Governments may be bad at running businesses, but sensible governments do everything to create a business-friendly climate. For, investment and business decisions are ultimately acts of faith. Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?s government has a long way to go in improving Bengal?s work culture. State-run services, such as education and healthcare, are still hopelessly inefficient. But, it would be churlish to deny that the chief minister has been able to persuade investors to believe in a new Bengal. He has managed to convince them that his government is a far cry from the old left, which thrived on anti-business rhetoric. The return of the investors? confidence in Bengal is proved by two events happening within days of each other. One is the long-awaited sale of the state-owned Great Eastern Hotel and the other the change of ownership of Dunlop. In their own ways, the hotel and the tyre factory captured the decline of industry and the loss of investors? faith in Bengal. So much so that an investor had to be exceptionally optimistic to think that these two units could be revived as profitable businesses. It certainly is not the only reason, but the new owners of both units have attributed their decisions largely to the changed business climate in the state.

But these are only first steps. There could still be stumbling blocks ahead. At Dunlop, the re-opening of the factory in Bengal is to follow an agreement with the workers. The new owner may legitimately ask for a different agreement from the one that the previous owner settled for at the unit in Tamil Nadu. Given the record of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions for militant posturing, its leaders could make things uncertain for the Dunlop unit in Bengal. The government must do its bit to ensure that the Citu does not play the spoilsport for the long-suffering workers. At both Dunlop and the Great Eastern, the revival of the units would require new managerial techniques. Trade unions have no choice but to accept the new ways of modern businesses. And they have to see their role as crucial to the survival and well-being of the company. If Dunlop and the Great Eastern are success stories for Mr Bhattacharjee?s new policies, they are also crucial tests. What happens to them may decide the fate of many other sick units. The government and the trade unions should have a big stake in their success.