India Grapples With How to Convert Its Farmland Into Factories

Angela Berst
9/19/08
3:13pm
Sociology-202


India Grapples With How to Convert Its Farmland Into Factories
In Singur, India; farmers are upset because factories are supposed to be built on their land. The factory companies have had to postpone the building of a factory and have “consider(ed) pulling out altogether”. The reason for this is the farmers’ protests because they wouldn’t have anywhere else to make their living. In order to repress the farmers’ frustrations the government is offering higher prices for the land. The government has also offered “job training for one member of each displaced family”. By offering higher prices and jobs the government is hoping to obtain the land from the farmers with as little complaints as possible. While some people have willingly “given up” their land; others have been less eager to give it up. The people that have “lost” their land have been offered money of which they rejected. The farmers that were fine with the “loss” of their land have coped with it by getting new business, related to the factories. For example, Mr. Ali now supplies cement to the factory owners as his business. I feel that if many companies buy out farm land then that will eventually cause many people to have to get new jobs in order to survive. Since farming is the only thing most farmers know how to do then it will become difficult for them. It would take a lot of time to train them therefore making it hard to get any other job. Building more factories would allow for more production, which would benefit the economy. So, in order to address everyone’s demands, factories should be built elsewhere. This would still allow factories to be built and for farmers to keep their lands and livelihood.


Sengupta, Somini. "India Grapples With How To Convert Its Farmland Into Factories." The New York Times. 16 Sept. 2008. 17 Sept. 2008 .