The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Calcutta High Court order upholding the acquisition of 1,000 acres in Singur for the Nano plant. A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan rejected pleas by a Calcutta lawyer and two Singur farmers to stay the January 18 judgment that held the land was acquired in "public interest'. The apex court, however, issued notices to the Centre, the state and Tata Motors. The farmers' counsel, Kalyan Bandopadhyay, alleged that the land had been acquired "illegally'.

The movement against land acquisition for industry started here. But unlike Nandigram, where not an inch was acquired but violence has become endemic, the buzzword here is development. On the eve of the polls in Singur, where around 1,000 acres were taken over for the Tata small-car project, the land war is not forgotten. But as the deadline for the Nano rollout draws closer, the mood is more of anticipation than apprehension.

Nano, Tatas' small car with a price tag of just $2,500, is already being viewed as a threat to the North America auto market even before its launch in India. With BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations set to overtake them in production this year, North American auto giants may soon face challenge from cheap cars from India and China.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to put any roadblock before the world's cheapest car Nano's planned rollout by the year-end though it issued notices to its producer Tata Motors and the West Bengal government following a petition challenging land acquisition. A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice M.K. Sharma said it will not order any status quo on the issue of land acquisition for the car's plant in Singur in West Bengal.

The Supreme Court today declined to stay the Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the acquisition of land in Singur by Tata Motors to manufacture Nano, the Rs 1 lakh car. Therefore, there is no court bar against continuing with the project. However, the apex court issued notices to the West Bengal government, Tata Motors and the Centre on a set of appeals against the high court judgment. It might examine the validity of the land acquisition after the governments and the firm appear before it in July.

Tata Motors' small car Nano will roll out of the Singur factory during the latter part of calendar year 2008. A company official on Tuesday reiterated that the project was progressing according to schedule and the rollout of the Nano would commence from the company's Singur plant, that is located around 35 km from here.

Metal costs, largely responsible for vehicle price hikes, will soon cease to pinch the automobile manufacturers' margins as they become increasingly aware of the benefits of using engineering plastic instead of metals in vehicles. Home-grown automotive players like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, TVS Motors and Maruti Suzuki are augmenting the use of plastics in engine components in an ambitious effort to reduce dependence on key metals like steel and aluminium, all of which have witnessed stupendous rise of 35-50 per cent in the past 5 months.

CHINSURAH: Support the "police atrocities' on farmers who have been opposing the alleged "forceful' acquisition of farmland in Singur or face consequences. This seems to be the message the CPI-M wants to convey, even to its own supporters in Singur. CPI-M cadres allegedly destroyed field crops of two active members of DYFI ~ the CPI-M's youth wing ~ who had opposed the atrocities.

Fuel-efficient and low on emissions, hybrid cars are the vehicles of the future

The Tata group is likely to finalise plans for a world-class global research and development (R&D) centre in the UK shortly. The global R&D hub, will encompass R&D activities of Tata Motors, TCS, INCAT, Corus, and Tata Chemicals and now Jaguar Land Rover among others. At present, the Tata Motors European Technical Centre, which was involved in designing the Nano, is based in Warwick University, but the plan is to move the operation to a base that can accommodate all group companies, with world class facilities to service various sectors.