Wednesday 22 June 2011

Special Economic Zones as demographic destabilizers in Goa



1.    Population insights

Goa has a population of approximately 15 lakh people. In addition Goa also has 21 lakh tourists visiting every year. This gets us to the total of 36 lakh people. 18 Special Economic zones are proposed in Goa. In one such SEZ of Raheja’s 17 lakh people are to be settled in at Verna, Salcete. Each SEZ will be treated as foreign territory. So we were to have 18 different countries in the Goa alone with their own rules and regulations.

2.     Caste compositions and roles in policy determinations

Approximately 2% of Goa’s population of Goa are Brahmins that control land, politics, state and government in collusion with vyashas, Kshatriyas and other interlopers from OBCs, SCs and STs. They are also responsible for engineering this huge influx of investments. Majority of Goa’s population are bahujans that includes Telis, bhandaris, Renders, Mhahars, Gawdas, Velips, Dhangars, Pagis, OBCs, STs, SCs. It is this 2% of people are all out to create massive displacement of rest of Goa causing major damages to the common people of Goa. It is not enough just to demand scrapping of SEZs. It is important to draw long term plan to institute the rule of majority of People of Goa as against the current Brahmin minority rule ruling over Bahujan majority.
The setting up SEZs in Goa will result in total democratic destabilization. Local people will be totally uprooted from their land.
There is already large scale disruption of people’s settlements due to mining activities in hinterlands. There is already loss of huge amount of land due to location of takeover of plateaus in Goa for the purpose of setting up of industrial estates. SEZ in Keri for example is located on a plateau that is used as grazing ground by Dhagars for their goats.

3.     Broad implications

India’s population is 1 billion people. India’s defense forces accounts for 15 lakh. Security forces in all the proposed SEZs in India amounts to 17 lakh people. SEZ policy of India’s commerce ministry will have far reaching implications of splitting India into different parts and handing over its governance to the corporate. India’s governance is determined by 3 % Brahmins and their interloper allies and its policies are causing harm to majority of people of India by uprooting them from their lands. This discussion however is not allowed to surface in the discussion in educational institutions mainly because of brahmanical control over education in India. According to data of 2001 census all the vice-chancellors of all the 108 Universities were Brahmins. Actually Brahmins as per their population were only occupying 16 positions of vice chancellors. 24 positions were to be occupied by SC/SC category and 56 were to be occupied by Marathas/OBC.
Due to situation realistic assessment of Indian reality after the imposition of SEZ Act 2006 is not possible. Education system is not letting the truth to be known by students. In order to bring about the change this situation must undergo change.

4.     Sale out and bondage

SEZ policies and laws represent higher state of exploitation of labour, land and nature. Freedom of labour to organize trade unions to defend their interest is subverted. Laws to protect environment are relaxed. Freedom of movement is drastically curtailed. Reservation for the SC/ST is not applicable. In other words via SEZs it is total sale and getting people of India as hostages of capital. This is a clear cut agenda of disruption of stability and prosperity of common people of India at the hands of capitalist and brahmanical forces. Very often confronted with this situation one tends to get shocked. But it is important to recognize tremendous promise and potential inherent in SEZ debate in Goa and India and move ahead in efforts to dig out root of this exploitative and unjust situation and uproot its causes and help majority people of India to liberate themselves. It is important that educated take responsibility to delineate from the brahamanical and capitalist discourse and place them to understand the reality in authentic manner from the perspective of people.

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