Rights of workers and peasants are inviolable!

Faced with mounting opposition throughout the country to the aggressive land grab drive by the big capitalist monopolies, in the name of setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the UPA Government has been forced on to the back foot. Government spokesmen are talking about addressing the concerns that have been raised. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared that “SEZs have come to stay”. In other words, the UPA Government is hoping to deal with the resistance through amendments to the SEZ Act, so as to save the Act from being scrapped.

Facts about SEZs

The first SEZ in India was established at the time of the BJP-led NDA Government headed by Vajpayee. Its stated aim was to provide an internationally competitive environment for exports.

The UPA Government headed by Manmohan Singh passed a central law in 2005, called the SEZ Act, to be implemented by the Ministry of Commerce. Its stated aims were to build up infrastructure, promote exports and enhance employment generation.

Actual implementation so far shows that these objectives are only on paper, as the developers of SEZs are free to do what they please on 50-75% of the land they acquire, and required to export only 1% of their output. On the other hand, they enjoy huge tax write-offs, which the Ministry of Finance has estimated will cross Rs. 150,000 crore by the year 2010.

It is reported that the Board of Approvals, set up by the Commerce Ministry, has so far given ‘formal approval’ to 181 SEZ projects across the country, and ‘in principle approval’ to another 128 projects – adding up to a total of 309. The total land required by the 309 SEZs is around 1,25,000 hectares, almost equal to the size of Delhi. There are about 30 SEZs that are already functional today.

Land for SEZs have been allocated wherever the big capitalist sponsors wanted them. The state governments have acted as agents of the big capitalists, seizing land held by peasants at the official ‘market’ rate and handing it over to the private corporations. This has been done under the colonial Land Acquisition Act. Whatever rate the government has charged to the capitalists is cheap for them, because once the SEZ is developed the price of land multiplies many times over.

Case against SEZs

There are several serious arguments that have been raised against SEZs.

First , SEZs are a devious way of attacking the rights of the working class. They serve to exempt capitalists from existing labour laws and regulations,– including limits on the length of the working day, right not to be dismissed without adequate cause, right to form unions and go on strike, to retirement benefits, maternity leave, etc.

Second , for the state to seize land from peasants and transfer them to big corporate profiteers is a blatant attack on the right to livelihood of those who till the land. It is a blatantly pro-capitalist and anti-peasant act by the state.

Third , converting agricultural land to non-agricultural use, wherever the big capitalists want, is a blatant violation of the requirements of food security and protection of the natural environment.

Fourth , to spend public money and give special privileges to the biggest and most powerful capitalists, demanding practically nothing in return from them, is anti-social. It goes against the general interests of society. It is a policy to favour a privileged few at the expense of the rest of society.

In sum, the SEZ Act and its implementation are anti-worker, anti-peasant and anti-social.

Compromising positions

Within the forces that are resisting the drive of the big capitalists to grab land for so-called special economic zones, there exists compromising trends that have to be combated. Exposing and defeating the influence of these trends is essential in order to defend the rights of workers and peasants, and the general interests of society.

First , there are those who compromise with the drive of the big capitalists to grab agricultural land, saying this is alright provided the peasants are willing to sell their land and the state gives them ’fair compensation’. This is one of the main arguments advanced by the Left Front Government in West Bengal, for instance, to justify the acquisition of peasants’ land by the Tatas at Singur. Leaving aside the question of whether or not the peasants really gave up their land willingly, this position fails to defend the general social interest. It ignores the fact that conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use, driven by the greed of big capitalists, endangers food security. It also endangers human life itself, by reducing the green cover that produces the oxygen required by human beings.

Second , there are those who demand that the state must not intervene in the land transaction, but leave it to the ‘free market’. This position, while pretending to be ‘pro-farmer’, actually plays into the hands of the big capitalists. The big corporations will get the land they want, and even if the peasants get a better price for their land, they would have lost their source of livelihood. Moreover, purchase of more and more cultivable land by the big capitalists for non-agricultural use will reduce the area under cultivation. Thus, this second trend is only a variation of the first. While the followers of this trend oppose the colonial Land Acquisition Act, they compromise on the question of permitting big capitalist profiteers to acquire whatever land they set their eyes on.

Third, there is the argument that land under multiple cropping must be protected but land under a single crop can be acquired for SEZs. Of the total area cultivated in the country, only one-third is sown more than once, while two-thirds have only a single crop. To protect only one-third of the cultivated land means in effect no protection at all. It means to allow most of the cultivable land to be freely converted for other use.

Fourth , there is the argument that SEZs are alright provided the land that is acquired by the state is not sold but leased out to the big capitalists. This is the latest argument of the CPI(M) in the debate that is raging over the question of land acquisition for industry and for SEZs. This position compromises with SEZs, as it does not even raise the question as to what is special about them, and why do they deserve special privileges. It also compromises with the colonial Land Acquisition Act, accepting the unlimited right of the state to acquire any land it pleases for any purpose whatsoever, disregarding the right of the tiller of the land to secure livelihood. It also ignores the fact that big capitalists get away with selling even ‘lease-hold’ land in the existing system, as they did with the mill lands in Mumbai.

Uncompromising position

In order to defend the rights of workers and peasants, and the general interests of society, it is necessary to oppose the SEZ Act without any compromise. It is necessary to demand not only that the SEZ Act as well as the Land Acquisition Act be immediately scrapped, but also that a new law be passed that would ban any private company from purchasing any piece of land.

What will be the result if land use is left to be determined by the so-called market forces? More and more land will be transferred into the hands of the biggest capitalist monopolies. This is a dangerous trend. It endangers the availability of housing and shelter, food security, as well as protection of the natural environment. Purchase of land by private capitalist corporations must therefore be immediately halted.

People of each state, and of each city, must take control of how land is used within the territory they live in, through elected representatives who they control. Land must be allocated according to a social plan, taking into account the different needs. It must be leased out to different users, whose right to possess the land would be conditional on their fulfilling their committed obligation to use the land in harmony with the general interests of society.

Land that is cultivable must be protected. This includes the area that is currently cultivated and the area that is possible to bring under cultivation through appropriate investments. This requires legislation and enforcing mechanisms to ban the conversion of cultivable land for non-agricultural use. Land for industrial, housing and other non-agricultural use can and must be identified from within the 1,93,000 hectares of ‘barren and unculturable land’ that is available in the country, according to official data.

It is in the interests of workers, peasants, women and youth, the peoples of all nationalities, tribes and forest communities, to take an uncompromising position against the SEZ Act and its implementation – in defence of the rights of all workers and peasants, and in the general interests of society.