TOW we choose easy targets

There is this lady who sits in my office in the row behind me and whose telephone's decibel levels are exceeded only by white ambassador's 'power horns'. She made a loud (as usual) comment on how MB has set the Indian industrial development back by a few decades. Before you start visualizing factory workers engrossed in sleazy literature (MB) ignoring work at hand, let me warn you. It turns out, the issue is far more serious.
MB here stands out for Mamata di. From Kolkata.
She is the one who is allegedly inciting violence in Tata's Nano plant. She is the one allegedly responsible for the bundling away of the plant and the prevention of many more investment projects from coming to Bengal.
It is a very easy thing to do - see the one person who is the face of the violence and blame her. What people who take up these issues during office lunch hours do not bother to do is to dig deeper and separate the two issues.
Let me ask you:
(i) Do you know how much the affected farmers are being compensated for their land?
(ii) I want to build a factory over your land. The government *forcibly* takes it away from you to give it to me and pays you less than what you expect to be paid. Will you not protest?
(iii) Do you know that the government has the right to take away your land for public purpose? Do you know how wide the net of 'public purpose' has been cast by our lawmakers?

The two issues are - land rights and mob violence. In both of these, the Indian government and the state governments have been errant - giving far too leniency in the latter case while limiting a citizen's rights far too much in the former.

Two related articles:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a4Iv4YW9ggb0&refer=home
http://ajayshahblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/mystery-of-capital-by-hernando-de-soto.html

My understanding of law in this case is low but clearly the individual's property rights are limited. That is an issue which needs to be tackled as we proceed on our path of industrialization.

Companies will have to improvise on how they compensate landowners. The government needs to make the process more voluntary and transparent. We need to think before we take sides on such serious issues.

If we want to curb violence, we need to listen to the non violent voices of protest. That is the best way to prevent dirty politicians from hijacking genuine socio-economic issues.