Logo

The Special Economic Zones SEZs have been aptly described as no-tax, no-regulation zones and hence virtually they are like islands of foreign territory on the Indian soil itself.

Here is a book on the SEZs, with a special focus on the Polepally SEZ in Andhra Pradesh. It presents a gripping saga of resistance by the local people against forcible acquisition of their lands in Polepally and other nearby villages in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh; a very detailed documentation of the genuinely autonomous and sustained struggle based on first-person accounts by the participants themselves; a comprehensive overview of the much-hyped policy of SEZs and its ironically sordid outcome over the years; a detailed account of the colossal revenue loss caused to the country's exchequer by the SEZs, buttressed by damning findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General CAG, and a State-wise round-up of instances of resistance by the farming communities against the landgrab for the SEZs and other corporate mega projects provide a very useful backgrounder.

The book is a lucid account by well-known authors on an issue that has remained on the centre-stage of Indian politics for quite some years now.