The mass protest against SEZs gains momentum as the list of SEZs gets longer. The menace of huge displacement and the government’s pathetic record on rehabilitation imparts urgency to the situation. Faced with stiff resistance mounted by the local populations, farmers, agricultural labourers and villagers, some people have started saying that fertile cropland should not be divested for industrialisation and whenever possible, SEZs should come up on wasteland and not on very good farmland. Land is a state subject and the state governments are acquiring huge tracts of agricultural land from the farmers under the pretext of ‘public interest’, using the colonial Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
India has 55.2 million ha of wasteland (Down to Earth, Nov. 15, 2006). Acquiring wasteland for SEZs has been touted as an acceptable compromise, but several questions need to be answered because wastelands seem to be in high demand. As per the Planning Commission report 11 million ha is needed for Jatropha plantation. As per the Confederation of Indian Industry estimates 36 million ha is needed for the paper and pulp industry.
India has 55.2 million ha of wasteland (Down to Earth, Nov. 15, 2006). Acquiring wasteland for SEZs has been touted as an acceptable compromise, but several questions need to be answered because wastelands seem to be in high demand. As per the Planning Commission report 11 million ha is needed for Jatropha plantation. As per the Confederation of Indian Industry estimates 36 million ha is needed for the paper and pulp industry.
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