A study in contrast - SEZ bill and RTE bill

Some background:

SEZ (Special Economic Zone) Act:
Special Economic Zone Act 2005, is a act which stipulates rules for setting up these zones and incentives offered by the government. SEZ can be established anywhere within the country (there are some size restrictions) and units setup within these will get special incentives. The major incentives include: 1. Single window clearance for central and State laws. 2. Special infrastrucutre within SEZ. 3. SEZ are "foreign" for the purpose of custom duty. There wont be any duties on items exported to SEZ from India. 4. Units setup within the SEZ do not pay any income taxes and many other taxes for the next 10 years.
Most of the incentives for the Act are listed out in the bill itself.

http://sezindia.nic.in/sez-rules2006.pdf
http://www.sezindia.nic.in/SEZ%20Act,%202005.pdf

RTE (Right to Education) draft bill:
This is bill to provide fundamental right to education to children aged 6-14 years of age. Its lists out what it means to have fundamental right to education. The bill is very vague and lacks details. My opinion, is that is not at all remarkable enough to change the education system or status in India. There is nothing new in the bill.


There are several points I want to make:
a) SEZ bill is a business friendly bill which is utterly unjustifiable. Why should SEZ units, which dont pay any taxes, get better infrastrucute and incentives while other businesses pay taxes and get bad infrastructure?. Doesnt this equate to what middle class say about slums. Middle class claim that slums dont pay any taxes and use the infrastructure (water, sanitation) and hence should be demolished. Why should we encourage SEZ's then?

b) There are only size restictions on what cant be an SEZ. So all big businesses and projects will now be setup in an SEZ and get all tax benefits (pay no taxes). So where will govt get its taxes from? Only the indiviuals?

c) I think of the SEZ bill as a huge corporate subsidy. Economists talk about reducing the various social subsidies. I dont see that much oppostion to this type of subsidy. Rather none of the articles refer to as subsidy. Isnt this a subsidy given to profit making businesses and why is it justified?

Now I come to the contrast between the two bills mentioned before:
1. SEZ bill has passed parliament and came into effect on Fb 10th.
RTE bill is in draft form and there is no set time frame of when it will be presented. In 1993 Supreme court declared education as fundamental right and only in 2002 was the constitution changed and 2005 a draft bill prepared.
Infact in SEZ case some 117 SEZ's are already approved.
This shows how much govt has commitment towards the bill.

2. SEZ bill is specific and all incentive details are listed out in it. RTE bill is vague and details are onitted. It omits things as to what provisions will be made for special children or what does it mean by neighbourhood or equitable education.

3. There have been massive protests to get RTE bill out by many public groups and still govt hasnt moved. People are suffering and children lives are at stake. While SEZ bill will provide incentives to industry which is still growing at a healthy rate of > 10% (Industrial growth in India for past few years has been > 10%). So why the urgency to get the SEZ bill?.

4. There are huge discussions in the planning commission on the financial impact of the RTE bill. State governments are opposed to funding the bill. But there havent been any committees set up to determine the financial loss in terms of lost taxes or businesses moving to SEZ's. No state govt are complaning. Infact state governments are eager to provide additional incentives. Our Commerce ministry is talking only about additional investment which this will bring and nothing about lost taxes.

Though not a systematic study, this clearly shows how govts work/ busineeses work. Businesses when given subsidy are happy but when subsidy is given to poor or money spent on social sector they call it "populist" and talk about federal prudence and budget deficits.
Govts. (even our democratic one) work by means of lobbying and for busineeses. They only look after constituencies for short while at time of elections.

This needs to change.

I might look into doing a more systematic study of this later.

Analysis: Right to Education Bill

Over the previous few weeks we in Asha have been discussing the Draft Right to Education Bill, 2005. The goal of this excercise is to come up with a Asha Seattle's stance on the bill. Different opinions were expressed in the discussions which were interesting to listen at times. In this multi-part blog entry I would put forth my opinions and discuss several background documents.

Some background info:
Draft Bill
CABE Committee report on free and Compulsory Education
CABE Committee Report on Girls’ Education and Common School System
Short good read on the bill & analysis by PRS.

My critique of the bill is based on the following points:
1. Childrens Age Group:
Current Position:
The draft bill and the 93rd ammendment defines fundamental right to free and compulsory education for children in age group 6-14.
My View:
I think the right should include all children upto the age of 18 or until they have completed 12th grade.
Why:

0-6 age group:
Education for the 0-6 age group might mean providing basic health and nurtrituion facilites to this age group. It might mean providing anganwadi and creches (day care facilites).
In India more than 45% of the children suffer from malnutrition in this age group. Scientifically it has been proved that this is among the most important period in a childs brain development.
The aim of the bill is to provide everybody with equitable quality of education. If this age group is not addressed in the bill a large propotion of the children will not get opputrunity of quality education as they are disadvantaged before they reach the age of 6.

14-18 age group:
One of the goals of education is to equip children with means to live a fulfilling life which includes providing some sort of skills to earn livelihood. Education for 14-18 age group can be tailored to provide such skills in form of education to go for higher studies or additional vocational education.

There are several other reasons like:
- In the 1993 Supreme Court Judgement in case of Unnikrishnan vs State of Andrha Pradesh the court recognized the right of education for upto 14 years of age and from 14-18 age group depending on the financial ability of the state.
- India is signatory to the United Nations Resolution on Rights of the Child which recognizes the right to education for everybody upto 18 years of age.

Critics of my argument may agrue that the govt. currently addresses the 0-6 age group through various schemes like ICDE scheme and its also part of the constitution as part of Article 45. But this doesnt make it a fundamental right for 0-6 age group children which the state is liable to. Is there any valid reason for this age group not being addressed in the bill?. None. Its just lack of political will. The financial commitment on the govt by extending the bill to include 0-18 age group is not signficant if there is political will.

2. Government's Commitment:
Current Stand:
The government will provide neighorbood schools in all areas within 3 years and till then provide transportation charges for children to the schools.
Free education is vaguely defined as govt schools will not charge any fees.
Quality of education is defined mostly in terms of accesibility to schools.

My View:
I think the government should provide quality neighborhood schools in all areas within 1 year.
I think governement should in addition provide a) free textbooks b) uniform c) transportaion charges if any d) any other expenses incurred on education by children of lower income families.
Within one year government should ensure that all govt schools are of the same level in terms of insfrastructure (building, teacher's education, teacher-student ratio etc) as today's Kendriya Vidyalaya schools. Within 3 years per-child expenses on education in all schools should be comparable to KV schools today. Govt should setup strict evaluation mechanism for monitoring how schools are performing in terms of imparting education. This will mean looking beyond infrastructure to things like children learning standards in schools. The bill should include provisions by which Govt can be held responsible if it doesnt acheive the above in stated time frame.

Why:
I believe "Everybody should get equal opportunity for education". No child should be denied quality education. Education for all should be a priority as it has been ignored for many years.
Critics may argue that this is overly ambitious. Is it?. Just look at the Golden Quadrilateral project or the National Highway project. The govt considered it a priority and within a few years we have roads comparable to free ways in America. So I am sure it can be done.
Oh we dont have money, the other argument will go. Do we really dont have money?. The government is spending a lot on various infrastructure projects. I think education being the most important priority funds can be diverted towards that for 1-2 years. Also I beleive we dont really need that much money that other sectors will be completely ignored. A few places where untargeted subsidies are reduced/restructured (LPG!, fertilizer! ...) or special incentives given to rich industries (Special economic zones!, free/subsidized land!) removed will provide with the needed money. If Govt commits I am sure there wont be any trouble finding the money.

In the next part I will cover my other criticisms to the bill. Comments/questions are welcome.