1. Special Economic Zones: An Avenue for sustainable Rural Development By: 17 th March, 2008Dr. Arun Bhadauria

2. Rural India: Conditions Largest sector (Agriculture & Allied) in Indian Economy. Employing about 60 percent of the population. Contributing only about 25 percent to GDP. Providing forward & backward linkage to Industry & Service Sector.

3. Rural India: Problems Low Productivity. Inadequate infrastructure. Employment in disguise. Low percolation of developmental advantages to the rural area. Dependence on nature. Low shift on non-farm activities. Largely engaged in subsistence Agriculture. Govt protection making rural economy weak. Lack of organization in execution of the developmental efforts.

4. Rural India: Opportunities Huge potential for diversified practices in Agriculture & Allied activities. Peri-urban Culture is the linkage to urban & rural area. Lot of Man power. Contributing in high amount to International Trade and has high potential for International Trade too. Large number of untapped & tapped resources. Able to attract FDI. Provide largest market. Main site for environmental conservation. Provide support for all sectors. Bread earner for whole economy.

5. Rural India: Threats May succumb to the pressure of capitalistic economy. Victim of vote politics. Unawareness & inaccessibility. Low self-reliance. Poor Connectivity led to deprivation of many facilities and information. Indebtedness cause distress.

6. Rural India: Future Prospects Emerge as largest contributor to GDP. Become the main site of environmentally sustainable development. Become the main reservoir of human resource. Emerge as the largest contributor to other sectors in the form of food processing, agriculture technology, biotechnology etc. Provide the base for development of whole economy.

7. Rural Development: Aim To develop Rural India. To eradicate poverty. To improve quality of life. To raise the production & productivity. To diversify the agriculture. To improve connectivity. To provide adequate infrastructure. To create human resource.

8. Rural Development: Lessons Learnt Poverty is still biggest challenge. Unemployment persists. Poor quality of life. Dependence led to distress creating need of loan waiver. Plethora of ineffective, unsuccessful & confusing policies. Idea of rural development is turning into corporate development.

9. Special Economic Zones Vehicles of holistic economic development Remove the deficiencies in infrastructure Generate additional economic activity Promote exports of goods and services Promote investment from domestic and foreign sources Create employment opportunities Develop infrastructure facilities Establish labour intensive manufacturing and services.

10. Special Economic Zones: Opportunities Establishment of labour intensive manufacturing & services provide opportunity to rural masses to shift from agriculture to manufacturing & service sector reducing burden on the agriculture. Employment opportunity improve the morale & economic conditions of the poor landless farmer/labour.

11. Special Economic Zones: Opportunities Waste Land Utilization generate income to the govt leading more investment in the area. International Market come at doorsteps. Infrastructural support provide amicable solution to the problems of sustainable development. Generation of economic activity reduce the possibility of family holding & employment in disguise. Rural India earn more through Rural Tourism. Increase awareness, competitiveness & Adaptability.

12. Special Economic Zones: Fear Small & Marginal Farmers may turn landless. Source of livelihood may be snatched by corporate & capitalist. Fertile land is taken by SEZ reduce the cultivable land. Inadequate enforcement of scheme of resettlement cause social destitution. No confirm mechanism of establishing SEZs led to fear psychosis among villagers. Immigration may alter the natural resource capital and spoil the cultural identity.

13. Special Economic Zones: Remedies Establish SEZs on waste land. Establish SEZ as per the nature of resources in the area. SEZs will provide avenues for resource mobilization. Establish SEZs for development not for retrenchment. Establish in tune with the aspects of Rural Development.

14. Special Economic Zones: Remedies Land acquisition and resettlement will be properly addressed to the grievances of the farmers. Agribusiness & processing activities must be promoted through SEZs. Proper attention paid for sustainable environment. Make it an opportunity to develop Rural Tourism. Ensure fuller participation of the persons from the area.

15. Vikas aisa ho jo afat se bachaye Vikas aisa ho jo afat na ban jaye

16. THANK YOU