PLANNING FOR SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE IN UTTAR PRADESH STATE CAPITAL REGION

Abstract

It is often debated that the industrial development is confined to the larger cities having an infrastructural setup capable of supporting the economic activities. These cities have their own acute problems of traffic congestion, migration, housing shortage, slum formation, lopsided development in the region. The National Capital Region (NCR) and other metropolitan cities in India like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, etc are witnessing major overhauling in their urban areas in an attempt to eradicate such problems. These efforts have resulted into more imbalance of the equilibrium between the urban and rural areas, developed and the backward regions. The growth is far less visible in other parts of the country. The government of India has time and again evolved various economic schemes for economic growth of the country with major emphasis on industrial development. The concept of Special Economic Zone has attracted the interests of Economists and planners across the globe, as an economic concept culminating not only the process of developing the national economy but also encompassing the required social upliftment through improved quality of life and increased employment opportunities. This dissertation attempts to study the concept of Special Economic Zone and its role in the development process as these zones are responsible for employment generation through industrial development along with other objectives of reviving ancillary industries, relieving housing problems, accelerate economic growth, infrastructural development, etc., in the study area. Uttar Pradesh State Capital Region is taken up as the context and attempts to delineate Special Economic zone have been done by rational analysis and application of planning models. Systems Concept is employed to understand the nexus between the system and the zone. Finally, a set of recommendations are made to have balanced development in the system by considering the Special Economic Zone as a `catalyst' for integrated development.