What can be a better movie to watch than “Chak De! India” at a time when India is celebrating its sixtieth year of freedom? The patriotic movie portrays sports, which the country has been neglecting grossly, as main theme. Gone are the days of the love-triangle or hero-villain movies and surely our audience has matured to appreciate the movie.

The movie, certainly, has taken a brave step of portraying and glorifying Indian Women’s Hockey, the sport that has seen more ebbs than tides. This sport-centric movie creates a sense of patriotism which is why becomes a must see movie for all Indians at home and abroad.

The hockey coach- the protagonist in the movie- once faced the wrath and rage of Indian public, specifically the media, for his suspicious role in the final match against Pakistan in his hey days. Since then he vows to prove his innocence and loves his country as same as any other true Indian. It took almost seven years for him to grab a right opportunity to prove his love for country by bagging the coaching contract from the Indian Hockey Association after much tug of war with the association.

The managerial and the leadership skills of the coach have been able to bind the players, coming from different parts of the country and clashing with the diversified culture and languages. With efforts putting in by the coach, the players finally stand tall with unity and go on in a winning streak. The concerted endeavor by the coach became successful with India winning the final match and emerging the world champion for the first time in the history.

I sensed two basic points in the movie. One- the movie genuinely portrays some grey areas of Indian sports and how the mismanagement is ruling the roost by some of the inefficient and indifferent administrators and two, how a former national player, being termed as ‘traitor’, single-handedly fights against all odds to prove his love for the country and emerges victorious with full public attention.

A spellbind movie ‘Chak De! India’ truly reflects the sense of patriotism.

Much of the public criticism of SEZs has been centered on the land acquisition processes. The central issue here is not the quantum of compensation or rehabilitation and resettlement. The real issue is whether state power should be used to promote private profit. But in all fairness some of the big players are relying on commercial acquisition, giving the land holders an equity stake in the project and ensuring jobs for the displaced persons.

SEZs begin to look exclusively like a land acquisition issue, a wider discussion about jobs, infrastructure and growth multipliers has been reduced to a sterile farmer-versus-industry debate. SEZs, sadly, have been projected by some politicians as some kind of land grab. This is an irresponsible accusation in a country where almost two-thirds of the population still works on land. Ruthless CPM politics that resulted in the Nandigram tragedy has had its effect; demonstration effect seems to be hurting the case for SEZs elsewhere too. There is now talk of halving the size of the SEZ near Mumbai. If good infrastructure is integral to SEZs, then there is no point in reducing their size to a few hundred hectares. India needs large SEZs that rejuvenate the landmass around them and have far-reaching impact.

With Rs 60,000 crore of investment planned, the importance of SEZs cannot be overstated. So, what should the Indian government do to repackage and resell the SEZ concept as a credible instrument for raising output and growth? The first step should be to publicize SEZs where land has been acquired without a hitch. Some good publicity is urgently required. Second, SEZ developers should be encouraged to acquire land though direct negotiations with landholders. Developers can and should incorporate innovative strategies to answer questions of small landholders especially. Corporates should also be encouraged to set up commercial ‘collectives’ of displaced persons, as has been creatively done by the Tatas at Singrur, to supply labour and resources for construction work at the project site. That would ensure the displaced have a stake in the new venture. But it is also true that investors won’t wait endlessly for this positive process to begin. The push has to come from the government.

Everyone is just stressing on the success of China and debating why it can’t be replicated in India. Today China (and to similar extent other SE Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore) are really big in manufacturing. India so far has been competitive only in service sector; it is nowhere in picture in manufacturing scene. For India to truly become a developed nation India needs to create a ton of jobs in manufacturing and without setting up SEZ’s its going to be very difficult, especially with the kind of bureaucracy and red-tapism.

For more information on Real Estate Agents, MLS visit Propertiesmls.com