Is SEZ really a boon for the farmers?

[ROHAN KACHALIA]

As published in economic times:

MUNDHA KHERA, INDIA: It's a hot, humid Sunday morning in northern India, but the oppressive heat does not deter a group of about 15 farmers from trudging door-to-door, offering advice and sometimes warnings.

"Do not sell your precious land. Even if you are offered millions of dollars, do not sell. It is your only source of livelihood," Mahavir Gulia, the leader of the group, tells a villager in Mundha Khera, 100 kilometres (60 miles) from New Delhi.

"Sell your land and you will lose your identity," he warns another as the group winds its way through the cluster of austere mud, brick and cement homes.

Gulia is trying to spell out the dangers to locals whose land has been earmarked for a Chinese-style business enclave - a joint venture between the Haryana state government and Reliance Industries, India's largest private conglomerate.

"We want to be sure our fertile land that gives us three crops a year does not end up as part of the Reliance empire," he said. "We don't want Reliance to colonise us. Land is what sustains us farmers with food, respect and dignity."

In Neemana village, 10 kilometres away, Pratap Singh, 75, understands the message -- but a little too late.

Eight months ago, he was the owner of a 20-acre (eight-hectare) fertile field that yielded three harvests a year.

"My sons were lured by the promise of good and quick money. They persuaded me to sell most of my land to the big company," says Singh, squatting on the sandy floor of the one-room house that he and his wife share with a buffalo.

He did get some cash, but it did not last him long in the world outside his usual farming routine.

"We have a saying here that our land is our mother," Singh added sadly. "How can you get any respect when you have sold your mother?"

India's "Great Land Grab"

Singh's land is now part of the 25,000-acre Reliance-Haryana government Special Economic Zone (SEZ) -- a project encouraged by the Indian government to spur industrialisation, infrastructure development and push economic growth into double digits.

For foreign and domestic corporate giants, the SEZs are a tempting option -- promising a way around the country's notoriously slow, corrupt and spirit-crushing bureaucracy.
But opponents say the government is merely sidelining the still-crucial farm sector -- stealing labour and prime land from a sector which employs more than 60 percent of the workforce and generates more than a fifth of India's gross domestic product.

Journalist-turned-activist Praful Bidwai says the years 2006 and 2007 "will be noted in history for the launch of the Great Land Grab".

"It's happening across India," added social activist Vandana Shiva, pointing to farmers' protests in the Communist-ruled eastern West Bengal state in March.

Fourteen farmers were killed when police entered their village to evict them from land designated for a SEZ - causing a furore and polarising public opinion.

Not that land grabbing is a new concept in India - tribal peoples have long seen their forest land shrink with the march of urbanisation.

But SEZs are different, says Shiva. "These are enclaves of privilege, insulated from the laws of the land - whether it is labour laws or environment laws."

Democratic-corporate "schizophrenia"

So far, India has approved 303 SEZs and set aside 1,400 square kilometres (540 square miles) of land on which they are to be built.

According to India's trade ministry, the 126 enclaves already operating have generated 32,578 jobs, and this will swell to 1.5 million by December 2009. It also hopes SEZs will generate 25 billion dollars worth of exports in 2008-2009.

While the figures look impressive, critics argue that Indian democracy is suffering.

"When there is large scale displacement of people involved, you need their consent. In a democracy, people have the right to decide their own future," said prominent community activist Aruna Roy.

"All the villagers should decide -- not just the village headman." She also points to what she sees as the irony of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government -- elected on a pro-poor platform in May 2004, but aggressively pushing through the SEZs.

"It's a case of schizophrenia," Roy said. Those who may end up profiting from the affair are India's Maoists, who have seized on the land grabbing issue and already hold sway in much of the impoverished east.

"Agitations like the Maoists' insurgency are triggered by the repeated failure of governance to deliver basic rights," says Roy.

Economist Paranajoy Guha Thakurta says India's ambition to emulate the Chinese SEZ model is basically flawed - "because India is a democracy".

"The Chinese SEZs are like giant urban agglomerations, independent nation states with their own rules for labour and environment," he said.

India following the same model will only create "huge islands of industrial affluence in a sea of deprivation and poverty.

"This will be unacceptable in a democracy."

So guys lets have a debate on this as the SEZ is really a booming thing in our country.

[ROHAN KACHALIA]

Well according to me, India is going at a very rapid pace in sanctioning lands for SEZs without proper planning for the future of our farmers as hectares of their land have been taken away by industrialists which leave our poor farmers more debt ridden. The compensation given is also too little as compared to the inflation rate.

So I think we should go a little slow in allocating land and should not compare with China keeping in mind ours democracy.

[Wizard]

it is good for farmers they are getting good value for there land which was not given by farmers so it good for farmewr

[Wizard]

RECENTLY READ IN NEWS FARMERS OF SONIPAT HAVE BECOME MILLIONAIRE AFTER SELLING THERE LAND SO SO FAR SO GOOD

[kukrejanilesh]

not for framers but in the long run me must not curtail their development...but we must find the way of helping them

[mehernosh007]

It is good for farmers, if proper economic value is given to them in exchange for their land. However, at the same time, there should also be a scheme of providing employments to the farmers in the developed SEZ.

[squareleg]

No way. Its a curse. Everone knows how Reliance fooled one n all with Reliance Mobile, the way it was introduced. Initially they asked for all 36 Post Dated cheques, promising the service for 3 years and sayin the handset costed 10500/-. Same thing which they later gave for Rs.500/-

And the latest Reliance Power doom. Yes, iot a large conglomorate BUT one with least Dignity. News flash that Mukesh Ambani is the Richest Indian, and 4th in the World. And look at the Highest Taxpayers, both brothers r missing, news which was flashed abt 2 weeks ago. Some SRK, Mayawati top the list. Damn sure Mukesh earns hell lot then all others.

Again SEZ purpose itself is maligned. SEZ's r required ONLY for thos Upcoming Industries which deserve and require Govt Support to prosper. IT Revolution required it, Govt gave and today we r known worldwide for the same. Software Services. Again the point to be noted is it was INDUSTRY Specific, and not for each Corporate House own SEZ's, the way it is done today. Tatas , Videocons, DLF's n all have eyed their pie.

In the long run the displaced lot will take up some crime. Reason why we dont have peace. Barging into fertile motherland is the worst crime. The Naxalite n all problems we have is due to similar moves in the past which deprived the real owners of their dues. If one is really concerned they shud do it without acquiring the Land itself, make the farmer sleeping partner or get him involved in the process. Not by paying him today n displacing, ruining his life forever.

Does anyone think Reliance requires Govt. Support to Build a refinery?
Had it been Nanotechnology, Biotechnology then it is fine.

[amit67439]

indeed it s a bit tricky question to answer as the sez factor has been in news for the right and wrong reasons of late.. but what i would like to add is that sez is nevertheless a reality and at the same time a necessity in today's times..

[spy_gensa]

No sez is not a boon for the farmers because they have to loose their valuable land, and after that they have to go in another area or city for the work, there they have to arrange home and school for their childern so all these thing at last will be the same to the high price of the land which they wouls get. so at the end of the day they will be in lose.:

[kanthanmail]

its good for formers........................................... ....