Are Singurs avoidable?

Publisher: SAGE Publications Pages: 287 Price: Rs 395

Professor Amlan Datta has worn several hats over the past few decades. He is a well-known university teacher with special interest in the economic histories of major countries. He is an activist of sorts, who, even to this day, participates in protest marches and rallies. He is also a firm believer of radical humanism and is a former Vice Chancellor of Visva-Bharati University.

Such varied experience has led him to chronicle the main issues that, he believes, lie behind the basic social, economic and political dilemmas that confront humanity today. He views these as puzzles rather than problems in an attempt to explain or unravel them. The difference is not just semantical. It conveys an overarching interest to go deep into the maze of situations that has created a crisis, instead of simply trying to put on the apron of a spin doctor and prescribe instant medicines to cure all the ailments.

One of the issues close to the author concerns the course of industrialisation best suited for India. Referring to what had happened in Singur, which has come to epitomise the confrontation of two schools—one aggressively supporting industrialisation and the other favouring a more people-oriented approach—he warns that a “simple affirmation of the need for industrialisation does not take us far in the actual formulation of a correct policy”. He cautions that one should not be carried away by the argument that industry offers higher productivity and higher earnings. These do not clinch the issue.

When a plot of agricultural land is transferred from farmers for industrialisation, it hurts not just the farmers who work there, but also a large number of marginal cultivators, who toil in that field without owning the land. It would also be naive to imagine that the displaced farmer can be put in an industrial establishment just like that. Industrial employment is a different cup of tea altogether. It calls for a distinct set of skills and habits, which cannot be acquired or imbibed overnight. Quite often, it also involves a paradigm shift in the cultural perception of an entire community.

An interesting discussion in the book concerns the qualitative difference between what the author calls the first and second revolutions in contemporary history. The first, occupying the first 6-7 decades of the last century in the form of socialism and communism, was marked by its stress on the “conflict of interests of two opposing classes”. The staple for the second, which struck towards the end of the century, has been the “indivisibility of the interest of the whole of mankind”.

This can be said to be a natural corollary of the new mantra of globalisation when viewed from an idealistic plane. The author hopes that globalisation can deliver on its promises. Yet, as it increasingly becomes a one-way model, which benefits just a few while creating new challenges for many, one wonders if it would ever deliver on its promises.

A number of chapters deal with great personalities of Indian history and some eternal issues that mankind has faced. Datta tries to interpret Tagore, Gandhi, Ambedkar and Kumarappa, amongst others, just as he offers his own opinions on issues that range from religion to sex, corruption and idolatry. This is the work of a roving mind that is bound to engage anyone interested in the wide expanse of issues confronting the developing world on its march towards industrialisation.