Sunita Narain: Another India is (not) ours

DONW TO EARTH

At a media-studded book release function, a leading editor was recounting a recent incident. He was travelling with a top Uttar Pradesh politician (we will not name him but call him Mr A) on his brand new plane. The politician told him that the plane was a gift from a leading industrialist (we'll call him Mr AA). The editor was then told that the return gift by the politician was not meagre: It was 1,000 hectares of prime agricultural land for a new special economic zone (SEZ). Hearing this tale, we in the audience smiled wisely. This was titillating sleaze.

These are the deals of modern India, in which corruption comes in many colours and kinds. But SEZ's are the ultimate development dream. I have no doubt that in the current weak political scenario, industry will wriggle out with some glib answers and some tall promises of providing employment to the displaced farmers.

I have also no doubt that SEZs are the beginning of the end of the idea of one India.

The fact is that SEZs are not even about creating a few special zones. They are about the abdication of responsibility to sort out the underlying problems that plague the country as a whole. The fact is that infrastructure, power, water, housing, education and health services are in a "mess". Over the past 50 years, we have tried in our ham-handed socialist ways to find ways to provide services for all. We don't know why, but this approach is not working. There is growing impatience about growth. Therefore, the easier and much less complicated answer is to let that part of India, which can provide for itself, to prosper.

But in this way Enclave India will grow. Water will come, not from public municipal taps, which cannot be fixed, but from private companies, who will purify it and supply it in bottles or colony taps for those who can pay. It is another matter that these companies will not pay or pay a pittance for the same water they consume. Power will come from electricity companies, who will produce it exclusively for those who pay bills covering the cost, plus profit, of its manufacture. Of course, there will be no garbage in the colony as cleaners will come from outside "" for a price "" and take it away. Where and how, it is best not to know. In this way, infrastructure development is no longer a problem: It is built for those who can pay. Rich and poor India now separated at birth.

The fundamentally fatal flaws in this approach are many: First, let us be clear, this rich and exclusive India will continue to be subsidised to the hilt. Second, it will be built on the backs of the poor using the might of the state. The land, for instance, is not bought by the rich private sector paying the price the seller is willing to sell on "" the market price and above. This private property will be acquired under the convenient cover of land acquisition acts at discounted prices. Third, the resources for development will be severely compromised, as growth will no longer contribute to revenues of government.

Who said that civilised countries had to tax their rich to support their poor? That was old India's baggage. This new India only dreams. Nightmares are for others.