The Hindu : Centre studying enactment of law on SEZs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 02, 2003

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Centre studying enactment of law on SEZs

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Feb. 1. The Centre is considering enactment of legislation relating to Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which are being set up in various States, the Minister of State for Commerce, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said here today.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Rudy said the proposal was intended to give "legal stability" to the SEZs, a concept which had been successfully tried out in China. He said Agri Export Zones (AEZs) being set up in various States had already recorded exports of Rs. 276 crores in two years. The zones, which would be identified on the basis of individual districts, would not have "geographical borders" and would be equipped with forward and backward linkages for farm produce, right from seed multiplication to packaging. The Tenth Plan had proposed an investment of Rs 1,051 crores for the AEZs, of which Rs. 582 crores was expected to be made by the private sector and the rest by the State and Central governments.

The country's aggregate exports, which had recorded a growth of zero per cent in 2001-02 following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and global recession, had started looking up since then. Replying to questions, Mr. Rudy said regional free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the one which India had with Sri Lanka should be encouraged. India, being a bigger country, should win the confidence of its smaller neighbours and not seek to dominate them economically. Despite the furore raised over import of tea from Sri Lanka under the FTA, the fact remained that such imports totalled less than one per cent of India's own tea production. However, India would not opt for expansion of economic ties with Pakistan until that country stopped support to cross-border terrorism.

`An aberration'

Mr. Rudy, who hails from the constituency of the former Bihar Chief Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, said Bihar had become a "neo-Taliban State" with no development. The State had not made any progress on the first phase of the Prime Minister's national rural roads programme, while many other States were entering the third phase of the programme. He blamed the Congress for the situation in Bihar, because the party had extended support to the RJD Government.

Describing as an "aberration" the present situation whereby the Congress was ruling in more than a dozen States, he said that in the wake of its "superb victory" in the Gujarat elections, the BJP was headed for winning more State elections, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Nagaland.

He said that to avoid situations whereby Indian Muslims came under attack whenever there was cross-border terrorism (a phenomenon he had referred to in a public speech on Friday), they should, to a man, condemn terrorism. Even the U.S., which had always had the most "welcome" form of democracy, had started screening Muslims because of the spread of hatred against Israel and non-Muslim religions in many Islamic countries and institutions, he added.

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