CONCEPT – GADGIL AND KASTURIRANGAN COMMITTEE REPORTS

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CONCEPT – GADGIL AND KASTURIRANGAN COMMITTEE REPORTS

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• Western Ghats: The Western Ghats is an extensive region spanning over six States, 44 districts and 142 taluks. Home to many endangered plants and animals, it hosts India’s richest wilderness in 13 national parks and several sanctuaries. It is recognised by UNESCO as one of the world’s eight most important biodiversity hotspots. Key rivers are the Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery.
• Water supply for six states: The Western Ghats acts as a huge water tank supplying water to six states. But with time, many problems have emerged, including polluted water, lack of water and so on.
• Sustainability issues : The Western Ghats needs to be nurtured from the sustainability perspective of whole India and especially South India. In 2010, the MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests of India) set up in March 2010 an expert panel named Gadgil Commission to find a strategy for conserving these Ghats. Chairperson was Shri Madhav Gadgil.
• Madhav Gadgil Committee Report on the Western Ghats: The environmental research commission was formally known as Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP).  It submitted the report to the Government of India on 31 August 2011.

• Gadgil Committee Recommendations: Almost immediately, the report was labelled favourable to environment and environmentalists and not development.

1. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) designated the entire hill range as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).
2. The panel, in its report, has classified the 142 taluks in the Western Ghats boundary into Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) 1, 2 and 3.
3. ESZ-1 being of high priority, almost all developmental activities (mining, thermal power plants etc) were restricted in it.
4. The report recommended that “no new dams based on large-scale storage be permitted in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1. Since both the Athirappilly of Kerala and Gundia of Karnataka hydel project sites fall in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1, these projects should not be accorded environmental clearance.”
5. It specified that the present system of governance of the environment should be changed. It asked for a bottom to top approach (right from Gram sabhas) rather than a top to bottom approach. It also asked for decentralization and more powers to local authorities.
6. The commission recommended constitution of a Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), as a statutory authority under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, with the powers under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

• Criticisms of Madhav Gadgil Report: The major criticism was that it was more environment-friendly and not in tune with the ground realities. Recommendations were cited as impractical to implement. There was a criticism against the constitution of a new body called WGEA. States insist that protection can be given under existing laws. It did not give a solution for revenue losses. It was against dams in the Western Ghats, which is a crucial blow on the ailing power sector. Considering the growing energy needs of India, critics argued against it.
• What happened to the Report? The Ministry kept the Gadgil report in safe custody for eight months with them. It was not available for public discussion. When an RTI petition was filed, it was not given. Then the Delhi high court passed an order, and it was released.
• Second Committee: Another committee was appointed to study the Gadgil Report, and review and suggest measures for implementation. It was the Kasturirangan committee.
• Kasturirangan committee on the Western Ghats: It was constituted to examine the WGEEP report. The committee is often called HLWG – the 10 member high-level working group (HLWG), headed by Shri K Kasturirangan. 

• Recommendations of Kasturirangan Committee:    

1. Instead of the total area of Western Ghats, only 37% (i.e. 60,000 sq. km.) of the total area be brought under ESA under Kasturirangan report.
2. A complete ban on mining, quarrying and sand mining in ESA.
3. It distinguished between cultural (58% occupied in the Western Ghats by it like human settlements, agricultural fields and plantations) and natural landscape (90% of it should come under ESA according to the committee).
4. Current mining areas in the ESA should be phased out within the next five years, or at the time of expiry of mining lease, whichever is earlier.
5. No thermal power be allowed and hydropower projects are allowed only after detailed study.
6. Red industries i.e. which are highly polluting be strictly banned in these areas.
7. The Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats made several pro-farmer recommendations, including the exclusion of inhabited regions and plantations from the purview of ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs).
8. It said that 123 villages fall under the ESA purview.

• Criticisms of Kasturirangan Committee Report: It used remote sensing and aerial survey methods for zonal demarcation of land in the Western Ghats. The usage of such techniques, without examining the ground reality, has caused many errors in the report. The power is vested with the bureaucrats and forest officials and not with Gram Sabhas. Many fear that the farmers would get evicted if the Report was implemented. The mining and quarrying lobbies are expected to flourish. When these lobbies and tourism flourish, it will be disastrous for the environment. There will be water shortage, and pollution. Finally, farmers will have to quit the area. They will not be able to do farming there. The use of “erroneous method” had caused inclusion of many villages under Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) though there were only rubber plantations and no forest land! Kasturirangan report included ecologically non-sensitive areas under ESA, and left out many ecologically sensitive areas! 

• Comparison of Gadgil Report and Kasturirangan Report:

1. If Gadgil report laid too much importance to the environment, Kasturirangan report was biased towards development.
2. Kasturirangan report was criticized by many for providing loopholes for mining, which if allowed would turn detrimental.
3. Kasturirangan report got the tag as anti-environmental soon after its release. Some called it anti-development too.
4. Gadgil’s Western Ghats (landscape across 1,29,037 sq km.) is smaller than that of Kasturirangan’s (landscape 1,64,280 sq km).
5. Gadgil report marked out 60 percent of the Western Ghats as the highest-priority Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ -1). But the Kasturirangan report marked only 37 percent area (but considers wider Western Ghat boundaries) as ESA.
6. Gadgil’s report proposed to declare this entire landscape as ESA, creating three ESZs within it. It prescribed that the existing sanctuaries and ESZ-1 would together cover 60 percent of this landscape. The 25 percent lowest priority areas would be marked as ESZ-3 to allow all developmental activities with precautions. The remaining 15 percent area would become ESZ-2. For example, while no mining would be allowed within ESZ- 1, existing mines could continue in ESZ-2 with a moratorium on new licences. In ESZ-3, new mines could come up. The Kasturirangan panel, on the other hand, adopted the criteria followed by the Western Ghats Development Programme of the Planning Commission and identified 188 talukas as its Western Ghats landscape, which worked out to 1,64,280 sq km. It marked 37 percent of this stretch as ESA where hazardous industries, thermal plants or mines would not be allowed. In effect, the restriction level of Kasturirangan’s ESA corresponds to that of Gadgil’s ESZ-1.
7. According to the Gadgil report, the ESZ-1 areas add up to approximately 77,000 sq km (60 percent of 1,29,037 sq km). Kasturirangan’s ESA, on the other hand, accounts for around 60,000 sq km (37 percent of 1,64,280 sq km). That is a reduction of 17,000 sq km in the top priority segment. 

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