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 Zone revealed how rules were flouted and records fudged, compensation was not paid and promised jobs never materialised, and how land and groundwater were polluted. Read more »
