Special Exploitation Zones
A Pakistani newspaper reported today about our SEZ,
++ Special Economic Zones (SEZ) is a pseudonym for a new tsunami let loose on the Indian working class and peasantry by the Indian State.
++ With the recent trend in government policies, this act is not a very big surprise, but by far it is the most blatant and extreme form of exploitation inflicted on the Indian poor by its own government.
++ The Act mandates 25 per cent of the land to be used for economic activity or cash flow generating activity. The rest can just be real estate. When the government takes 1,000 acres of good fertile agricultural land from farmers and gives it to Reliance, Reliance can build houses or golf courses on 750 acres of it and it would be legal, as long as rest of the 250 acres is used to generate economic activity, which could very well be IT centers and shopping malls.
++ These Zones would be alien lands within the Indian nation - twenty-one different Indian laws are inapplicable within the Zone, one of the most important being the Panchayat law.
++ The very core of democracy - the right to self- determination, the sovereignty of the people living in these Zones will be taken away overnight. Almost all governance of the Zones is the responsibility of the Development Commissioner. Far from being elected by the people living in the Zones, this person will be appointed directly by the Central Government.
++ SEZs have been declared as a Public Utility Service - shopping malls, recreation centers, golf courses included!
++ This provision will easily be exploited to hire and fire workers, crack down on organising and restrict all kind of union activity. There will be no respite from unfair, exploitative business practices that many of the prospective SEZ developers are known to practice even outside these zones.
++ There has been no effort to check the SEZ experience in other countries. The experience in China has been that of companies wrapping up their industries once the tax holidays terminate. What happens then? The Indian State waives off all revenue generating taxes to encourage investment and when the time comes for the multinationals to pay back, they can just wrap up and leave?
++ One hundred-fifty Special Exploitation Zones have already been sanctioned. This means 70,000 hectares of land is being grabbed as we read this.