New Delhi, May 20 There is strong evidence that past acquisitions of land for development have gone awry. That should serve as a warning, as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government enters the second year in office and proposes to continue its battle for a new, controversial land acquisition law.
A 2012-13 report of the Comptroller and Audit General of India, the official auditor of the central government, revealed these key findings:
– No more than 62 percent of land — much of it acquired from farmers — for special economic zones (SEZs) has been used for its intended purpose: to boost manufacturing, exports and jobs.
— Most SEZs are populated with information technology (IT) and IT-related companies, while manufacturing accounts for only 9 percent of all SEZ projects.
— SEZs fell short of their job, investment and exports targets by wide margins. For instance, they generated less than 8 percent of the jobs expected.
The auditor analysed a representative sample of 187 developers and 574 SEZ units spread across 13 states (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) and the union territory of Chandigarh for the period 2012-13.
The new land acquisition bill piloted by the government of Prime Minister Modi has been sent to a parliamentary committee for re-consideration after facing opposition and accused of being against farm interests.
The government’s argument is that India needs to fast track the bill, so that land can be made available for industries-to generate employment and power economic growth.
What about SEZs? They were created, with motives similar to those expressed by the government, under the Special Economic Zone Act, 2000. This was enacted in 2005 to make SEZs growth-engines of the economy. An SEZ is a specifically delineated duty-free enclave, deemed foreign territory for the purpose of trade operations, duties and tariffs.
The previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government cleared 576 SEZs covering 60,375 hectares, of which 392 SEZs covering 45,636 hectares were notified (approved land) till March 2014. But on the use of land, of the 392 notified zones, only 152 are operational, accounting ro4 28,489 hectares.
The land allotted to the remaining 424 SEZs (31,886 hectares) has not been put to use (52.8% of total approved SEZs), although approvals and notifications in 54 cases date back to 2006. A look at some states and the percentage of idle land, based on the audit report:
