At home on a Sunday after a hectic week, with another one all set to begin, I am quite amused to see a newspaper picture of industrialists based in Bengal conducting a religious ritual (yagya) to improve the business fortunes in the state. So now things have come to this where businesses need other-wordly help and not just entrepreneurial hard work and vision besides government support to move ahead. To be honest, I am not really aware of too much of government support for Bengal-based businesses for long. In fact, bravehearts would be doing business there with the kind of labour and infrastructure situation that exists.
In the past, I used to find instances of people shirking work there and formed a certain impression of workers in the state. But that was corrected by many of my friends establishing and operating ITES businesses from Bengal. They found the employees to be serious and hardworking since they had to support their families unlike the fun-loving college pass-outs in many other states of India.
Anyway, the current scene in Bengal is a far cry from what things were before the Naxal days of 1970, when many of India's premier businesses such as Ballarpur Industries had their headquarters in Kolkata. That disturbance was followed by prolonged militant labour and other practices. Those must be among the chief reasons why things are so messed up now. In the last 10 years successive governments have tried to revive things but old habits die hard for politicians, Singur being the last major flashpoint. Being born in Kolkata and still having many family members, I do wish things were not so much at the mercy of gods.
In the past, I used to find instances of people shirking work there and formed a certain impression of workers in the state. But that was corrected by many of my friends establishing and operating ITES businesses from Bengal. They found the employees to be serious and hardworking since they had to support their families unlike the fun-loving college pass-outs in many other states of India.
Anyway, the current scene in Bengal is a far cry from what things were before the Naxal days of 1970, when many of India's premier businesses such as Ballarpur Industries had their headquarters in Kolkata. That disturbance was followed by prolonged militant labour and other practices. Those must be among the chief reasons why things are so messed up now. In the last 10 years successive governments have tried to revive things but old habits die hard for politicians, Singur being the last major flashpoint. Being born in Kolkata and still having many family members, I do wish things were not so much at the mercy of gods.
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