In India, it's all about location, location, location

The Financial Times reports today that Tata Motors, the company behind the Rs100,000 (US$2280) Nano mini car, has faced protests over the location of its factory. Some 2,000 state police blocked the road to the factory in West Bengal. Protestors are concerned that farmers have been unfairly displaced from Tata's 1,000-acre site. On the upside for Tata, FT reports that it has received proposals for relocation from at least nine Indian states. I guess the diminutive Nano is in demand. This doesn't seem to be the only case in India's recent history of such protests, though.   

Vedanta University, the brainchild of Indian businessman Anil Agarwal, has also faced opposition over its sprawling campuses in the state of Orissa. Agarwal wants a truly elite university for India, able to produce world leaders. Apparently, this requires not 1,000 acres, like the Tata factory, but 10,000 acres. (Compare that to MIT's 169 acres.) Vedanta University has faced claims that the project is a landgrab that is displacing local farmers. Apparently, it's all about location, location, location.

Update: The Financial Times has an in-depth article about the conflict over the Tata Motors plant.