Mamatadi is an obnoxious person. In the Singur case, however, Mamatadi is right - maybe for the wrong reasons.
I am an unabashed free market believer. A genuine free market, however, is not a free for all. It has to be regulated to deliver decent and fair treatment to the weaker amongst us. This is best done by creating a level playing field by reinforcing the weak without holding back the strong.
There is no reason the landholders should not get the market price, just because Mr Tata - fine person though he is - likes that location.
Aha! But, you say, "they have already been paid the market price and then some."
Ah! I say, "What is the market price?"
It is not the market price of under-productive farmland. The market price of this land is the price after it is converted to industrial use.
For reasonable price discovery one needs to get a few commercially savvy market professionals on both the sell and the buy sides. One way is:
Having worked for Mr. Tata, and knowing a lot of people who do work for him, I am sure they would be happy to pay a fair market price for the land they need.
Unless, of course, they found a way of getting it for less. And why not? They owe it to their shareholders. It is up to the rest of us to safeguard the rights of people on the other side of the table.
I am an unabashed free market believer. A genuine free market, however, is not a free for all. It has to be regulated to deliver decent and fair treatment to the weaker amongst us. This is best done by creating a level playing field by reinforcing the weak without holding back the strong.
There is no reason the landholders should not get the market price, just because Mr Tata - fine person though he is - likes that location.
Aha! But, you say, "they have already been paid the market price and then some."
Ah! I say, "What is the market price?"
It is not the market price of under-productive farmland. The market price of this land is the price after it is converted to industrial use.
For reasonable price discovery one needs to get a few commercially savvy market professionals on both the sell and the buy sides. One way is:
- Pool together fallow land at suitable location to set up an industrial estate.
- Invite the top 10 infrastructure companies in India to bid in an open auction to develop the land to pre-set specifications. The successful lowest bidder is free to exceed the specs to improve marketability.
- The developed land will be offered by open auction to the anyone who qualifies by putting up a security deposit.
- The difference between the sale price and the development cost as bid will be split 10% for intermediaries - 90% of original landowners.
Having worked for Mr. Tata, and knowing a lot of people who do work for him, I am sure they would be happy to pay a fair market price for the land they need.
Unless, of course, they found a way of getting it for less. And why not? They owe it to their shareholders. It is up to the rest of us to safeguard the rights of people on the other side of the table.
