The Western Ghats, and two reports on how to preserve its ecology, has become a source of mass hysteria in the state. At stake is one of the eight big ecological hotspots in the world, a 1,500 km-long continuous mountainous chain (except for the Palakkad gap) that runs parallel to the western coast of India. After the first report—authored by a panel headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil—was made public in 2012, the Centre constituted another panel (headed by G. Kasturirangan) to study the feasibility of implementing the Gadgil report. Among its recommendations, the second report favours the bureaucracy imposing boundaries in ecologically sensitive areas (differing from the Gadgil report, which suggested that grama sabhas be given this authority).
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Is this why then, suddenly, the strangest of myths have begun to flower in Kerala opposing the Kasturirangan report? Like local leaders warning people in Idukki district that if the report gets implemented, children will even have to “stifle their cries at night as it would disturb the animals”. For the area would become a tiger sanctuary. Another tale, this one emerging from Wayanad’s church pulpits, is that the daughters of the region would be left spinsters for nobody would want to marry them (since they would anyway be homeless once the report is implemented). Far worse, it was also rumoured that farmers in the area would be evicted from their lands.
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To add fuel to the fire, Thamarassery bishop Mar Remegiose Inchananiyil, in a rabble-rousing speech in Kozhikode last year, said that blood would be shed and Naxalism would emerge if the Kasturirangan report was implemented. Not much after, Kerala saw riots and agitations in the hill districts. Politicians have not been far behind, with chief whip of the ruling coalition in Kerala, the UDF, P.C. George, lending support to the agitation against the so-called “anti-farmer” report. Even CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, from the opposition, went out of his way to support the bishop. George went on to call the people who wrote the report “mad”. “Already 29 per cent of Kerala is under forests, how can they add more area to it?” he asks.
Madhav Gadgil Report | Kasturirangan Report | |
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A case of sedition has been filed in the Kerala High Court against the bishop for provocation and promoting enmity. Bishop Remegiose, however, clarified to Outlook, with the benefit of hindsight, that he is a victim of “media sensationalism”. “The entire context of my speech was never reported. Only two lines were highlighted. That part of my speech was only an embellishment. I was referring to the history of such acts which are anti-farmer.” He counters the allegations that the church is supporting the powerful quarry miners saying, “We are not supporting them. Strangely, the villages that have quarry mines do not come under the ecologically sensitive areas (ESA). They lie outside, so quarry mining will still happen. There is biased selection of villages based on vested interests.”
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Environmentalists, meanwhile, say the protests have no basis. They are “manufactured” by powerful lobbies to “subvert ecological control”, they argue. Since nowhere have the reports suggested that farmers will be evicted, it raises questions as to what’s behind this agitation. The finger points to a deep structural nexus between political parties, religious institutions and the mafia (sand mining, quarry mining, tourism and the land mafia).
Activists further argue that the entire protest is engineered to scuttle the original Gadgil report. Says advocate Fr George Pulikuthiyil, director of Jananeethi in Thrissur: “We wonder if the government is serious about implementing the Gadgil report, a comprehensive report based on a scientific study by experts in the field. Kasturirangan is a space scientist with no knowledge of the environment and the church agitation against the report in Kerala has no basis.”
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The role of the all-powerful church is also under the lens. A general perception in Kerala is that the church is protesting for the farmers. But there’s also growing opinion that it seems to be aligning with the influential sand and quarry mining lobbies. Though the church is officially committed to protecting the environment, their actions seem to be suggest otherwise. Interestingly, a pastoral letter was issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in 2012 which prioritised the need for conserving nature. Now they don’t want any rules to protect the environment, even if it’s an ecological sensitive area like the Western Ghats.
The Kasturirangan report had suggested the stopping of mining, quarrying and construction of buildings above 20,000 sq mt in the ecologically sensitive areas (ESA). But no one is answering the fundamental question: why this hue and cry when these areas are already protected? Writer and environmentalist Sunny M. Kattikadu explains: “For ages now, Kerala’s forests have been encroached on by the land mafia. The government hasn’t done anything on the title deeds front either (in 1979, the state had announced an amnesty, saying ‘settlers’ would get titles to their land but little has happened on that front). Meanwhile, people continue to encroach on the forests while the government does nothing.”
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Following the agitations in Wayanad, Idukki and Kozhikode, the state government constituted a third committee led by Kerala Biodiversity Board chairman Oommen V. Oommen to study the Kasturirangan report and the impact it’ll have on farmers. The Oommen report is said to be pro-farmer. So, the report saga continues. In the coming days, Kerala is likely to see more agitations on this front. Meanwhile, Veerappa Moily, who’s in charge of the moef now, has decided to “consult the states once again” before implementing the report. With elections round the corner, why are we not surprised?
By Minu Ittyipe in Kerala