The Smart City project in Kerala is yet another example of the way in which unjust economic development is being pushed as part of globalisation. We are particularly concerned that a Left government elected to power in Kerala on a mandate of questioning the infirmities of globalisation is now firmly on the same path – be it the approval for Smart City or the acceptance of ADB loans with all the attendant conditionalities. The Left is particularly open to criticism because it is exploiting the provisions of the anti-people SEZ Act (2006) to push neo-liberal reforms in places like Kerala while opposing land acquisition via the SEZ Act in every other state. We specifically oppose the Smart City project on the following grounds, and appeal to the Kerala Government to reconsider its decision to grant approval to this project.
1. By granting approval to the Smart City project – an IT/ITES-based SEZ near Kochi, the Government is deliberately making development a vertical process - by focusing and investing on a sector that by itself is the wealthiest. This is a deviation from a socialist ideology, whereby development is conceived to be a horizontal process, through which all sections of society can benefit.
2. Citizens in Kerala have been kept in the dark about the fact that Smart City is an SEZ. Besides not being transparent, the government has also allowed itself to be anti-democratic by:
(a) not allowing a debate to be raised on the issue where citizens finally get to know the pros and cons and
(b) not allowing the citizens to decide on the issue - which has far reaching consequences for all the citizens in the state.
Continue reading ‘Statement On Smartcity SEZ, Cochin, Kerala’
