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 India’s Tata Group has strongly indicated it might discontinue the manufacture of the world’s cheapest car in the state of West Bengal. While India is eagerly awaiting the launch of ‘Tata Nano’, priced at Rs 100,000 ($2500), the ride towards getting this car into the market has been anything but easy.

There have been severe protests against the Tata Nano plant in Singur led by Trinamool Congress (the main opposition party in West Bengal). The party claims it is mounting a non-violent protest and only wants the return of about 400 acres of the 1,000-acre site that it says belong to farmers who did not want to sell their land but were forcibly evicted, to make way for the Nano project.

The West Bengal government is trying relentlessly to resolve the crisis, as Tata’s decision to withdraw from West Bengal would have serious economic consequences for the state.

In light of the continued agitation at the plant site, work at the Nano factory has been suspended. When the suspension was announced, Santra, a farmer who had parted with his land for the Tata facility sank into depression and committed suicide. In the past two years, twelve people including Santra have died at Singur.

The situation is tense and a number of conflicting demands would need to be met if a satisfactory solution is to be found. But while talks and negotiations continue between the concerned parties, it is important not to forget about the lives of many farmers and workers being affected.

The fact that a huge and much awaited commercial project such as this has suffered serious setbacks due to concern over farmers’ rights demonstrates that the human rights issue is rising higher and higher on the economic and political agenda. Indeed, it reiterates Impactt’s belief that consideration for peoples’ lives lies at the heart of making good business decisions.