Indian authorities have deployed 3,000 police at Tata Motors' plant in West Bengal [2] as protesters defied a threat from the company to halt production of the Nano model ultra-compact automobile in the communist-ruled state. About 30,000 local residents have occupied the plant since Aug. 23 to protest the confiscation of farmlands for the project. The Trinamool Congress, leading the protest, is demanding that 162 hectares of land be returned to farmers. Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee said "if someone tries to blackmail us we will not bow our heads." (Bloomberg [3], Aug. 27; BBC [4], Aug. 23)
See our last posts on India [5] and the struggle for the land [6].
