Disheartened Singur struggle for living

The Calcutta High Court striking down the Singur Land Rehabilitation And Development Act 2011 has come as a big setback to farmers in the region. Unwilling farmers who had refused to sell their land for the ambitious Tata Nano project see the court's decision as yet another blow to their livelihoods.

Take for instance, Jairam Ghosh, a farmer of Beraberi Madhyapara, who is somehow making ends meet minus his land. Ghosh had to part with nine bighas of his land (nearly 3 acres) for the proposed Tata Nano factory. He belongs to a well-to-do undivided family of 12 members, including three brothers. Now, the family is forced to survive on the relatively meager earnings from a sweet shop they run in the village bazaar.

“The shop is the only source of income of our twelve members family. I am thankful that we at least get by, those who don’t have any other alternatives, are facing a tough time,” admits Jairam.

In a bid to return the land acquired by Tata Motors to the farmers, the Mamata government had passed the "land rehabilitation" bill last year. The Calcutta High Court verdict termed the legislation 'unconstitutional and illegal' after a plea by Tata's challenging the Singur Act.

Middle-aged Sahadeb Manna from Manna Para also lost nearly three acres of his land to the acquisition. “We had high hopes from the High Court, but they are now shattered. We are facing a tough time for the last six years. Now we would have to face the worst again because of the wrong policies of the government,” he told TSI.

Sahadeb’s wife Champa is more forthcoming, “Our lifestyle has undergone a sea-change since 2006. My husband has three brothers. They arranged for their sisters and daughters marriages from this very fertile land that the family owned. Each brother has constructed a two-storeyed house. But, our sons are unemployed as they depended on farming. Aggrieved with the land-grab, my father-in-law suffered a heart stroke last year and had to be hospitalised. After listening to the High Court’s verdict, he has again fallen ill.”

Sahadeb is also concerned about the farm labourers who once worked on his land. “Many of my farm labourers also participated in the Singur movement. Today, some of them have got employment under NREGA, but the rest are living on just one square meal a day, he said.

A group of landless labours who are living on Dobadi near Beraberi are particularly angry with the Secretary of Krishi Jami Raksha committee (KJRC) Becharam Manna for dragging them into the mess in the first place. KJRC had spearheaded the movement against land acquisition in Singur. Tajuddin Lal, a landless labourer living in a thatched shanty here says angrily, "Where is Becharam Manna, the MLA. He was the leader, he dragged us too in the movement. Now we are facing several police cases, spending hundreds from our pocket to attend Sub Divisional Court at Chandannagar. But, he doesn't meet us, sometimes doesn't even recognize us.”

Dobadi land, where Tajuddin and others like him live in shanties, is now within Tata’s walled area. People in the area accuse Becharam of taking bribes and playing a diabolical two-faced role during the anti-acquisition movement. “While Becha da was leading the movement in Singur on one hand; on the other hand, his clandestine syndicate was busy in land-filling and wall construction for the Tata project,” opines a clerk of Himadri Chemicals, adjacent to the project land.

The continuing politics over land acquisition in Singur has led to massive disenchantment among the youth in the area. “I was a BA 1st year student when the agitation started. I joined and quit college mid-way. Now, I am an unemployed labour. Sometimes, I even work as farm labour. Rest of the time I play cards,” says Mihir Malik, a 24-year-old of New Ujjwal Sangha area here.

Mihir’s family in fact lost four bighas (1.33 acre) land and now barely make ends meet with only 15 kathas (about 0.33 acre) of land that they still own. "Our lives have changed. We were a well-to-do joint family, fully dependent on farming. Now, the joint family is divided into four parts. Earning from that small piece can only provide two square meals for all, nothing else," adds Mihir, lamenting that everybody in his family was trying to find alternative jobs, but that the employment opportunities in the area are few and far between.

Mihir led TSI to Nemai Santra's (75) hay-covered shanty near by. Once the proud owner of 1.67 acres of multi-crop fertile land at Singur, Nemai Santra now moans in pain. “I haven’t sold my mother (land). I want money for my food, for my treatment, but not by selling my land.”

Nemai's eldest son has found a way to run his family by driving a tractor for another farmer. The youngest son is a seasonal daily wage earner at the local wholesale potato market. Uncertainty looms large over this family. Biren, another son of Nemai Santra, was arrested and severely beaten up by CRPF during the movement days.

Despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee's promises of withdrawing all cases against Singur protesters, police cases are still pending against Biren and many others like him. The pressures of sustaining his family eventually became too much for Biren. He suffered a stroke last year and is now paralyzed.

But despite their ordeals, farmers and workers in Singur have not lost all hope. Sahadeb, Mihir and Jairam say that their only hope now is to have faith in the Mamata government as there is simply no other alternative to get their lands back. Singur farmers are keeping their fingers crossed. One day soon, they hope, they will get back their lands, lives and lost livelihoods.