04-12-2007, 07:21 AM
Policy on SEZs
First. The peasantry is deeply disturbed with government policy on SEZs, which in their present form and configuration can only constitute a grave threat to the integrity and security of our agrarian society rendering it vulnerable to dislocation and economic exploitation .The Indian farmer is already the most marginalised majority in society today.
Second: The ramifications of the current policy are manifold and far reaching. The peasantry is the only lifesource of the nationâs innate strength from times immemorial, the powerhouse of self-reliance most importantly in food without being hostage to external dependency and a granary of unmatched human resource for our soldiery with its roots in land it tills which instills its patriotic fervour as displayed over a historical continuum and which no other segment of society can claim. Our land frontiers are protected with this instinct The Jawan and Kisan are thus traditionally interwoven in a natural bond as nowhere on the globe. Our social cohesion and cultural identity too are deeply rooted in peasantry unique to our nation and comparable with none, which cannot be traded off for avoidable commercial ends. It must be noted that post 1857 the British enacted laws under their Company to break the back of our peasantry for the threat it could pose against their rule by cleverly converting agricultural into a marketable commodity. We follow the same laws. Dislocation or threat of this to rural communities therefore means much more than mere displacement of one human activity by another. It means making inroads into our stability and security. Any measures, which erode our agricultural base by exploitation of arable land, will also in light of definitive UN report, predicting acute impact on agriculture on account of global warming and climate change, can become a direct threat to our social and national security. SEZs must not therefore be allowed to encroach on agricultural land.
These should be dispersed over fallow land so as to instead stimulate horizontal growth and development of neglected regions.
Third: Current methodology of economic growth is disturbing in many ways being driven by preference for corporate âconvenienceâ in an attempt at transforrmation into an economically super state through quick fix routes emulating alien models. The Chinese experiment by one party communist system using capitalist tools is their genius and cannot be implemented in our conditions. Even this despite their efficient rehabilitation policy, of which we have none, is proving worrying to them. In our context SEZs can only create more islands of selective prosperity in vertical proliferation of growth surrounded by ocean of neglect. Without horizontal proliferation of growth and diffusion economic benefits there can be no security nor an economic super state let alone superpower. For SEZs managed by pure corporate vested interests will accentuate class conflicts and take urban rural divide to dangerous levels by throwing out agriculture work force, increasing youth unemployment with migration to cities of unproductive manpower, further congesting âdevelopedâ regions largely contiguous to major centres. It is a pipe dream to expect that we will become an industrial power through mere urbanization in alliance with SEZs as we are three centuries behind any mass movement for scientific or industrial revolution with no signs of this in the face of skewed education policies accenting on âprivatizationâ to churn out management work horses to feed MNCs. Merely this cannot be nation building.
Fourth: There aught to be a rethink on SEZs as even J Bhagwati the patriarch of globalisation has ruled out SEZs in our context. But while this debate resurges SEZs must carry a patriotic responsibility with a mandatory role in support of communities affected or dislodged by them and regions within a defined radius of their impact. The nature of missions can be SEZ specific but capacity and competence building of community specially to fit it for absorption and employment must be obligatory. In one SEZ it was reported that despite promising employment of locals, this was not done and skilled workers were enrolled from outside the state. The new policy stipulating employment of at least one member of the displaced family is bound to in practice prove perfunctory and token with no tangible results or commitment from corporate, a bonus to assuage conscious as it were. Training and education must spearhead any deployment on ground to obviate need for inducting outside workforce, through institutionalization of interface between SEZs and the affected. Any default should be penalized by levy of 2% tax to be utilized for community training, education and habitat development schemes.
Fifth: SEZs will be big polluters. Strong safeguards against carbon emission and commitment to environment must be extracted while licensing these bodies. The State must also ensure that SEZs do not become a haven for generating wasteful consumer consumption focused on churning profits promoting elitist lifestyle in further softening of our society for which we have a great penchant or for creating a parallel economy with private access to strategic assets of the nation, especially in light of liberal FDI policy. Under no circumstances should the State abdicate its control on strategic minerals and products while also ensuring that SEZs do not become bastions of free enterprises in control of foreign shareholders.
Fifth: A total review of SEZ concept is essential for peace and harmony the fundamentals without which no nation can forge ahead in progress. Corporate capitalism is beneficial only when it does not generate counter currents at cross-purposes with national interests and basic needs of the common man to lend dignity to his life. What are these national interests must be spelled out by the State. SEZs must therefore have a higher direction and a soul if at all the nation must live with this entity.
maj gen aps chauhan (rtd)
For Sainiksangh
First. The peasantry is deeply disturbed with government policy on SEZs, which in their present form and configuration can only constitute a grave threat to the integrity and security of our agrarian society rendering it vulnerable to dislocation and economic exploitation .The Indian farmer is already the most marginalised majority in society today.
Second: The ramifications of the current policy are manifold and far reaching. The peasantry is the only lifesource of the nationâs innate strength from times immemorial, the powerhouse of self-reliance most importantly in food without being hostage to external dependency and a granary of unmatched human resource for our soldiery with its roots in land it tills which instills its patriotic fervour as displayed over a historical continuum and which no other segment of society can claim. Our land frontiers are protected with this instinct The Jawan and Kisan are thus traditionally interwoven in a natural bond as nowhere on the globe. Our social cohesion and cultural identity too are deeply rooted in peasantry unique to our nation and comparable with none, which cannot be traded off for avoidable commercial ends. It must be noted that post 1857 the British enacted laws under their Company to break the back of our peasantry for the threat it could pose against their rule by cleverly converting agricultural into a marketable commodity. We follow the same laws. Dislocation or threat of this to rural communities therefore means much more than mere displacement of one human activity by another. It means making inroads into our stability and security. Any measures, which erode our agricultural base by exploitation of arable land, will also in light of definitive UN report, predicting acute impact on agriculture on account of global warming and climate change, can become a direct threat to our social and national security. SEZs must not therefore be allowed to encroach on agricultural land.
These should be dispersed over fallow land so as to instead stimulate horizontal growth and development of neglected regions.
Third: Current methodology of economic growth is disturbing in many ways being driven by preference for corporate âconvenienceâ in an attempt at transforrmation into an economically super state through quick fix routes emulating alien models. The Chinese experiment by one party communist system using capitalist tools is their genius and cannot be implemented in our conditions. Even this despite their efficient rehabilitation policy, of which we have none, is proving worrying to them. In our context SEZs can only create more islands of selective prosperity in vertical proliferation of growth surrounded by ocean of neglect. Without horizontal proliferation of growth and diffusion economic benefits there can be no security nor an economic super state let alone superpower. For SEZs managed by pure corporate vested interests will accentuate class conflicts and take urban rural divide to dangerous levels by throwing out agriculture work force, increasing youth unemployment with migration to cities of unproductive manpower, further congesting âdevelopedâ regions largely contiguous to major centres. It is a pipe dream to expect that we will become an industrial power through mere urbanization in alliance with SEZs as we are three centuries behind any mass movement for scientific or industrial revolution with no signs of this in the face of skewed education policies accenting on âprivatizationâ to churn out management work horses to feed MNCs. Merely this cannot be nation building.
Fourth: There aught to be a rethink on SEZs as even J Bhagwati the patriarch of globalisation has ruled out SEZs in our context. But while this debate resurges SEZs must carry a patriotic responsibility with a mandatory role in support of communities affected or dislodged by them and regions within a defined radius of their impact. The nature of missions can be SEZ specific but capacity and competence building of community specially to fit it for absorption and employment must be obligatory. In one SEZ it was reported that despite promising employment of locals, this was not done and skilled workers were enrolled from outside the state. The new policy stipulating employment of at least one member of the displaced family is bound to in practice prove perfunctory and token with no tangible results or commitment from corporate, a bonus to assuage conscious as it were. Training and education must spearhead any deployment on ground to obviate need for inducting outside workforce, through institutionalization of interface between SEZs and the affected. Any default should be penalized by levy of 2% tax to be utilized for community training, education and habitat development schemes.
Fifth: SEZs will be big polluters. Strong safeguards against carbon emission and commitment to environment must be extracted while licensing these bodies. The State must also ensure that SEZs do not become a haven for generating wasteful consumer consumption focused on churning profits promoting elitist lifestyle in further softening of our society for which we have a great penchant or for creating a parallel economy with private access to strategic assets of the nation, especially in light of liberal FDI policy. Under no circumstances should the State abdicate its control on strategic minerals and products while also ensuring that SEZs do not become bastions of free enterprises in control of foreign shareholders.
Fifth: A total review of SEZ concept is essential for peace and harmony the fundamentals without which no nation can forge ahead in progress. Corporate capitalism is beneficial only when it does not generate counter currents at cross-purposes with national interests and basic needs of the common man to lend dignity to his life. What are these national interests must be spelled out by the State. SEZs must therefore have a higher direction and a soul if at all the nation must live with this entity.
maj gen aps chauhan (rtd)
For Sainiksangh