*When farmers form a company*
The vitality of a system can be gauged from the way people adapt, adjust and respond to the changes in it. The people of Avasari Khurd are doing just that by forming a company to develop their own SEZ, says Dhanmanjiri Sathe. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?login=default THERE have been diverse responses to the introduction of SEZs over various parts of India. While there has been an outright rejection of a SEZ in some places like Nandigram, others have taken a more cautious approach. That the agricultural land is acquired by the industry, infrastructure projects or urban residential complexes is nothing new. Since Independence most of the towns/cities have expanded enormously by converting the surrounding agricultural land into non-agricultural land. Usually this conversion happened at a fairly slow pace and in bits and pieces. In most of the cases, the villagers were not paid any significant amount and hardly any rehabilitation was done. The credit for putting compensation and rehabilitation of the displaced on the agenda goes to a large extent to the *Narmada Bachao Andolan**. As a result of their efforts, World Bank and the Indian government were forced to integrate this issue in their development plans. Over the past couple of years, the idea of developing SEZs has been mooted in a big way. One advantage of SEZs coming in such a big way is that the whole process of acquiring land is becoming more rule-based and transparent. It needs to be remembered that it was much easier to evict a farmer without any compensation and rehabilitation thirty years ago than it is now! In this context, the central government has allowed the states to come up with their own regulation structures. In western Maharashtra, which is industrially quite advanced, many such proposals are being worked on. Over the period, one can also discern how the positions of the farmers have changed. In the beginning, many farmers were totally against giving up their land. Then they were asking for monetary compensation only. Slowly they started becoming more aware of the value of their land. Consequently, farmers in many areas are also asking for a job, some ownership of land in the SEZs, a share in the SEZ company, etc. All this shows that the farmers have now come into their own and are looking, quite rightly, for a good bargain. For example, a deal was struck between farmers*#* and Bharat Forge (MIDC being a smaller partner) wherein the farmers are to get Rs 17 lakh per hectare and many other sops in Khed near Pune. The farmers were, in fact, asking for Rs 35 to 40 lakh per hectare but accepted lower amount as other sops were promised. As against this, the villagers from Mann village, which is very close to the InfoTech Park in Pune, opposed a SEZ in their village last year. It is quite possible that they are awaiting a better price. One feature common to the SEZs is that it is developed by an industrial house with or without some governmental participation. But recently, we came across one interesting exception. The exception is unfolding in Avasari Khurd village of Ambegaon taluka, in Pune district. Under the leadership of Sopanrao Bhor, an ex-JPite, the villagers have decided to float their own company and develop the area into a SEZ. A resolution has been passed by the gram sabha to that effect. There are around 1,500 farmers in the village. The idea is that each one will put in Rs 1 lakh and become a shareholder in the company. The company will raise its capital against the landholdings and the farmers themselves will develop the SEZ. IT NEEDS to be noted that the farmers are not talking of making a co-operative — a movement which has been historically strong in this part of India — rather they want to have a company. The village does have some unique features. Most importantly, it is only 20 km away from the proposed international airport at Rajgurunagar. Being in the midst of many small industrial towns, the village itself is in any case only partially agricultural. Mr Bhor realised the importance of all this and decided that instead of someone else coming and developing a SEZ in this area, it would be much wiser for the farmers to develop the area themselves. In this way, they will get all the benefits which usually go to the developer. The land owners immediately saw economic sense in this and agreed unanimously to setting up a SEZ company of their own. Once the SEZ is developed, they plan to start their own manufacturing units or give land on lease. Another interesting feature of this proposal is that whole of the village is not going to be converted into a SEZ. In fact, 2,695 acres will be irrigated farming while 2,507 acres will be the SEZ — this area is currently rain-fed. The farmers are planning to grow crops for export in this area. When we talked to the farmers in this regard, most were very happy because they could continue with their farming also. This gave them a sense of security about future. They admitted that if the entire village were to be converted into a SEZ they would have been ambivalent about the proposal. However, the crucial question is: do the farmers have the skills that are required to develop a SEZ? The farmers themselves seem very confident and upbeat. They seem aware of the problems but there is reason to be wary on this account. One redeeming factor, as they pointed out, is the proximity to the international airport which has made their land 'pure gold'! That the farmers should not be exploited and should get a good deal is totally justified. This would mean that land for industrialisation would become expensive or even scarce. Development theory has not examined the implications of this, as land was assumed to be abundantly available and it was capital which was scarce and expensive! Thus the scarcity of land in economies like India and China and its implications need to be explored at the theoretical level too. The vitality of a system can be gauged from the way in which people adapt, adjust and respond to the changes in it. The people from Avasari Khurd are doing just that. They are coming up with new institutions and arrangements which will benefit them. The institutional economics focuses on the nature of contractual arrangements, as they are expected to affect the nature of incentives. One will watch what happens in the village with a lot of concern and hope. *(The author is head of the department of * economics, University of Pune) ** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** ***" she has also been described as an 'ideologue', using that term in a pejorative sense. leaving aside the question whether it is bad to be an ideologue, we need to ask whether that term applies only on one side of a divide. what is curious is that advocates of 'development' as now understood ( big projects, huge shopping malls filled with the world's merchandise, roads bursting with automobiles, and so on) are not described as ideologues; but those who argue that such ideas of development have brought the world to the brink of disaster and that we must pull back from the brink before it is too late, are castigated as ideologues. medha patkar is not alone in holding such views; there is a worldwide groundswell of opinion that humanity must alter its ways if it and planet earth are to survive... in conclusion, considering the severe criticism to which nba and *medha patkar* have been subjected in some quarters, this author will make a personal declaration. the nba is a great mass movement, one of the most important ones since independence; it - and the tehri movement - have forever altered our understanding if such projects. medha patkar is *one of the great indians of our time*, to be saluted for her nobility of spirit, her indomitable courage, and her steadfast committment to the cause she has espoused." - *ramaswamy r iyer* 'towards water wisdom limits, justice, harmony, (sage publications 2007) p.129-130 ** *# *reminds one of the magarpatta township development & construction company ltd model, comprising 400 acres of fertile agricultural land, owned for generations by 122 farmers, barely 7 kms from pune railway station - see *business line* of june 8, 2007. ** ** ** --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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