Message from People's Audit of Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to the People’s Audit of Mangalore SEZ (MSEZ) at Bajpe village (15 km from Mangalore town), Dakshin Kannada district, Karnataka, on November 8, 2009.

Of the 88 approved SEZs in Karnataka, the MSEZ is the only sector specific petroleum and petrochemicals SEZ in the state, and is a public undertaking. The major promoter of the MSEZ is the Navaratna ONGC Ltd., other shareholders being the state agency Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), and the local Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). The project has two stages, with Phase 1 acquiring 1800 acres of land and Phase 2 covering an additional 2035 acres.

It must be noted that the MSEZ is merely the first stage of the process of large scale industrialization of the Dakshin Kannada region. According to the concept plan of the proposed Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Industrial Region (PCPIR) in the area, an additional 74,131 acres of land are to be acquired over the next 20 years with further expansion of SEZs within the PCPIR.

Dakshin Kannada district lies in an ecologically sensitive zone (between the Western Ghats on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west). The Western Ghats are home to some of the last remaining pristine forests of India that are inhabited by a large number of endemic, rare and endangered species of plants and animals. The area receives heavy rainfall, supporting a strong agrarian economy centered on grains, pulses, horticulture and plantations. It has a dense network of rivers and estuaries that have contributed to a strong fisheries sector.  

The People’s Audit of MSEZ, along with an eminent panel of social scientists, economists, retired bureaucrats, journalists and other esteemed individuals will critically examine issues emerging around MSEZ/ PCPIR, of land acquisition; displacement; environmental impact; corruption; compensation, employment generation, livelihood loss and labour rights as well as questions of development and economic growth.

Your participation and engagement in this People’s Audit would prove extremely valuable in critically examining the unfolding political economy of SEZs and in articulating the development needs of the state. We hope that you will join us in this process and since this is a largely people’s initiative we are requesting participants to find support for travel to Mangalore. We will make all necessary arrangements for your food and stay within the area and travel from Mangalore to Bajpe.

This effort has been jointly initiated by the Karavali Karnataka Janaabhivriddhi Vedike (KKJV), a forum of farmers, social activists, individuals and groups and the Krishi Bhoomi Samrakshana Samiti (KBSS), and supported by the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India Centre for Human Rights Lawyers Network (ICHRLN) and National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS).

Brief Background:

The SEZ Act was enacted in India in 2005 and since, 1046 SEZs have already been approved in the country with many in various stages of approval, land acquisition or completion as the case may be. SEZs have invited controversy and peasant resistance in many quarters and have become bones of contention between the state, the developers and ordinary citizens.

To recap some of the features of the law: the Special Economic Zone Act 2005 deems SEZs as “public purpose.” The definition of manufacturing in the Act includes manufacturing and production processes, and includes agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, floriculture, horticulture, pisciculture, poultry, sericulture, viticulture, mining and services. This comprehensive inclusion of all types of economic activities within the purview of SEZs, comes with no restrictions on the maximum size and numbers of SEZs and a requirement of only 50% of the proposed land to be dedicated to economic activity. SEZs do not have any local body representation; nor adequate representation of labour and environmental concerns in their administrative structure. The Act contains provisions like section 31(9) that further remove accountability mechanisms from the Zone Authority: “No act or proceeding of an Authority shall be invalidated merely by reason of—a) any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Authority; or b) any defect in the appointment of a person acting as a Member of the Authority; or c) any irregularity in the procedure of the Authority not affecting the merits of the case.”   

What has been the impact of this radical legislation? Given the potentially large scale implications and the nature of "development" envisaged by the SEZ Act in the country, the NAPM, the NCPRI, TISS, ICHRLN, NCAS and several other groups and organisations from across the states and SEZ areas met in early July to initiate a national People’s Audit on SEZs process in India. The People’s Audits will seek to examine the impact of the projects against stated objectives, as well as the impact of the law on the people of the area, and the political economy of the country. People’s Audits of SEZs are being conducted in several states including Maharashtra, Goa, Guajarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, West Bengal and Delhi with the first of the series held in Maharashtra on September 15, 2009 the detailed documentation for which is available at: http://sez.icrindia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=35  

Looking forward to your kind participation in this process.  

Warm Regards,

Govindas (09731243343), TR Bhat (09448352862) and Vidya Dinker (09845323869)

On Behalf of the Organisers.