, Supreme Court of India, Communist Party of India , Revolutionary Socialist Party |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | Trinamool Congress Party - India, NAPM - National Alliance of Peoples Movements - India, Krishjami Raksha Committee (India), Save Land Committee - India, PBKMS, UITA - Uniting Food, Farm and Hotel Workers World-Wide, CSE (Centre for Science and Environment) - India |
| Intensity | HIGH (widespread, mass mobilization, violence, arrests, etc...) |
| Reaction stage | PREVENTIVE resistance (precautionary phase) |
| Groups mobilizing: | Farmers Local ejos Landless peasants Women |
| Forms of mobilization: | Blockades Community-based participative research (popular epidemiology studies, etc..) Lawsuits, court cases, judicial activism Street protest/marches Property damage/arson Strikes Threats to use arms Hunger strikes and self immolation Appeals/recourse to economic valuation of the environment |
| Environmental Impacts | Potential: Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation |
| Health Impacts | Visible: Deaths Potential: Occupational disease and accidents |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Increase in violence and crime, Militarization and increased police presence, Specific impacts on women, Violations of human rights Potential: Loss of livelihood, Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures, Land dispossession, Loss of landscape/sense of place |
| Project Status | Stopped |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Criminalization of activists Deaths, Assassinations, Murders Land demarcation Negotiated alternative solution New legislation Repression Violent targeting of activists Project cancelled The status of the land that has been sold to Tata in Singur under goverment pressure is still uncertain in 2012. |
| Proposal and development of alternatives: | 3-5 August, 2011: The Indian social movements and the Sangharsh collective group meet Indian MPs in New Delhi, demanding the repeal of the Land Acquisition Act. They also ask for new and far-reaching legislation that takes into consideration the territories needs, that ensures changes in land use are made for the public good and implements agricultural reforms for distributive justice. |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | Not Sure |
| Briefly explain: | 02/09/2008: As a result of the ongoing protests, Tata announced that Tata Motors planned to leave the plant in Singur. The United Left government lost the elections, to the Trinamool (under Mamata Banerjee). The real objective of the protest goes beyond this, it is to repeal the Land Acquisition Act and the land grabbing going on for SEZs (Special Economic Zones). But the farmers have not yet recuperated their lands, the several attempts by the State Government were so far obstructed. |
| Juridical relevant texts related to the conflict (laws, legislations, EIAs, etc) |
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| Contributor: | Lucie Greyl |
| Last update | 18/08/2019 |
| Conflict ID: | 478 |