Indifferent Industry

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

I was in Calcutta in June. Went to report on the civic elections. Then stayed back for a week as help was needed in the CNN-IBN Calcutta bureau. From elections to the beginning of the football World Cup, to the updates of a train derailment it was interesting to report from the city. But one report that will stay with me is the one on sick industries in Bengal. During my stay in the city, Railway Wagon maker Burn Standard got Rs 1,000 crore loan writen off from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Burn Standard had turned sick 16 years ago. Both the Left and Trinamool claimed credit. We travelled inside Burn Standard in Howrah. The spectacle that is a combination of politics, trade union, neglect that has killed industry in Bengal was evident. Even with the loans written off, the future seems trapped in all these.

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

That is Swapan Roy, one of the oldest employees at Burn Standard. For him the celebrations had little or no meaning--at least that's what I felt. "Today, I am remembering my co-workers many of whom had no other option but to jump from the sinking ship in despair. Just 500 of us stayed back". With elections round the corner, there is a newfound love of industry in Bengal. But for West Bengal to come out of an industrial coma will require more than promises and votebank politics.

Calcutta

Shobabajar Durga Idol in North Calcutta. My first visit to this place. Managed to start early morning and do a bit of Puja pandal hopping. ( was there in Calcutta for 3 days) . Shobabajar has an interesting history. In 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, the British decided to build Fort William in the heart of Gobindapur. The people who stayed here were compensated and provided with land in Taltala, Kumartuli and Shobabajar. Nabakrishna Deb built his Rajbari at Shobabajar. After the death of Siraj ud-Daulah, Nabakrishna Deb, Mir Jafar, Amir Beg and Ramchand Roy earned eight crore rupees from the secret treasury. These were people who colluded with the British. That's how the people of Shobabajar Rajbari made their fortune. This place witnessed more. After his return from the Parliament of World's religions at Chicago, Swami Vivekananda was given a civic reception at the Shobabajar Rajbari. Also the famous widow remarriage debate between the upper class orthodox Hindus and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar took place in Shobabajar ( wikipedia has a good entry under Shobabazar)