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SEZ changes inadequate : CPI(M)

	April 09, 2007

The Left parties have not taken kindly to what they call”inadequate changes” in the Special Economic Zones policy suggested by the Empowered Group of Ministers last week. The CPI(M) has said that it will raise the matter in Parliament if the Government proceeds with the SEZs in the present form. The party politburo in a statement on April 6

said the changes suggested by the Group of Ministers are totally inadequate and fall far short of what is required.



The CPI(M) ire was especially at what it called the exorbitant and unjustified tax concessions given to SEZs. The politburo said the Government of India stands to lose tens of thousands of crores of rupees in revenue because of iniquitous tax bonanza given under the SEZ Act. The party also criticised what it called the proliferation of SEZs. It wanted reduction in the minimum and maximum areas specified for SEZs.



The provision suggested by the GoM that the state governments will not be involved in acquisition of land also came in for criticism from the CPI(M). The party said allowing a corporate to buy large tracts of land for SEZs will put small farmers, tenants and

agricultural workers at the mercy of land sharks. This will also enable private entities to own, rather than lease, thousands of acres of land, subverting land ceiling as well as town planning laws.



The CPI which had taken on the CPI (M) on the Nandigram issue, was quick to “condemn” the eGoM’s decision and vowed to intensity its struggle. “This is

an open declaration of acquiring huge tracts of agricultural land despite all earlier pretensions that they will exercise caution and give a fresh look at the issue. They have carried on as before and yielded to the demands of land grabbing entrepreneurs. To put

the cap on 5000 hectares amounts to declaring that the sky is the limit for land to be grabbed whether with or without the government’s direct help,” the party said

in a statement. According to the party, the promise of a job for one member of a family that will be displaced was a “mockery of the rehabilitation process.” Likewise, the

provision that 50 per cent of the land should be used for the project amounted to throwing dust in the eyes of the people, it alleged.



Congressmen, however, were confident that the eGoM’s decision was in line with the benchmark set by party president Sonia Gandhi during the Congress Chief Ministers’ conclave at Nainital last September.



Sonia has said that SEZs should not be set up on agricultural land, farmers should be adequately compensated for their land and made stake holders in the projects set up on their land.



“It is not the concept of SEZ which is questioned or questionable but its application and scope. The Congress remains the first party to insist on and stipulate valuable safeguards,” said spokesman Abhishek Singhvi.





Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has welcomed the Congress decision of increasing the processing area from 35 per cent to 50 per cent in a particular SEZ.



Action-2007, a recently formed conglomerate of close to 200 people’s movements and NGOs, called the government’s decision to lift the freeze on Special Economic Zone by clearing 83 SEZs and imposing a cap of 5,000 hectares on maximum permissible land

size of a zone “still land grab with minimum backtracks and false promises”.



“It is clear that the massacre of Nandigram and struggles in Punjab or Andhra Pradesh led to bowing the corporates and the states. But instead of ensuring security and justice to farmers and labourers, the government continues to ensure profiteering of corporates,” they said.



The group said without holding a dialogue with the farmers’ organisations and civil society groups, the decision of the government was undemocratic, warning that “the UPA’s betrayal of farmers, labourers and fish workers will prove costly”.