1 week ago
Bengal Industrial Policy May Give Landowners Stakes in New Units
West Bengal is preparing a new plan to attract more industries.
The plan may give people whose land is acquired for factories a role in the businesses created there.
One idea is to provide a job for one person from each affected family.
Another idea is to help landowners run small businesses that support the factory.
These businesses could make uniforms or provide food through cooperatives.
The proposal is meant to reduce disagreements over acquiring land for industries.
Earlier land protests occurred over projects in Singur and Nandigram.
The policy may focus on industries that create many small supporting businesses.
West Bengal’s proposed industrial policy is expected by mid-September and may include a separate landowner-stakeholder section.
One proposal would offer employment to one member of each landowning family in the relevant industrial unit.
Another option would help landowners establish cooperative businesses supporting the main industrial unit.
Examples include cooperative tailoring units supplying uniforms and canteens providing meals to factory workers.
The policy is expected to prioritize textiles, steel, heavy electrical equipment, automobiles, information technology, electronics, and North Bengal’s tea, timber, and tourism sectors.
- Who
- The West Bengal government, investors, and people whose land is acquired for industrial projects.
- What
- A proposed industrial policy may make landowners stakeholders through jobs or support businesses linked to industrial units.
- Where
- West Bengal, including Singur, Nandigram, and North Bengal.
- When
- The policy was expected to be announced by the middle of September; the year is not specified.
- Why
- To reduce complications and conflicts over acquiring land for industrial projects.
Key facts
- Policy status
- The industrial policy was proposed and had not yet been announced.
- Expected announcement
- By the middle of September, according to the report.
- Landowner option one
- Employ one member of each land-owning family in the proposed industrial unit.
- Landowner option two
- Enable landowners to establish indirect support businesses serving the main industrial unit.
- Support-business examples
- Cooperative tailoring units supplying uniforms and canteens supplying meals.
- Priority sectors
- Textiles and garments, iron and steel, heavy electrical equipment, automotive, information technology, and electronics.
- North Bengal focus
- Tea, timber, and tourism, described as the Triple-T sector.
Quotes
State government official
Official involved in preparing West Bengal’s new industrial policy
“The ‘direct support’ entrepreneurs are those who supply technically specialised equipment for the main industries, and hence there will not be any scope for landowners to be stakeholders in this sector. However, big industries also come with a huge scope for ‘indirect support’ entrepreneurship through which the landowners can be made stakeholders.”
thehansindia.com
“The first option is to provide employment to one member of the land-owning family in the proposed industrial unit. The second option is enabling the land-owners to set up ‘indirect support’ entrepreneurship catering to the main industrial unit.”
thehansindia.com
freepressjournal.in
Sources
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