Difference between revisions of "Special Economic Zones"

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land allotted for SEZs was misused and diverted. This is especially important in the light of the discussion happening around the Land Acquisition Ordinance of the NDA government.(Report number 21 of 2014 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Performance of Special Economic Zones (SEZs))
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The government of India had first announced a comprehensive SEZ policy in April 2000 as part of its EXIM Policy. It was shortly followed by the Special Economic Zone Act in February 2006.
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'''Diversion of SEZ land for commercial purposes:''' 14% of land i.e., out of 39245.56 hectares of land notified in the six States. 10,5402.22 hectares was diverted for commercial purposes after de-notification. Many tracts of these lands were acquired invoking the ‘public purpose’ clause. Thus, land acquired was not serving the objectives of the SEZ act.  
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<br>
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Restricted land allotted for SEZ activity:  Nine (9) SEZs were allotted land which was restricted under various statutes (Defence, Forest, Irrigated land) in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal involving 2949.61 hectares of restricted land as detailed below.
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The act aimed to promote economic growth and development in the form of greater economic activity, promotion of investment, the creation of infrastructure, the growth of employment, and promotion of exports.  
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<br>
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However, SEZs are a prime example of government land grabbing and over-reach of power. The country has witnessed several protests resisting land acquisition initiatives for SEZs.
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{|class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 33%
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|+ style="color:#2B3990;"|<ref>, Special Economic Zone - Vacant Land [http://www.sezindia.nic.in/writereaddata/GeneralNotifications/VACANT%20LAND%20AREA%20AVILABLE%20IN%20SEZs.pdf "CAG"]</ref>
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'''Land lying vacant as % of total SEZ land'''
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! scope="col" style="width: 15px;" | #
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! scope="col" style="width: 150px;" | State
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! scope="col" style="width: 100px;" | (%)   
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|-
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| 1|| Andhra Pradesh || 48
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|-
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| 2|| Gujrat || 47
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|-
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| 3|| Karnataka || 56
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|-
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| 4|| Maharashtra || 70
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|-
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| 5|| Odisha || 96
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|-
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| 6|| Tamilnadu || 49
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|-
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| 7|| West Bengal || 96
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|}
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There are more than 72,847 acres across the country that lies unused and vacant. SEZs promised cheap land prices and tax breaks. These easy incentives lead to land large tracts of land acquisition by private parties only to be abandoned later.  
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The land is the most crucial part of the scheme - out of 1,12,768 acre of land notified in the country for SEZ purposes, operations commenced in only 70,396 acres (62.42%) of land.
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According to CAG<ref> Performance of Special Economic Zones [https://www.cag.gov.in/sites/default/files/audit_report_files/Union_Performance_Dept_Revenue_Indirect_Taxes_Special_Economic_Zones_SEZs_21_2014.pdf ]CAG, 2012-13 </ref>, out of the 392 notified zones, only 152 has become operational. In various states, the Developers had not commenced investments and the land had been lying idle in their custody for as long as 7 years.  
  
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{|class="wikitable sortable"
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Several processing areas established under the SEZ have unutilized land parcels locked. One such instance is the case of Adani Ports. Out of the notified area of 16,000 acres, only 2,060 acres was utilized leaving 13,934 acres un-utilized.
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Refer to the map and the table accompanying for more details of this wasted land.
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
  
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!width:10em| Nature of Land
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[[File:SEZ fixed 01.png|left|sub|middle|Map 1]]
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!width:10em| Area of Land Notified as SEZ
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<br>
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!width:3em| Area of Land Under restricted category
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<br>
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!width:6em| Area of Land % of restricted land notified as SEZ
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{|class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 50%
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|+ style="color:#2B3990;"|<ref>SEZ, [http://www.sezindia.nic.in/writereaddata/GeneralNotifications/VACANT%20LAND%20AREA%20AVILABLE%20IN%20SEZs.pdf "CAG"]</ref>
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'''Special Economic Zones''' 
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! scope="col" style="width: 15px;" | #
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! scope="col" style="width: 150px;" | State
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! scope="col" style="width: 100px;" | Area (acre)
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! scope="col" style="width: 100px;" | Value (₹ crore)
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|-
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| 1||style="text-align:left;"|Chandigarh||style="text-align:center;"|84||style="text-align:right;"|170
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|-
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| 2||style="text-align:left;"|Punjab||style="text-align:center;"|74||style="text-align:right;"|150
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|-
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| 3||style="text-align:left;"|Haryana||style="text-align:center;"|86||style="text-align:right;"|174
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|-
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| 4||style="text-align:left;"|Uttar Pradesh||style="text-align:center;"|513||style="text-align:right;"|1,038
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|-
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| 5||style="text-align:left;"|Rajasthan||style="text-align:center;"|8018||style="text-align:right;"|16,224
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|-
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| 6||style="text-align:left;"|Nagaland||style="text-align:center;"|123||style="text-align:right;"|249
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|-
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| 7||style="text-align:left;"|Jharkhand||style="text-align:center;"|39||style="text-align:right;"|79
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|-
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| 8||style="text-align:left;"|Madhya Pradesh||style="text-align:center;"|1213||style="text-align:right;"|2,454
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|-
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| 9||style="text-align:left;"|Gujarat||style="text-align:center;"|12713||style="text-align:right;|25,724
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|-
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| 10||style="text-align:left;"|West Bengal ||style="text-align:center;"|271||style="text-align:right;"|548
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|-
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| 11||style="text-align:left;"|Chattisgarh||style="text-align:center;"|93||style="text-align:right;"|188
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|-
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| 12||style="text-align:left;"|Odisha ||style="text-align:center;"|753||style="text-align:right;"|1,524
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|-
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| 13||style="text-align:left;"|Dadra&Nagar Haveli||style="text-align:center;"|24||style="text-align:right;"|49
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|-
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| 14||style="text-align:left;"|Maharashtra||style="text-align:center;"|20461||style="text-align:right;"|41,401
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|-
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| 15||style="text-align:left;"|Telangana||style="text-align:center;"|9,318||style="text-align:right;"|18,854
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|-
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| 16||style="text-align:left;"|Goa||style="text-align:center;"|612||style="text-align:right;"|1,238
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|-
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| 17||style="text-align:left;"|Andhra Pradesh||style="text-align:center;"|8300||style="text-align:right;"|16,794
 
|-
 
|-
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| [[Nature of Land]] || [[State|State]] [[Area of Land Notified as SEZ]] || [[Area of Land Under restricted category]] || [[Area of Land % of restricted land notified as SEZ]] ||
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| 18||style="text-align:left;"|Karnataka||style="text-align:center;"|2567||style="text-align:right;"|5,194
 
|-
 
|-
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| [[File:Cricket pictogram.svg|20px]] [[One day cricket|Cricket (ODI)]] || [[Cricket World Cup]] || [[1987 Cricket World Cup|1987]] || Multiple venues
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| 19||style="text-align:left;"|Tamil Nadu||style="text-align:center;"|6765||style="text-align:right;"|13,689
 
|-
 
|-
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| [[Multi-sport event]] || [[South Asian Games]] || [[1987 South Asian Games|1987]] || [[Kolkata]]
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| 20||style="text-align:left;"|Kerala||style="text-align:center;"|820||style="text-align:right;"|1,659
 
|-
 
|-
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| scope = "row" colspan = "2" align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Total'''
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| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|''' 72,847 acre'''
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| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''₹ 1,47,401 crore'''
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|}
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<br>
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Information pulled from publicly available data sources points out about 72, 847 acre of land parcels are lying vacant and unused across the country.
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<br>
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This is roughly equivalent to 55,187 football fields. <ref> Size of a football field = 1.32 acre </ref>. With a conservative price of Rs. 5,000 / sq. metre and an FSI of 1 the value of this wasted land is Rs. 1.47 lakh crore.
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<br>
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The policies set out for SEZs proved to uproot thousands of communities across the country, only to lead to land locking and wastage.
 +
==References==

Latest revision as of 13:07, 24 October 2018

The government of India had first announced a comprehensive SEZ policy in April 2000 as part of its EXIM Policy. It was shortly followed by the Special Economic Zone Act in February 2006.
The act aimed to promote economic growth and development in the form of greater economic activity, promotion of investment, the creation of infrastructure, the growth of employment, and promotion of exports.
However, SEZs are a prime example of government land grabbing and over-reach of power. The country has witnessed several protests resisting land acquisition initiatives for SEZs.

[1] Land lying vacant as % of total SEZ land
# State (%)
1 Andhra Pradesh 48
2 Gujrat 47
3 Karnataka 56
4 Maharashtra 70
5 Odisha 96
6 Tamilnadu 49
7 West Bengal 96

There are more than 72,847 acres across the country that lies unused and vacant. SEZs promised cheap land prices and tax breaks. These easy incentives lead to land large tracts of land acquisition by private parties only to be abandoned later. The land is the most crucial part of the scheme - out of 1,12,768 acre of land notified in the country for SEZ purposes, operations commenced in only 70,396 acres (62.42%) of land. According to CAG[2], out of the 392 notified zones, only 152 has become operational. In various states, the Developers had not commenced investments and the land had been lying idle in their custody for as long as 7 years.

Several processing areas established under the SEZ have unutilized land parcels locked. One such instance is the case of Adani Ports. Out of the notified area of 16,000 acres, only 2,060 acres was utilized leaving 13,934 acres un-utilized. Refer to the map and the table accompanying for more details of this wasted land.



Map 1



[3] Special Economic Zones
# State Area (acre) Value (₹ crore)
1 Chandigarh 84 170
2 Punjab 74 150
3 Haryana 86 174
4 Uttar Pradesh 513 1,038
5 Rajasthan 8018 16,224
6 Nagaland 123 249
7 Jharkhand 39 79
8 Madhya Pradesh 1213 2,454
9 Gujarat 12713 25,724
10 West Bengal 271 548
11 Chattisgarh 93 188
12 Odisha 753 1,524
13 Dadra&Nagar Haveli 24 49
14 Maharashtra 20461 41,401
15 Telangana 9,318 18,854
16 Goa 612 1,238
17 Andhra Pradesh 8300 16,794
18 Karnataka 2567 5,194
19 Tamil Nadu 6765 13,689
20 Kerala 820 1,659
Total 72,847 acre ₹ 1,47,401 crore


Information pulled from publicly available data sources points out about 72, 847 acre of land parcels are lying vacant and unused across the country.
This is roughly equivalent to 55,187 football fields. [4]. With a conservative price of Rs. 5,000 / sq. metre and an FSI of 1 the value of this wasted land is Rs. 1.47 lakh crore.
The policies set out for SEZs proved to uproot thousands of communities across the country, only to lead to land locking and wastage.

References

  1. ↑ , Special Economic Zone - Vacant Land "CAG"
  2. ↑ Performance of Special Economic Zones [1]CAG, 2012-13
  3. ↑ SEZ, "CAG"
  4. ↑ Size of a football field = 1.32 acre
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