Western Ghats conservation: A mountain of uncertainties

Poll-bound parties in Kerala may be forgiven for betraying a ‘crab mentality’ as they pull down each other in the effort to scale a mountain of uncertainties over the Western Ghats conservation issue.

They are looking to New Delhi, specifically Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for guidance as they set themselves on a treacherous climb rendered worse by rules, procedures, legalese and red tape.

Draft notification Ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) expects the MoEF to come out with a draft notification with suitable changes in the Kasturirangan panel recommendations for conserving precious biodiversity.

But observers doubt if this exercise will bring any material benefit to affected people in the Ghat region who face eviction from their land and loss of livelihood.

This is because the draft notification will need to be put on the Ministry’s website for seeking opinion/comments from the public for a period of at least 60 days.

There is no guarantee yet that the Congress will head it to take the draft notification to its logical conclusion.

BJP missive On the other hand, rival BJP in the State has expressed itself strongly against the bid of the government to securing interests of a particular section of people (settlers in the Ghats).

The party is of the view that the new draft and its notification violate the model code of conduct in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections and has written to the Election Commission.

Kerala Congress (Mani), prominent member of the ruling coalition, is threatening to implode under the weight of feared reprisal from a core vote bank represented by settlers in the Ghats.

The latter will be the worst-hit if the Kasturirangan script were to apply, which they fear will lead to eviction from land and loss of livelihood that sustained them through generations.

According to observers, the ruling coalition lost its grip over the matter early on and was busy fighting a fire of rebellion from own ranks and raging on many fronts.

The Opposition CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) swooped down and hijacked the issue by addressing concerns of restive settlers and occupying the space that the ruling front forfeited.

Entrenched presence The latter managed to regain senses only to find that the LDF had firmly entrenched its presence in the hills. The ground had literally started to slip from under its feet.

Knee-jerk rearguard action may have helped it to recover some lost ground by getting the MoEF to give due consideration to settler demands in the new draft.

The final stage of this exercise saw Home Minister Chennithala fly to New Delhi on Thursday where he also met with Veerappa Moily, Union Environment Minister.

Moily has conveyed to him that the new draft notification has been sent to the Law Ministry for its vetting and eventual publication.

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