SEZs: At the cost of ‘what not’?!

Genocide and many rendered landless – that defines SEZs in West Bengal! “If you do an honest economic analysis of land classified as an SEZ vis-á-vis land used for agriculture, SEZs certainly give better returns and opportunities. But using social indicators and politics of the day, it is difficult to say what will be the outcome. However, if the SEZs are granted to private parties, then everything should be done on commercial basis...” explains Mohammed Saqib, Senior Fellow, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

However, this sequestered unrest has not deterred the Board of Approval (BoA), as it recently awarded conditional approval to Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZ and 20 others. Thus, the total number of approved SEZs in the country stands at 360. The BoA also, of late, gave its approval to Hindalco in Orissa, the first North-East SEZ in Nagaland and to Parsvnath in Haryana. “All the states are competing to get SEZs in their place. Each wants to leave the other one behind,” comments Amir Ullah Khan, Senior Fellow, Indian Development Foundation.

The government has revealed that from 2006-07 to 2009-10, it has accrued loss of revenues of around Rs.1.03 trillion due to fiscal sops to SEZs. The government is believed to be thinking along the OECD lines, that suggests removal of sops. The other biggest challenge is the social acceptability and justification of SEZs, while keeping politics out of it. Would these measures turn SEZs into profitable zones for the government? The answer is startling as Saqib points out, “If the government stays out, all the SEZs in India will become profitable. The government should only work as a watch dog...”

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Source: IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

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Registering pregnancies & abortions is hardly a viable proposition to check foeticide

Dr. L. C. Gupta, in-charge mortuary, Din Dayal Hospital told B&E, “We already have enough laws and proposals to prevent female infanticide. There is no agency to implement the laws. We should have a system to keep an eye on each agency.” Furthermore, “for many people, it is cheaper to kill the infant after it is born, then how will pregnancy registration work,” asked Dr. Narang, Head of Department-Medicine, Paras Hospital, Gurgaon. Here’s a brief look at the lawless labyrinth of female foeticide in India. Abortions were illegal and amounted to homicide till 1971 (as per provisions under IPC 1860 and CPC 1898). This was changed by enacting the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTPA) in 1971, a law that guaranteed the Right of Indian Women to terminate an unintended pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner in a government establish/maintained/ approved hospital. However, not all pregnancies are permitted to be terminated. Abortion is permitted as a health measure, when there is danger to life or risk to physical or mental health of the women or on humanitarian grounds, when pregnancy arises from sex crimes, or on grounds, where there is a risk that the conceived child may be suffering from some terminal infirmity. But even after three decades of the MTPA Actcoming into being, a vast majority of women undergo abortions outside this legal framework. It is estimated that over 90% of India’s 6 million annual abortions are carried out illegally in unhygienic conditions.

Given this background, Renuka Chowdhury’s proposal to seek government permission for abortions and register pregnancies to check both feticide and infant mortality is nothing but another lame proposal. Getting pregnancies registered cannot solve the problem in a nation craving for male children, and where the value of a girl child goes down every time prices of gold go up.

The government may launch one scheme after the other, but they’ll remain confined merely to files, unless the nation as a whole, sincerely works towards changing mindsets, inculcating a mass will to revolt against the traditional way of life ingrained in a patriarchal society. Time for a reality - check, Ms. Chowdhury?

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Source: IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

IIPM Arindam Chaudhuri 4Ps Business & Marketing

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