WORD OF CAUTION: K. Sriramamurthy of the Department of Economics, Andhra University, speaking at a seminar in Eluru on Thursday.

ELURU: K. Sriramamurthy, Head, Department of Economics, Andhra University, on Thursday said the policy of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) pursued by the Government had turned out to be a grave threat to the country's food security. Speaking on "Special Economic Zones and Economic Development" at Sir C.R. Reddy College here, Mr Murthy said the large-scale conversion of fertile agricultural lands for SEZs would lead to a sharp decline in foodgrains production in near future.

The trend was also quite likely to upset Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's dream to shore up the growth rate in agriculture from the present 2 per cent to 4 per cent as enunciated in his recent budget speech, he added.

He criticised the Government for acquiring large extents of fertile agricultural lands ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 hectares for a throw-away price from farmers in favour of private players for SEZs.

By taking advantage of certain loopholes in the SEZ policy, the promotors of SEZs were turning into real estate developers by converting the major part of lands allotted by the Government into house plots, he said.

Chinese model

He said the Chinese model of SEZs being replicated by the Government was miserably failing to suit the Indian conditions and fulfil the country's macro economic goals such as employment generation, promotion of exports and thereby kickstart the economy as a whole. For all practical purposes, the SEZs had become `Special Exploitation Zones' as the SEZ promotors were only promoting casual labour, he said. The workers engaged in the SEZs were getting meagre wages without job security and the stipulated working hours too had become out of reach for them, he said.

Mr Murthy said the SEZ policy had failed to address the regional imbalances the country had been suffering on the development front. Even as developed regions were flooded with applications for SEZs, there appeared to be no takers in backward regions, he added.

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