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Special Economic Zone means an area of land that has been demarcated and is treated as a foreign territory for various purposes such as tariffs, trade, and duties. For example, an industrialist will have to pay no import duties or excise for goods imported
and produced there. However, they are required to export only one per cent of products produced in the SEZ. In addition, they will get cent per cent income tax exemption for 5 years. For the next 5 years, they are required to pay only half the tax if profits are ploughed back in the SEZ. Apparently, the Government of India has made several policies with regard to SEZs in the country and encourages the setting up of SEZs in the country, for they help in the economic and industrial growth of a nation. According to the Government of India's policy, a SEZ in the country has to be built on at least 1 thousand hectares or more of land. And so Land Acquisition on a massive scale is taking place in India so that more and more SEZs can be set-up in the country.

Land Acquisition for SEZs is taking place mainly in agricultural lands and the central and state governments are acquiring the land from the farmers. Across India, the total amount of land, which will be acquired, is around 150,000 hectares which is capable of producing around 1 million tons of agricultural produce. The various advantages of SEZs and Land Acquisition in India are that it has helped to bring in huge amounts of foreign currency into the country, increased the number of jobs for the people of the country, and has also helped to bring in highly technologically advanced machines into the country.

The various disadvantages of SEZs and Land Acquisition in India are: That it is estimated that more than 10 Lakh people who are dependent upon agricultural lands will be evicted from their lands and the farming families will have to face loss of around Rs. 212 Crore each year in total income. It will also lead to putting the food security of India at risk. SEZs and Land Acquisition in India has now resulted in dissent, uproar, and opposition from the farmers, for their livelihood has been put at stake.

SEZs and Land Acquisition has been taking place in India at a very fast pace over the last few years. The Government of India must make sure that Land Acquisition and SEZs must prove beneficial for the people of the country and not harmful. The government is opposed to forcible acquisition of land for setting up Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the country. Lands belonging to the farmers must not be sold to other parties. Instead, the ownership of the land must remain with the farmers themselves while the government could take it on lease from the farmers. If the ownership goes to the hands of the industrialists, then they will hand over the lands to the developers to develop, which will gradually bring in land mafias.

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Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth started his career as Lecturer at Post Graduate Dept. of Economics, Government College, Gurdaspur, and later at Khalsa College; Amritsar, specializes in Quantitative & Development Economics. Has the distinction of serving Punjab Agricultural Univ, Ludhiana, for more than 2 decades and remained Director-Principal of Saint Soldier Management & Technical Institute, Jalandhar. Currently, heading GAD Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar, a self-financed research institute. Has been honoured with various awards, including Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award, etc.
Article posted on January 17, 2009.