[Reader-list] draft on special economic zones

[Asit asitreds]

*The Simmering Dissent in the Indian Countryside – The Story of Special
Economic Zones.*

Asit


The Special Economic Zones have become serious zones of conflict in rural
India. The ghastly blood-bath at Nandigram was a stark indicator of the
discontent raging through the Indian countryside, there the West Bengal
State Police fired on the protesting farmers, who didn't want to part with
their lands, which the West Bengal Government had proposed for a Special
Economic Zone to be promoted by the Salim Group of Industries of Indonesia.
Apart from Nandigram, farmers have been protesting all over the country
against the forcible acquisition of their land for the proposed SEZs. Some
of the prominent zones of conflict vis-à-vis are Jagatsinghpur, Orissa
against proposed Posco SEZ, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Jhahar in Haryana
against the proposed large SEZ by Reliance Industries, Karla area in Pune
district in Maharashtra. Of late, there is news of farmers' protest from
various SEZs from Gujarat and Tamilnadu, as well.

Under the rubric of Globalization, when the neo-liberal offensive is
devastating the 'Culture and Commons' of the indigenous people of India
appropriating the land of the peasants in this process, thousands of acres
of land have been taken away from people, forcibly dispossessing millions of
Aadiwasis and Farmers in the name of high GDP growth and attracting foreign
direct investments. The whole issue of Special Economic Zones has to be seen
in the context of cataclysmic changes taking place in the global scale which
had devastating impact on third world societies. Much has been written on
the global restructuring by Civil Society Groups and the Political Left.
India shared the fate of most of the Third World societies where the
national liberation movements inspired hopes for millions of peasants that
they can lead a life of dignity free from the colonial yoke. The
post-independent journey of India started with a vision of self reliance and
egalitarianism with the state whose elected executives would play the role
of prime-movers. The Nehru Era saw 'Abolition of Landlordism and Investment
in Irrigation'. Land Reforms released the forces of production in the
countryside and the coming in of the Green Revolution brought in relative
prosperity in rural areas of Punjab, Haryana, Western U.P. and Coastal
Andhra, where high input intensive agriculture was adopted. This path of
"Nehruian" Model of growth had a flip side which the mainstream Media
concealed until social movements like Narmada Bachao, Koel Karo ,
Kalinganagar, Kashipur, Kalahandi, Tehri, etc. bought the other side of
post-independent rural reality and the simmering discontent. This path of
heavy industrialization and emphasis on modern infra-structures created
massive displacement. According to various sources, by mid-nineties, there
were more than 40 million farmers and Aadiwasis who were displaced by
various mega projects like dams, mines, factories and industrial township.
This is a whooping and revealing figure of the number of people displaced
which was more than the population of England. As mentioned earlier,  social
movements like Narmada and Tehri were indicators of the refusal of rural
masses to part with their land and homes in the name of development. As a
result of global restructuring. The Indian rulers adopted the neo-liberal
ideology ushered in through the new economic policies of 1991. All the
welfare provisions, concept of self-reliance, pro-farmers and labor regimes
were gradually dismantled, leaving vulnerable segments of the population
like women, dalits, farmers, Aadiwasis, etc. at the mercy of the market.
Thus, market became the new god in the era of Globalization. The Indian
rulers who had completely turned neo-liberal in the new millennium adopted
the Special Economic Zone Policy when the entire country was undergoing
acute agrarian crisis, the most horrifying  symptom of which was the high
number of incidences of farmers committing suicide by mid 2005 more than
1.5lakh ( hundred and fifty thousand ) farmers had committed suicide , this
phenomenon goes on unabated till today. Agriculture is having its lowest
growth rate since past five years . The Massive and forceful acquisition of
land had accelerated the on going misery and marginalization  of the rural
population. As result farmers are up in arms. Special Economic Zones were
the logical culmination of anti-people, anti-Farmers path pursued by the
Indian rulers which has other hazards apart from the massive dispossession
of the farmers and rural artisans. Large scale land acquisition for
Mega-Industrial projects, infrastructure projects and SEZs is transforming
the whole of the rural scenario in the country from bad to worse. To cover
up the devastation, the State Governments are half- heartedly bringing
rehabilitation and re-settlement policies. The land acquisition by the
Government ostensibly in the name of Public Interest, is in fact
transferring thousands of acres of fertile land to Multi-national Mega
Corporations like Posco, Salim and Indian big business houses likes Tata,
Jindal, Ambani and Birla. Through this process of displacement, land and
livelihoods are being alienated from the farmers and other sections of the
population, as mentioned earlier. Tens of millions of farmers and rural
artisans have already been displaced in the name of development.

Displacement has converted farmers, Adiwasis and rural artisans into
destitutes most of whom have been forced to become casual workers in urban
centres without any rights. Fear of displacement from their homes, from
their lands and livelihoods, from their community and thought of living the
rest of their lives as destitutes has suddenly become a reality for vast
masses of India. The very people, who according to the Government are
supposed to be benefiting from so called Industrialization in the form of R
& R benefits, jobs urban facilities, social and hospitals etc. are seen to
be opposing these policies the most. The fact is that no State Government to
have the intention and capacity for the rehabilitation of the displaced
people. The land grabbing through displacement is not only restricted to the
rural areas. In the urban areas, the slum dwellers are being forcibly
evicted to make way for city, beautification and gentrification,
establishment of huge malls, real estate development, widening of roads etc.
often without any compensation and alternate dwelling place for slum
dwellers. The slum dwellers of most of the large cities are now resorting to
protest movements against their growing dispossession and marginalization.
The establishment of SEZs is playing havoc with the rural population of
India. Primarily India is an agricultural country and more than 70% of
Indian people are dependent on agriculture and its ancillary activities. To
develop India any sensible policy will have to develop agriculture sector.
But for the past 60 years, The Indian ruling elite have never seriously
attempted apart from the high tech Green Revolution package, no attempt was
made to upgrade agricultural land both availability and quantitatively by
disturbing arable waste land to the poor and creating irrigation facilities.
Such measures would have increased agricultural production making farmers
prosperous which would have created demand for manufactured goods and
stimulated industrialization with employment opportunities, but instead
today the Indian agriculture is facing its worst crisis. The development of
India is impossible without the development of agriculture as in most
villages of India agriculture and allied livelihoods such as fishing, animal
husbandry, forestry are the only sustainable livelihoods for the majority of
the people. Today the Government is unable to provide any other sustainable
livelihood after taking away land and common property resources such as
forests, streams, ponds, grazing lands, etc. which are the basis of
agriculture and allied occupation. Implementation of pro-agri-business
agricultural policies in the name of Green Revolution imposition of GM
seeds, contract farming and corporate control of agricultural sector are the
basic elements of the neo-liberal agriculture policies which is extremely
harmful for most of the farmers and rural artisans. Farmers' suicides are
serious indications of this agrarian situation. This grave crisis will also
have a serious impact on food security for Indian rural population which is,
anyway, under tremendous strain. Therefore, the rural population is up in
arms to save their agricultural land, livelihood, common property resources
like forests, sources of water etc. We have to seriously campaign and
support the struggle for protection and restoration of Indian agriculture.
There is a necessity for instilling confidence amongst farmers and rural
artisans for alternative development models is possible different groups
across India are trying to implement alternate development models on a small
scale, different political forces, mass movements and civil society groups
working with people have their own version of alternative development models
on a small scale, different political forces, mass movements and civil
society groups working with people have their own version of alternative
development models. The farmers have realized that even in the prevailing
situation of agrarian crisis gripping the country there is no other option
but to stick to agriculture and allied occupations. Industrial development
of India has to be in the interest of the masses and it can only happen on
the basis of development of agriculture and the rural economy on the whole.
Therefore, the demand should be the development of agriculture and rural
economy in the interest of the vast masses of India.

The forcible displacement of the people from their lands and livelihoods for
establishment of mega- industries and infra-structural projects and
establishments of exclusive economic enclaves by multi-national corporations
and Indian big business in the name of SEZs is the anti- poor, pro-national
and Inter-national Big Business.

The Government of India has adopted policies which have left the urban and
rural poor including the medium farmers and urban lower middle classes in a
precarious situation when for even the basic necessities of life people have
increasingly become dependent on the market forces, which again are
controlled by the National and Inter-national big business houses viz. World
Bank, IMF, WTO, etc. The industrialization policy of the Government is not
aimed at supplementing the production capacity of those products which are
in demand by the masses, nor it is creating any additional employment for
the vast army of unemployed of the country as Mega- industries which are
encouraged by the Government and are established by the Global and Indian
big business are high-tech automated industries, having a very low
employment prospect. On the other hand, such industries are responsible for
large scale displacement and massive loss of employment. The present
emphasis is on those industries which would exhaust the mineral resources of
India in next 3 to 4 decades, while these semi-finalized and low value added
intermediate products will be exported for manufacturing high and costly
products which will be again imported to India at a huge cost. This
anti-farmer-pro-big-business-industrial and mining policy is encouraging
establishment of huge mineral based industries, industrial infrastructures
like roads, rail, power plant, water treatment plant, townships, SEZs, smart
cities, EPZs, etc. Especially the SEZs have resulted in farmers losing their
land and livelihoods. Massive unemployment is being caused, natural
resources are being exhausted at a rapid rate and nature is getting
devastated. The implementation of SEZ plicy is leading to creation of
exclusive zones where no laws of land are there to protect the rights of the
labour and that of the farmers. Infact these laws are anti-people. This path
of industrialization that is displacing vast masses of the farmers and rural
artisans, will spell disaster for the country as a whole. Therefore, the
establishment of SEZ is playing havoc with the lives of the entire rural
population including the adiwasis. This path of industrialization through
Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign Institutional Investment have given
priority for establishing SEZs throughout India solely for the super profits
of the International and National big business. For the establishment of
SEZs, the various state Governments have ruthlessly used the "Colonial 1894
Land Acquisition Act", forcibly evacuating people, destroying their cultural
moorings, social peace and livelihood, all in the name of growth, while on
the other hand SEZs which have been described as a foreign territory in the
SEZ Act of 2005 have been given the status of separate enclaves where no law
of the land or Constitutional provisions will apply. The development
commissioner appointed by the State Government will govern the SEZ with
private security, own laws and own regimes of justice and maintenance of law
and order. Neither the Civil Laws and Labor Laws nor any other laws of land
will be honored in these enclaves. This status of separate foreign
territories enables the corporate houses to exploit labor ruthlessly.
Working conditions will be deteriorated; working hours will be arbitrarily
increased to 12 to 14 hours. No work safety measures will be taken. Since
the work in these zones is given to contractors, the workers will be paid
low wages. No payments for weekly offs, no lease with wages, no medical
leave, no Provident Fund, no ES, no recreational facilities, no gratuity,
almost no social security will be provided to the workers. Accidents in the
work places are bound to increase. No workmen's compensation will be paid.
Women workers will be even more exploited.

The SEZs are the most advanced and deadliest weapons of the neo-liberal
re-structuring apart from dispossessions of millions of farmers and artisans
it devastates their cultural milieu and these enclaves here no laws of land
will apply is akin to re-colonization of the Third World.

The massive outburst of anger of the people of Nandigram, the ongoing
struggle against POSCO SEZ in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa , the struggle in Raigar
and many other places and the  country–wide resistance against forcible
acquisition of land by the Government for the SEZs to be developed by Indian
and International big businesses has forced the Government of India to
announced the rulers under the SEZ Act 2005, according to which the private
corporate sector will purchase land straight from the farmers even after
this decision of the Government of India everywhere Police is intervening on
behalf of the corporate sector the case in point is struggle against the
Korean giant POSCO SEZ in Orissa. After the local people confronted the
Posco officials, the police intervened on behalf of Posco with an intention
of terrorizing the people and forcing them to surrender their land, these
interventions of police force on behalf of the corporate sector against
struggling farmers happens all over India, the list is endless. This exposes
the dual face of the Central and State Government, who go out of their way
to acquire land for the corporate sector while mouthing pro-people platitude
in public platforms and legislatures.

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In the light of the above importance of the peasant resistance to the
Special Economic Zones, a study was undertaken to understand the concrete
reasons of farmers' opposition to the SEZs. The Maha-mumbai SEZ promoted by
Reliance Industries in Raigad District in Maharashtra and the Mahindra and
Mahidra SEZ promoted by Mahindra Group at Karla in Pune District of
Maharashtra were selected for the study.

The field work was done between 20th, July, 2007 and 5th, September, 2007.
The methodology adopted was 'Qualitative" interviews of respondents from
different castes, occupations and gender in the Panvel, Pan and Uran Tehsils
of Raigad Diatricts and of 6 villages in Karla area of Maval Tehsil of Pune
district.

In the next 20 days, the field data will be analyzed and the report will be
drafted.

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