Category Archives: SEZ’s

Five Years After SEZs: Chronicle Of Revenues Forgone

SEZs, touted as the silver bullet for India’s economic ambitions, appear to have lost their sheen as the Direct Tax Code threatens to withdraw the exemptions offered them. We have only just begun to realise how many thousands of crores of revenue have been forgone due to tax holidays granted to SEZs, says Manshi Asher, who […]

Are Projects For People, Or People For Projects?”

SEZs typically create a few thousand jobs for outsiders while displacing thousands more who are currently surviving on the land. Most SEZs will use the land’s resources to produce goods for outside markets which no locals can buy and which provide no value addition to their lives. A public hearing on the Mangalore Special Economic […]

Five Years After SEZs: Chronicle Of Revenues Foregone

SEZs, touted as the silver bullet for India’s economic ambitions, appear to have lost their sheen as the Direct Tax Code threatens to withdraw the exemptions offered them. We have only just begun to realise how many thousands of crores of revenue have been foregone due to tax holidays granted to SEZs, says Manshi Asher, […]

SC Notice To Centre, Goa Govt For Cancelling SEZ Land Allotment

The Supreme Court on Monday  issued notices to the Centre and the Goa government for cancelling land allotment for seven special economic zones to firms, including realty player K Raheja group, and directed them to maintain the status quo.

India’s Special Economic Zones: Socioeconomic Blunders In The Making

No scheme of the Indian government has evoked as much controversy in recent years as the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for industry aimed at exports. This has resulted in the displacement of poor farm families and villagers, brutal land acquisition, and gross human rights violations by the state at the behest of private […]

The Murky SEZ Story In Goa

The order of the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court squashing and setting aside the land allotment to developers of seven designated Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state has put the brakes, temporarily or not, on unplanned and mindless industrialisation. As of now the Goa Industrial Development Corporation has four months to make […]

SVM Wants Judicial Inquiry Into SEZ Land Allotment

Stating that the people’s struggle for land had been vindicated, the SEZ Virodhi Manch (SVM), on Monday, wanted a judicial inquiry to “unearth the whole land allotment scam” and appropriate action taken against all the police officers who failed to register a FIR against the GIDC board members.

SVM For Ouster Of GIDC Officials, Bureaucrats

Jubilant at the high court order setting aside land allotments to SEZs in Goa, the SEZ Virodhi Manch (SVM) on Monday demanded the immediate resignation of the GIDC  board of directors and conniving bureaucrats “instrumental in the fraudulent land allotments,” or their sacking by the chief minister.

Allotment Of Land For SEZs In Goa Illegal, says HC

The division bench of the High Court of Bombay at Goa constituting Mr Justice S B Deshmukh and Mr Justice F M Reis held on Friday that the allotment of land as special economic zones was illegal. Several petitions concerning the controversy of allotment of land at Verna as SEZ were disposed of. While several public […]

HC Sets Aside Land Allotment For SEZs In Goa

In a major blow to special economic zone (SEZ) developers, the high court of Bombay at Goa on Friday held that Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) had allotted over 30 lakh sq m of land to promoters illegally and sans proper scrutiny. Upholding the state government’s decision to withdraw the SEZ policy in public interest, a division […]