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Special economic zones: promise, performance and pending issues

This set of four papers addresses different facets of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Provides an overview of the rationale underpinning the SEZ policy and raises a number of questions about SEZ and questions the seriousness and rigour of the approval process. It has focused on its implication for urban growth and the governance of the SEZs.
Over the past few months, the CPR has been engaged in studies about some of the aspects of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This set of four papers addresses different facets of what continues to be a contentious subject. The first paper, by S N Menon and Soumya Kanti Mitra, provides an overview of the rationale underpinning the SEZ policy. The second paper by Partha Mukhopadhyay, which appeared in the Seminar of January 2008, raises a number of questions about this approach and questions the seriousness and rigour of the approval process. The location of SEZs is more fully explored in the third paper by Partha Mukhopadhyay and Kanhu Charan Pradhan. The paper examines the district wise location of SEZs and relates them to the characteristics of districts as available in the census. The fourth paper by Sivaramakrishnan focuses on a hitherto little examined aspect of the Special Economic Zone policy, namely its implication for urban growth and the governance of the SEZs.