Indeed you are comparing farmers with farmers but you should also compare the agricultural productivity of the two different regions and the land held by individual farmers in those two areas . Compared to the farmers in Panjab those in Singur are small fry with much smaller holdings. if anybodu sells his land in his own voliation I don't think politicians like Mamata can have much to say about it , the trouble arises when they are coerced to do so by the local cpim part machinery . Actually over here in Singur most of the land acquired was by the government shortchanging the farmers in the process. Tata comes in and gets the land on lease from the government. By the way do you know that the stamp duty has been waived for the Tatas' and also the money they will be paying back will be with an interest rate below the going rate ? Tell me is this how a democracy is supposed to run ? Where the big business arm twists the government and forces it to use draconian laws set up by the British in 1894 ?
As for solutions ,indiscriminate SEZ is not the solution . Like I repeated before even people like Swaminathan, Amartya Sen among others are against it . You keep talking about Petrochemicals , I hope you haven't forgotten Bhopal? Now here in West Bengal they have diluted the say of the Pollution Control Board with the industrialists having more say in matters. Pollution is a tangible measurable thing why should the people who pollute have a say on that ! Nobody wants to walk on dirt roads but nobody wants to have carcinogenic stuff dumped in his backyards either . Granted you and I would be safe and yeah cliche as it sounds its the "poorest of the poor" who suffer because of this kind of unchecked unmonitored indistrialisaion. As for middle east workers surely they are better off than the landless in the rural India? Finally give me one moral, ethical reason why people have to be displaced for big business . As you know the central government announced that each displaced family should atleast have one member provided with jobs. Let them first resettle the folks displaced by Narmada Dam before driving more people for SEZs.
