Is SEZ really a boon for the farmers?

Having lost the only kind of livelihood they knew, they caught in the whirlpool of debt. Another argument being used to dent the critics is how farmers could be rehabilitated with jobs in the zones. Most of them are going to be Information Technology related and how are farmers going to do a nine to six job at a desk or with machines they do not understand? The issues that arise are far too sticky to have immediate and easy solutions.
 
Having lost the only kind of livelihood they knew, they caught in the whirlpool of debt. Another argument being used to dent the critics is how farmers could be rehabilitated with jobs in the zones. Most of them are going to be Information Technology related and how are farmers going to do a nine to six job at a desk or with machines they do not understand? The issues that arise are far too sticky to have immediate and easy solutions...
 
It may not be so easy to find wasteland that is well connected to airports or ports. But it is an option that the government is now seriously looking at as anti-SEZ voices get louder.
 
The government may use the Land Acquisition Act to force farmers say goodbye to their land after compensating them in cash, but the aam aadmi factor looms large especially as elections are concerned
 
No wonder ministers and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi are treading carefully on the SEZ bomb. She categorically said that good agricultural land should not be acquired for SEZ’s.
 
In India, farmers are emotional about the land that they have farmed for years and just giving it up so that industry can be set up, is not something that can be easily digested.
 
Already, there have been numerous protests and farmers are now realizing the need to stick together to defend their right to their farmland.
 
The government is touting SEZ’s as the future islands of excellence. But at what cost will it be achieved? That is the moot question.
 
As thousands of acres of agricultural land are converted into concrete jungles, how will it affect food security? Will the farmers who are ready to give off their land get a fair deal?
 
Most of them fear they will get peanuts compared to what the developers will make. Punjab Chief Minister, Capt. Amrinder Singh, has already gone on record saying that land acquisition is a deal between the farmers and the SEZ developers and the government has nothing to do with it.
 
The enthusiasm that the government has in setting up the SEZ’s underline an ugly fact that even after five long decades of independence, we still do not have the kind of decent infrastructure in the country that should have normally been the case.
 
Services should have been available to all, but it could not be created and so now, there will be special areas demarcated for special people.
 
The others will continue to live without power, water, roads and green areas. Islands of prosperity where the rich are ecologically subsidized are okay, while the lesser mortals live on the fringe
 
Indian agriculture is facing a policy paradox. It has been primarily characterised as a means of subsistence, small investments, small return and a source of livelihood for the rural households.
 
Till recent past element of commerce was limited to a few commercial crops such as jute, sugarcane, cotton etc to provide raw material for particular industries rather than fulfilling the household needs
 
Whereas India’s agricultural policy is still rooted in the goal of self-sufficiency in grains, consumption patterns are changing fast towards high value agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, livestock products and fish
 
The policy environment is lagging behind the structural change occurring in India’s consumption and production basket. To develop the agriculture on commercial lines to achieve its accelerated growth rates, the issues of profitability is coming upfront.
 
Hence, the favourable term of trade with effective market access is basic. This would be conducive to capitalise on resources potential based production through regionally differentiated production strategies to meet the growing and fast changing market demand.
 
For demand driven and market oriented production, timely backstopping of desired quality of inputs and appropriate technology to start with and necessary mechanism to ensure its availability in the desired form to the consumer ending with finished products, is required to be harmonised and in a continuum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top