Singur, located in Hooghly district of West Bengal, came into the limelight for its peasants’ movement in 2006. The government acquired 1,253 acres (500 hectares) of multi cropping agricultural land and leased it at a highly subsidized rate to MNC Tata through the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (a state government enterprise) to construct their car manufacturing factory. The land was acquired in accordance with the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894. It may be mentioned here, that Singur is popularly called the granary of West Bengal. This particular piece of land in Singur is highly fertile and is home to around 5,000 peasant families.

The compensation package proposed by the government was refused by the peasants as the eviction would deprive them of their livelihood and their indigenous culture and ways of life. The movement of Singur peasant against cultivable land acquisition was intensified all over India inspiring various land rights movements since 2006.

The people of Singur actively protested against the government acquisition notice. They formed ‘Singur Krishi Zamin Raksha Committee’ (Save Agricultural Land Committee) and resisted against the acquisition of land. IMSE and Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) West Bengal took the initiative to set up a ‘Committee to Assist the Struggle of Singur Peasants Against Eviction’ comprising leading civil society actors of the State for extending all round cooperation and assistance to the struggling peasants in Singur.