Tongba with Momo at Tsoka

The motor-able road in the Himalayan region of west Sikkim ends at a small town Yaksom, which is situated at 1780m altitude and was the first capital of Sikkim. Yaksom means the meeting place of three Lamas, named after the three learned Lamas who consecrated the first Chogyal of the kingdom of Sikkim. This picturesque town in the middle of the ice caped mountains is a splendor to watch. The school in the back drop of the mountains with kids playing in the green meadow in front, a small police station, a post office, the forest office, wooden houses, a helipad, a football match between youngsters, few restaurants, shops with handicrafts on display, a trekking and mountaineering equipment rental shop, amicable people who look like a members of the same family, a Dubdi monastery - one of the oldest in Sikkim at an hours trek, the young and old monks in the monastery, the greenery and many small mountain streams around and on top of all, the kids enjoying their little games in the narrow lanes with an extra volt of smile.

Yaksom is a starting point for mountaineers and trekkers heading towards the Dzongri, Goechala or the Kanchenjunga base camp. We were headed towards Goechala which is 5050m high from sea level.
I should get to the topic of this post and procrastinate writing about Yaksom.
From Yaksom (1780m) to Tsoka (3050m) is a one full day trek, through lash green meadows, mountain streams, with uphill and downhill paths lined with conifers carpeted by leaves. Loosing the altitude gained during downhill was not among our happy moments of the day considering the target of the altitude we had. The rain which started even before we stopped for lunch continued till evening with little breaks in between forcing us to continue our trek irrespective of rain and leach. Luckily it was not a downpour and we could easily manage but it did affect our speed. All 6 of us were not able to keep the same pace and this resulted in covering the last stretch of our trek with torch light. After reaching Tsoka, our guide and porter managed to make us a quick dinner. After dinner, our plans for the next day was divided between two options, to spend a day in Tsoka for acclimatization and to continue next day till Dzongri. Finally we decided to rest and make decision in the morning.
Because of the rain previous day, the clouds had cleared and as soon as we woke up, the clear view of sunrise over Mt. Pandim together with paradise of mountainous region had hypnotized us. Without a second tough we all had decided to spend a day at Tsoka and explore the region.

Tsoka is a small settlement with few houses of Limbu people of eastern Nepal with a few houses, a monastery, a restaurant open during trekking season and a small shop where one can buy a last minute gloves or a extra pair to cope up with more colder days ahead. It is a last village on the route.


During preparation for the trek we had read about Tongba and our guide told us that its available in restaurant run by Lakpa Doma. Except our guide Rob who was from Yaksom, none of us (remaining 5) had acquired taste of alcohol. Like we have tried various other alcoholic beverage at different occasions we decided to taste Tongba which is prepared at home and consumed by whole family member to cope the cold.

Unlike other alcoholic beverage, the way Tongba was prepared and served in a unique way was an other exiting factor. Tongba is a millet based alcoholic beverage of the mountainous region of Nepal and the neighboring district of India. It is prepared by cooking and fermenting whole grain millet. The millet is then dried and stored under a roof for about six months. It is served in a container made of bamboo and traditionally called a Tongba. The fermented millet is put in a container and boiled water is poured in it to the brim. It is then left undisturbed for about five minutes. Once the five minutes has passed it is ready to drink. A a fine bamboo straw with a blind end, but perforated on the side to act as a filter, is inserted into the container to suck out the warm water and alcohol from the millet grains. More hot water is added as the Tongba becomes dry, and the process is repeated until the alcohol is exhausted.


After exploring the region around, giving time for one of our friend to pursue his pencil sketching, running behind Himalayan Magpie to get a decent close up shot of it we headed to taste Tongba. We ordered some Momo's, a kind of dumpling with cabbage and onion as filling for vegetable Momo (some what similar to kara kadubu made in Karnataka during ganesha chaturti). We asked the, all-in-all of the restaurant, Lakpa Doma for three Tongba among five of us. Our guide had already opted out for his favourite drink but was still with us to see our reactions after tasting the drink of his region. Lakpa Doma seemed reluctant to serve three for us she, in her language explained her concern to our guide. He summed up telling, she suggests you all to have one and try to finish it. We felt her concern was to avoid wasting the fermented millet grains over making extra bucks by selling more. We were impressed with the priority.


A bamboo container with fermented millet grains with a bamboo straw was served with a jar hot water mug. She poured hot water into the container and told us to start drinking after about 10 minutes. We patiently waited for 10 minutes, and I jumped in to be the first to taste.

A hot water which had reacted with the fermented millet grains when sucked through the bamboo straw was probably the best drink one can have at such cold and high altitude without a strong flavour of alcohol nor a bitter taste. It was like a energizing drink for those who try to muddle up in cold. The commercial energizing drinks like red bull may not stand close to it. The feeling was the same to all of us. The amazing thing was the servings, after finishing the liquid in the container, we were told to pour some more hot water to container and drink, we had four filling to the same container and still there was some flavor left by the time we thought we should head back.


We rested and started our trek the next day, in total nine days we were back in Yaksom reaching our destination Gochela via Phedang, Dzongri, Kockchrung, Tansingh, and Lamoli. We celebrated our successful expedition with a bath, heavy meal and good sleep.
The whole trek, the stretch with Rhododendron flowers - some stretches looked so colourful and felt as if it has been properly maintained, the view of Pandim, the whole range of Kangchenjunga, the Kabru and black kabru, Frey’s peak, Rothong, Samiti lake, the foot steps of snow lepords, an encounter with the wild yaks on the way.... still fresh in my memory.

Sunrise and the sunset

Previous evening we trekked a long distance around Bruce peninsula and stayed up till late in the night with campfire on. Before getting into tent we decided to take a walk on the shore of lake Cyprus which was few minutes away from our tent. It was a star lit sky, clear of any small patch of cloud. Moon still had a long time to fill the sky with his reflections. It was an absolute silence, the silence was absorbed into each of us, none spoke, the cool breeze and the beautiful sight was beyond any of our description. We walked on the sand for a while with minimal noise of our foot steps and sat on the shore for an open eyed meditation. In no time I could realize how much I have forgotten the observational astronomy. Beginning from using telescope at Bangalore Planetarium to an outing to outskirts of Bangalore with amateur astronomers, I had learned to guess the magnitude of stars, names of few and identify the constellations. A quick revision was more than sufficient to recall forgotten observational astronomy but beauty in front was such that, the technical details of the sky was a least of importance to me when compared to the experience of being in absolute silence. After some time I thought, I should capture the sight with my camera and realized, I was not carry my tripod nor a shutter release cord and with this restrictions I could not give a shutter release time of more than 30 seconds. Still the shutter release sound was made to disturb the silence and as expected the result was almost blank. I din't regret and was more than happy to bother about it. After spending close to an hour we started walking back to tent in silence. A Kannada word, "smashana mowna", a graveyard silence had stuck us while walking back.

We knew, waking up early in the morning to see the sunrise at the Georgian Bay was not easy. At 4:30am mobile phone started ringing, a wake up call. With a closed eyes I could locate the phone and turn it off. Two rings was too short for my friends in the tent to wake up.




For a moment I thought, "should I really force myself up to see the sunrise? whats so special about seeing sunrise? sunrise can be seen any day and any where". Still warmly inside my sleeping bag, I started recalling the days when I got up early to see sunrise, on top Mulayangiri (western Ghats), sunrise in Dzrongri, Goecha La (Himalaya), Le prion (french alps), on the bank of river Ganga near sangama, on the Besant nagar beach in Chennai and so on..... At times clouds has forced me to try an other day for a clear view of the golden yellow and with repeated attempts I had managed a clear view in the mid of nature, in cities, on water front and so on.
Again the question came back, was there anything special about seeing sunrise on the waterfront in Georgian bay?. In no time I realized, we were on the Peninsular region and the plan was to see the sun rise on the Georgian Bay and sun set on the shore of the great Lake Huron on the same day. I immediately got out of my sleeping bag and started waking four of my friends in one tent and the other two in a smaller tent.





It was only four of us who decided to trek on the trail to Georgian Bay and sleep was the priority for the other three at that moment. With the help of one small torch we managed to reach the Georgian Bay in half an hour time. For our surprise we four were the only human in the far visible region. Climbing up and walking on the Bay for a while we decided on a place to sit at 5:45 am. An elevated position was chosen such that I could get the best shots of the sun rise with my camera. Talking about previous outings and experiences we waited for the sunrise. We were expecting the sunrise at around 6:00 am (had not checked the sunrise time) and it was 6:10am when one of our friend started doubting the position we were expecting to see the sunrise. The golden yellow strip was visible almost in the spectrum of 90 degree in the east cost and at one side the forest had covered the horizon. At close to 6:30am we started thinking that, we might have lost the sunrise behind the forest or the behind the cloud which was clearly visible at some parts of the horizon. We were not completely convinced as the visible golden yellow strip did not have any clearly visible bright region to conform the position of sun above the horizon. We decided to come down from the elevated position and quickly moved towards a more open place in the ground level and still had some hope of seeing sun at lest when it rises above the clouds.



For our surprise at 6:45am we saw the portion of the red hot sun visible at the horizon in front of us, part of the cloud had courteously let way for the sun show its grandeur to the patiently waiting four of us. We were thrilled to see the rise of the red hot balloon. By the time, the sun was completely out of horizon, the clouds decided to play the role of the artist. It covered the sun and let the light to scatter and create amazing light patterns.
Just above the clouds we could also see the air warming up due to heat of the sun rays. It gave me enough time to get into the imaginary world. I could imagine myself being inside an infinitely large art work. The rising up of hot air behind the clouds was like a smoke from the coal train. I could imagine train being his vehicle. I could even imagine a mythological version. A Surya deva initially traveling in his rata (chariot) had to abandon his chariot and change to the coal train due to unavoidable circumstance. The change of his vehicle might have been the reason for the delay.




In few minutes sun was again out of clouds and we watched the raise till he lost the grand golden yellow. My camera's shutter was released at constant interval with different exposure and by the time we were about to leave, it was satisfied with the heavy work it was put to early in the morning.

In the evening we opted to see the sunset again away from the human habitat. From the map we looked for a number of sub peninsular region where we can get the clear view of sun disappearing behind waters. Driving on the shore on many small roads we reached an ideal spot. Georgian Bay had a silent waters compared to the Lake Huron (obvious). The waves was quite strong for a Great lake but the view was again magnificent.

Four of us who managed to see both, the sunrise and the sunset on the water front could expect no greater treat from that peninsular region.

The "Presidential Trade"

What we are seeing today is a trade for a Presidential post. In the on going number games, the political parties have completely ignored what people want. The MPs, MLAs are being loyal to their leaders and political parties than to the people who have elected them. Looking at the peoples response in the media, for the first time people have realized that "President of India" is not their choice and its political parties. Logically the parties should respond to people's choice and its not happening. Even Presidential candidate has been picked after the elimination process rather than the selection of the best.

Probably this is the first Presidential election that has drawn so much attention from general public. UPA's surprise candidate, a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, hardly known to majority of the Indian population is definitely one of the reasons. The increased common man's access to media to put forth their choice and the Third fronts attempt to capitalize on the peoples voice by proposing Dr. Kalam's name are among other reason.

As soon as UPA announced their compromised candidates name, the press statement by the "to be President" of the largest Democracy said,

"It's a very prestigious post. To consider a woman sends a good message. This is symbolic of the fact that women are respected in this country. I am grateful to Sonia Gandhi and the UPA for putting forth my name. A woman as president of India will send the right signal to country and to the world,".

She also said, her first task, if made the President of India would be to ensure that the employment guarantee scheme started by Sonia Gandhi is taken forward and take up the problem of economic disparity in the country.

Most of us can very clearly make out that, An other LOYALIST of NEHRU-GANDHI family is going to occupy the highest office of India. From the statements its very clear that unfortunately the "to be President" is not clear of what the duty of the "President" is.

If a situation does arise when a crucial presidential decision would decide the fate of the government/country? Is the "to be President" capable of taking an independent decision and snub politicians (including Sonia Gandhi), political party and rise above party politics?

"Loyalty" at what cost?

Our Prime Minister has consistently shown loyalty to Nehru-Gandhi family. His latest statement being,

"Your future is in your midst. Yes, I am talking of Rahul Gandhi. He is braving it out for you. He is with you. He is your future. Just one chance is required for him and the Congress party to build a new Uttar Pradesh for you and your children. Just as 20 years ago Rajivji had taken steps to build a new India,'' while addressing a public meeting at Afzalgarh during UP elections.

We can't forget the Rahul's statement addressing a public meeting at Badaun during UP Assembly elections. It almost said, India is Democracy on papers and still ruled by Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

"I belong to the family which has never moved backwards, which has never gone back on its words. You know that when any member of my family had decided to do anything, he does it. Be it the freedom struggle, the division of Pakistan or taking India to the 21st century".

The Bengali language movement of 1952 in the then East Pakistan, the systematic genocide of three million Bengalis by the Pakistani army, the rape and humiliation of hundreds of thousands of Bengali women. The agitation of 1966 and the Bengali people’s revolt in 1969 against Ayub Khan. All the above were completely forgotten by Rahul.

Unfortunately our PM is being loyal to a 37 year old politician who's history is worst than that of a middle school student. The one who has no idea of what his statements mean. Lal Bahadur Shastri and P.V. Narasimha Rao are nobody to him. His statement on Babri Masjid, when congress, PVN was in power, does clarify that he is looking forward for a Nehru-Gandhi dynasty rule and not Congress parties.

For the present status he has, our PM should be loyal to P. V. Narasimha Rao first and then to Nehru-Gandhi family. It was due PVNs initiation he came to politics and played a key role in liberalizing the Indian economy.

Unfortunately he has forgotten that his loyalty to his duty and position is above that of his personal loyalty.

I am not sure how the "to be President" will fare after taking up the office. Already her statements on "parda", veil system has surprised historians.

SEZ - Nandigram and Buddha

I am not against Special Economy Zone (SEZ), I understand SEZ are important, my issues are only related to the way it has been handled. An Unorganised, Unplanned actions, a chaos. A land grabbing act.

Few days before I wrote my views on SEZ (previous post), Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said, "his government would not acquire land at Nandigram for Salim Group of Indonesia's chemical hub if the people did not want it". He had also mentioned that they will look for an alternative location for chemical hub.

Few days after that you read a news of Police firing. This clearly indicates that Buddha is not willing to sacrifice the SEZ at Nandigram. Nandigram's prime location, on the south bank of the Haldi River, opposite to the industrial city of Haldia has made Buddha and Salim Group adamant to an alternative location for SEZ. A river bank, already established industrial city on the other side of the river, what more ideal location can be thought of for a chemical hub.

For Mr. Buddha, the promise he has made to Salim groups looks more important than what his people want. We call this a Democracy? Oh yes, the Guest has to be pleased, even if it affects 1000's of our own people we can't send a foreign company without what we promised. In our Indian tradition we have a saying "atiti devo bhavam" is Buddha trying to scale up the tradition to this extent? Even Tata's project at Singur is an "atiti" for West Bengal.

After police firing Mr. Buddha said

“I always dreamt that Nandigram would prosper the way Haldia did. (But) some people are misleading the people of Nandigram that we are forcibly taking land there. If the people of Nandigram do not want industries there we will set them up elsewhere, but we will have industries. We have got the numbers, we have got people’s verdict.”

I don't understand what he means by number's, Is it the money to buy people and land? Seats in Assembly?.

"We have got people's verdict" did I read it correctly? Does the verdict also give rights to issue firing orders against farmers who are fighting for lands, the lands which their fore-fathers owned, the land which has fed them for years, the lands in which they see their future? What a treason act.

If Buddha thinks that his people can't understand the good things he is planning to do for the state, then, he and his government has failed. This is also a clear indication of the inability of the the people , to understand and extract the good things delivered from his good deeds. Then whats the use of all his development plan.

Again this should also make him realise that educating and informing his people is an other very important task which has to be focused without delaying further so that, they can understand his colourful dreams for the state.

One big question comes to my mind ever since controversies regarding SEZ started coming. Many bills passed by government (related to education, health, agriculture and many other development projects) takes its own time to see light and for SEZ most of the politicians, industrialists are on their toes.

Does this SEZs change the fate of the countries economy so drastically that all these politicians want to see changes as soon as possible?

Many leading economists (including Amartya Sen) and other policy makers say that "development in democracy is a slow and steady process, it takes its own course of time to see changes"

Doesn't this apply for establishment of SEZs as well, it has to be a slow process. Firstly farmers has to be very well informed of what SEZ's are and have to be given time to value merits and demerits for themselves. It has to be an informed democracy. If the majority of the farmers disagree to give away their lands then the government/industries has to look for an alternative options.

I saw some photographs of farmers, farmland labourers moving out of Nandigram after Police firing. Was police firing an other attempt by the Mr. Buddha's government to educate the farmers of the good things he plans for them in a "politest" mode of communication?.

SEZ

Special Economy Zone: Chaos and Controversy

The first special zone with any semblance to the present day economy zone dates back to 1929. It was set up in Spain with the intention of increasing exports by value addition to the raw materials available in that country. It was also the time when an unprecedented depression was stalking the economies of the West.

In 1960s International Monitory Funds (IMF) and the World Bank identified the special zones as a tool for penetrating the third world economies. Special zones came to existence in many third world countries there after. China's Shenzhen is considered to be the most successful one. Shenzhen was the first Special Economy Zone established by china in 1979, a small village before 1979 is now a city of population over 6 million. Today China has six Special Economy Zone (SEZ) and it has largely contributed for the nations export and economy.

Government of India decided to introduce Special Economic Zone (SEZ) concept in India in the year 2000 (model closely follows that of China). As a first step, the seven existing Export Processing Zones (EPZ) at Kandla, Surat, Cochin, Santa Cruz, Falta, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Noida were converted to SEZ. Three new establishments at Indore, Manikanchan (Kolkata) and Jaipur have commenced operations.

In addition to the above, approval has already been given for about 200 SEZ at various parts of the country in the private/joint sectors or by the state government. There has been plan for more than 500 SEZs. Due to confusion on treating bank financing of SEZ projects in India the freeze orders on notification and fresh approvals are issued. The Prime Minister’s office (PMO) has asked the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on SEZs to look into the matter.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, head of the eGoM on SEZ is expected to call a meeting this month to decide on the changes to be made in the SEZ policy and put an end to the freeze.

What is SEZ? Do we need so many SEZ?

Indian government defines the SEZ as:

SEZs are specifically delineated duty-free enclaves treated as a foreign territory for the purpose of industrial, service and trade operations, with exemption from customs duties and a more liberal regime in respect of other levies. To promote foreign investment and other transactions, domestic regulations, restrictions and infrastructure inadequacies are sought to be eliminated in the SEZs for creating a hassle-free environment. The SEZ scheme seeks to create a simple and transparent system and procedures for enhancing productivity and the ease of doing business.

SEZs can be developed in the public, private or joint sectors or by the State Governments. They are expected to promote the establishment of large, self-contained areas supported by world class infrastructure oriented towards export production. Exploiting the full potential of the concept of SEZs would bring large dividends in terms of economic and industrial development and the generation of new employment opportunities.

This sounds very promising for the countries economy growth, employment opportunities. Then, why are the Chaos and so much controversy around SEZ?

It is estimated that about, 50,000 farmers (even more at some places) go landless (per SEZ), destroying livelihood sources for a much larger number of people. The owners of the land (farmers) are forced to become labourers where their lives will be controlled by the private agencies. The farmer and farmland workers will be forced to learn the skill they are not familiar with and the failure to pick up the skill in fixed time will see them jobless.

Has the Indian administration worked out any protocal to make sure that these problems and many more like this does not arise?

Firstly, the government of India did not set up proper law for acquisition of land for SEZ. The Land acquisition Act of 1894 to protect land losers, tenants and agricultural workers displaced by any industrial activity is still followed. Land acquisition for SEZ should be treated under new law as SEZ it is not any other industrial activity.

Only after facing the warmth of the farmers the Industries minister and agricultural minister declared that the farmlands should not be acquired for SEZs in September 2006. But some state government, for example, West Bengal government for chemicals SEZ at Nandigram for Salim group of Indonesia and Maharastra government for Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries limited went on issuing notices to acquire the farmland following the acquisition act of 1894.

After stiff and prolonged resistance Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in February 2007 decided to withdraw Special Economic Zone project at Nandigram and has asked his party and his officials to find an alternative site.

At Nandigram agriculture and estuarine fishing forms the backbone of the economy. Most of the population are poor or middle class farmers. In some areas, the same plot of agricultural land is used as fishing pond at other times in the year. About 14,000 hectare chemicals SEZ were planned (with expansion plans for further 35,000 hectare). About 29 villages in the region were under threat.

Reliance attempts to acquiring 10,000 hectares of land in 45 villages by paying as low as Rs.4 lakh per hectare on the outskirts of Mumbai failed. Later it was announced that farmers were refusing to part with their land, and now the land is being acquired 'officially' through government, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to be precise. The state machinery tried to play a role of real estate agents for the big business house and was again not successful. What a tactics, for the land being acquired by the MIDC, the compensation will be paid by Reliance. It went on for months and the huge protest by the Maharastra farmers has made Reliance to come up with fresh offers.

The company is now offering a whopping amount of Rs. 25 lakh a hectare for a single crop land and a land at an adjacent site. If the farmer does not want land in an adjacent site an addition of Rs. 12.5 lakh per hectare (Rs 37.5 lakh a hectare to acquire single crop land).

Apart from this, a member of each 17,000 families, whose land is acquired will be given free vocational and technical education. A minimum of Rs. 60 per day will be offered as stipend to the trainee. In case, the land owner does not opt for the training, he will be entitled to Rs. 3 lakh as one time compensation. Will this prompt farmers to give up their lands?

At various other places the farmers are losing out on good deals in selling their properties to real estate developers.

Reliance Industries, for instance, bought land from local farmers at Rs. 20 lakh per hectare for its SEZ in Haryana, when the prevailing market price is around Rs. 28 to 30 lakh per hectare. Landlords in Dadri and Ghaziabad are even worse off, selling land at Rs. 10 -12 lakh per hectare, when current rates hover around Rs. 25 lakh per hectare.

At places government has tied up with private developers and at many other places the private developers are operating separately. Due to low circle rate fixed by the state governments compared to market rates the real estate developers are getting away by paying less.

What should be (should have been) done?

1. A clear affirmation on paper that the fertile land for double crop will not be given for SEZ.

2. Along with jobs and compensation, the farmers should be given stakes (land acquisition for SEZ should not be treated in par with acquisition for other purpose, public utility or industrial activity).

3. Land acquisition should be done only after the complete approval of the plan of SEZ (to stop private developers from grabbing more than required). This should also make sure of not acquiring more than required land from farmers.

The present state of the workers in the already functioning SEZs is pathetic.

In Cochin SEZ violating Contract Labour Act of 1970, the workers are employed on a contract basis for as low as Rs. 35 - 75 per day for jobs which are "permanent and perpetual" in nature. On top of it they have to pay commission of Rs. 10-15 a day for contractor.

Once the worker enters the premises they do not have any contact with the outside world. The work atmosphere is oppressive and most of the units in force the worker to work for 10-12 hours a day with a very meagre break for lunch and even to use toilets.

The Indian government SEZ website boosts of number of women workers.
Despite employing more than 3500 women, the zone does not provide accommodation facilities nor are there any crèches. Transportation facilities are inadequate. The workers are taken by vehicles to the factories for the morning shift, but they are left in the lurch once the shift is over. The lofty ideals of each zone developing into townships catering to all the needs of the work force including housing, education, and Medicare remain only on paper.

Not just people working in ceramic, ready made garments and most other blue collared jobs, even the sophisticated Information Technology jobs is not spared from exploitation. Employees are appointed as trainees for eleven months on meagre wages, and then their employment is terminated. They are then reappointed again as trainees after a reasonable lapse of time and the trainee cycle continues for any period of time you are willing to let yourself be 'trained'. Even the Kerala's trade unionism has failed to protect rights of the workers in the zone. The labour rights of workers in SEZ come under Development Commission unlike Labour Department for other industries. The Development Commission has failed to check the conditions of the workers. The workers are forced to put a false front when Women Commission and Labour Commission officers visit zone (else it would cost them their job).

Only about 35% of units in Cochin SEZ is reported to pay salary and treat their employees decently.

4. The Labour act for workers in SEZ should be formed so that they get to lead a decent life and some freedom at work.

5. The government has not sorted out the financial obligations from taxes due to SEZ, the Finance ministry (FM) and Industry Ministry (IM) still have confusion among themselves.

Few months back the Finance ministry claimed that it’s going to face a revenue loss of Rs. 1, 60,000 crores by 2010. Industrial ministry claimed that it brings in investments of Rs. 1, 00,000 crores by end of 2007 and creation of five lakh additional jobs with new revenue gain of Rs. 44,000 crores.

6. FM, RBI and IM should resolve the confusion in treating the bank finaicking of SEZ projects along with other pointed before they revoke the freeze and start issuing fresh notices and approval.

India Together, Frontline, sezindia.nic.in and various other resources have helped me with facts to write this article.