When an upcoming book The Man Who Dared To Think Beyond, is the showcasing of Mithila at the global level.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: It was in the year 2009-10, West Bengal was on boil: Tata project at Singur had developed cracks; in fact, even before the project could have been made viable, there was an unprecedented backlash from the farmers of Singur and Nandigram. Significantly, Mamata Banerjee built up her political career at the altar of the avalanche of tragedy bedevilling the farmers of that area. Mamata Banerjee, whose fate was in ascendancy then, despite being a rabble rouser, created a huge budge around the movement for standing in solidarity with farmers. So much so, that leaders across the political spectrum, visited Singur and Nandigram, to lend heft to the farmer’s desperate cry to preserve their land which, as the situation warranted, risked expropriation by the state. Thus the hue and cry raised by Mamata Banerjee caught the fascination of the intelligentsia too, the academics being a formidable component of the same. I too, being a management faculty then, had staunchly sided with the cause of farmers, for I too sincerely believed that, the state, barring exceptional situations brought about by the overwhelming requirement of the state in discharging its responsibility, should not go on spree of acquiring land for the gratification of the corporate. Tata, notwithstanding its image and higher pedestal it sought to occupy, paradoxically sought to encroach upon the fundamental rights of the individuals and, therefore, had forfeited its moral courage of conviction to expropriate the land of farmers for its own chauvinistic cause.
In recent years, Godda, a place in Jharkhand was in news, not for any plausible reason, but for the unpalatable one: The farmers were called upon to part with their land in favour of Adani group. Adani, as the group is flush with fund, was prepared to compensate financially, yet the farmers would not budge from their stand: they stubbornly stuck to their ground, even going to the extent of do and die battle to retain their land. Also, the local MLA, Pradeep Yadav whipped up the local sentiment, placing an irremovable impediment on the path of land acquisition by Adani group. Try as it might, Adani group hitherto failed to set up its power plant in Godda, despite best of its endeavours and collaboration with administration in the past–Raghubar Das government left no stone unturned to help Adani group to set up its power plant in Godda, yet to no avail.
Lovely University in Punjab, tried to win the approbation of the local inhabitants by seducing them in the name of education and offering them a lucrative compensation. Whereas Lovely had succeeded immensely with a rider attached: One of the influential farmers, outright refused to be seduced into selling his considerable chunk of land to Lovely University, and even knocking of the door of the apex court, by the latter against the contumacious farmer, hitherto failed to yield any dividend. Unequivocally, the errant farmer invariably failed to be browbeaten into submission, for Lovely University too, despite its humongous endeavours, finally bit the dust, for the sense of belongingness of the people towards the altruistic mission of the university, which the latter sought to project, drastically failed to galvanise them. Lovely University too ended up with an egg at its face, for all the stakeholders could not be turned around to the belief that ‘ Lovely University belongs to one and all’. On the contrary, the people look upon it as a predator on its prowl to snatch the land of farmers.
Sandip University, on account of the credibility of its founder chairman, has hitherto transcended the strait jacketed mindset of chauvinistic self- aggrandisement which hitherto has been driving every single self-seeking predator on to the path of gobbling up the land of farmers. In a spectacle which hitherto remains unprecedented in the history of the nation and the globe, the farmers volunteered to offer their pieces of land for the formation of an engineering college. In a scenario, which remained unconventional across India and even the world, the farmers exhibiting the sense of esprit de corps, in the state of feast of frenzy brought about by the sheer joy of beholding an engineering college in their village which by and large remained an incognito face, exhibited the magnanimity of the highest state: They went on volunteering to offer their land for a price fixed by the Bhuarjan Committee. Today the university owns 100 acre of land –all this land was given by the farmers to see the crystallisation of a university in their village. The three Panchaiats: Sijoul, Tilai and Mailam, together contributed to entire land which university owns today. Significantly, the villagers confided in me that how the very stature of Dr Sandip Jha was the trigger behind the villagers joining hands to contribute towards this gigantic university. Small wonder then, when Tata drastically failed in Singur, Adani in Godda, Dr Sandipjee has spectacularly succeeded in Sijoul to carve out a university through the process of land acquisition and, that too, without a murmur of protest; in fact, people came up with an overwhelming enthusiasm to give land for university, remains the case for a global study. This is one of the most prominent part of my upcoming book The Man Who Dared To Think Beyond, based on the unique entrepreneurial journey of Dr Sandip Jha, unequivocally will be the most sought after case study of Harvard and other global business schools, apart from being the friend, guide and philosopher to the millions of entrepreneurs world wide, a source of inspiration to the millions of fellow compatriots, and the community of Indian diaspora living across the world.
Vivekanand Jha, the author of an upcoming book The Man Who Dared To Think Beyond.
He is an Author, Academician and a Public Intellectual.
