The government's decision to keep the Gadgil Committee report under wraps has prevented an informed discussion on the competing claims of development and ecology
The Western Ghats are as important to the ecological and cultural life of the nation as the Himalayas. Running from Maharashtra right down to Kerala, they are a staggeringly rich reservoir of biodiversity. They give rise to many important rivers and are home to many significant places of pilgrimage. Their forests, fields and rivers sustain tens of millions of farmers, herders, fisherfolk, pastoralists and artisans.
Over the past few decades, however, the ecological integrity of the Western Ghats has been subjected to sharp and sometimes savage attack. Unregulated logging, open-cast mining, large dams, and the diversion of land to real-estate barons have led to environmental degradation as well as social discontent.
Series of meetings
In March 2010, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) asked Professor Madhav Gadgil to head an Expert Committee to study the situation in the Western Ghats, and recommend how best to reconcile the sometimes competing claims of environment and development. This was a wise, even inspired, choice. Gadgil is a world-renowned ecologist; born close to the Western Ghats, he has spent his professional life doing fieldwork in its woods, streams, villages and fields. Moreover, he is a pragmatic scientist who does not romanticise rural poverty or the “purity” of nature; rather, he has always sought to find ways of augmenting productivity and incomes while maintaining environmental stability.
The committee headed by Madhav Gadgil had other top ecologists as members. Government officials and civil society activists were also represented. Between March 2010 and August 2011, the committee held 14 panel meetings. Its members travelled extensively in the Western Ghats, meeting a wide range of stakeholders. It held eight consultations with government agencies and 40 consultations with civil society groups. It commissioned 42 papers by experts.
‘Interests would be affected'
In September 2011, the Committee presented a 300 page report to the MoEF. The report is likely to be exhaustive as well as balanced, brimming with insight and information. For it is the work of scientists rather than ideologues. Alas, I cannot be more specific, for, in an astonishingly short-sighted move, the Ministry has refused to make the document public. Worse, it has given no indication to the hardworking members that their service has been recognised or appreciated. Requests for appointments made by Professor Gadgil himself have been refused.
The government's secrecy has been challenged by civil society groups. An activist based in Kerala appealed to the Central Information Commission (CIC) urging that the report be released. The CIC asked the Environment Ministry the reasons for its decision. The (ambiguous) answer was that the “scientific or economic interests of the State” would be adversely affected if the report was made public. An official said the Ministry was worried that if the Gadgil Committee report was released, there would be “an influx of proposals for declaration of eco-sensitive zones in the Western Ghats” by various individuals and organisations.
The CIC considered the Ministry's reasons, before rejecting them as unpersuasive. In an order issued last month, it quoted a judgment of Justice Mathew in a case of 1975: “The people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way by their public functionaries. They are entitled to know the particulars of every public transaction in all its bearing.”
The Information Commissioner hearing the appeal noted that “in a democracy, the masters of the government are the citizens and the argument that public servants will decide policy matters by not involving them — without disclosing the complete reasons to the masters — is specious.” He observed that reports commissioned from scientific experts and at government expense, must be made accessible to citizens. “This would facilitate an informed discussion between citizens [and the government] based on a report prepared with their/public money.”
On trust and the corrupt
The Commissioner further observed that even if the government “decides not to accept the findings or recommendations [of such reports], their significance as an important input cannot be disregarded arbitrarily. If such reports are put in [the] public domain, citizens' views and concerns can be articulated in a scientific and reasonable manner. If the Government has reasons to ignore the reports, these should be logically put before people. Otherwise citizens would believe that the Government's decisions are arbitrary or corrupt. Such a trust deficit would never be in the interests of the Nation.”
The CIC's conclusion was forthright: putting the report in the public domain would “bring greater trust in the government and its functionaries, and hurt only the corrupt.” It instructed the Ministry to provide an attested photocopy of the report to the applicant by May 5, and to put it on the Ministry website by May 10.
Rather than follow the CIC's orders, the Ministry has chosen to appeal its decision in court. This is deeply unfortunate. For one of the few positives of the second UPA government has been the performance of the MoEF. The two Ministers who have held office since 2009 have both been focused and hard-working. They have infused energy into a previously moribund department, allowing it to more closely fulfil its original mandate, of assuring — or at least arguing for — a model of development that is sustainable rather than predatory.
That hard-won credibility has now been put at stake by the decision not to release the Western Ghats report. One can only speculate at the “special interests” that lie behind this move. Suffice it to say that those interests are antithetical to ecology, democracy, and to the history and heritage of the Western Ghats themselves.
(Ramachandra Guha is a historian. E-mail: ramachandraguha@yahoo.in)
This article only highlights the ravaging of the natural environment in
the name of development where development is actually not taking place.
The original inhabitants of the place are displaced and they do not in
anyway benefit from these so called development activities.
Every new government in the southern states favours any project that
will allow them to gain entry into these areas.
The Government knows exactly what that report said to the minutest details. It knows the benefits to the people and the environment and benefits to its own cadres, the mining lobbies, land barons... that feed their party fund for elections and propaganda.It chose to gag the report, it might rewrite, re-frame the sentences.. to fit their greed and selfish interests.There's no shades of grey on this issue, it's black and white; Greed Vs Sustainable Development. I am tired of this debacle, even in my own State Meghalaya the Mining policy is yet to see the light of day. The Central Government is more concentrated on economic growth (GDP), rather than dealt firmly on serious issues of large scale pan Indian environmental degradation. I hope the leaders that be listen, for the time wait for none.
I am unhappy with most of the people commenting against mining blindly. Mining is bad if you are not doing it in right way. Its a country's natural resource which we should be able to utilize considering the environment too. If we are not able to utilize these all we keep doing is importing the same from other countries and making our country depending on the other countries. How many years we keep on hearing India as a developing nation?. We are talking about ecology, nature and all right, are we really looking at reducing carbon emissions?? what are we doing for that, this is also a cause for the disasters.
Most of the iron ore is exported to other countries and we are importing back the finished product again, its not just with Iron and it is with most of the metals, cement, fertilizers. When the extraction is more when compared to demand then i should be export, over here in India its different.
Many doesn't know that couple of Social Organizations are spoiling our development.
Unmitigated, unbridled 'growth' of Big Industry at the cost of the health of our
natural environment is going to cost us very very dearly not in some distant future but even within a decade as our children become adults.
Professor Gadgil's vision of 'Social Ecology' should be our model for the future. Each one of us should cut down on consumption of fossil fuels, concrete, metal or plastic products, and work towards a greener, cleaner environment, fresh air, clean water, abundant food, and green technologies.
As children we sang for 'Shashya, shyamala, sujala, suphala' - today, we inflict terrible wounds on natural India, on which our very survival depends. Instead of blindly aping the West, we should learn from small countries like Bhutan or Peru, that Happiness lies in the health of our natural environment.
The government is not only selling off our future to the highest bidder, but in secrecy!
This is identical to the case of the report of the two-member subcommittee comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy set up by the Press Council of India (PCI) to examine the PAID NEWS SCANDAL. Its release was "deferred" initially and then a much watered down version was published and finaly the report vanished from PCI website also . Only because powerful media barons like the TOI were severely implicated in the original report . Only through a Petition to CIC, to make the report public , did the ORIGINAL report reappear on PCI website .
Similiarly , unless the media ( those with media ethics remaining - like THE HINDU )and the civil society take the matter up seriously , even this report will vanish because "special interests groups" are implicated in same .
Will the citizens of India please start raising their voice in unison before what is left by our so called "leaders" for the 'aam aadmi' would be just parched earth, barren hills & dry or polluted rivers .
Neither the UPA nor the opposition will be emboldened to press the
due authority to release the report. Unless the citizen takes the
matter with utmost urgency to the Supreme court with a plea to not
only make the original report public on the concerned ministry
website but must also order a time line within which the
government must come out with an action plan balancing policy for
utilisation and conservation of natural resources of the western
ghats, clearly demarcating a no expoitation zone and also specify
the rate of exploitation, projected costs and revenue accruing to
the exchequer due to such exploitation of resources.
This will at least trigger a meaningful fact based research effort among the student community (future generation) whether they stand any chance of inheriting a virgin forest cover at all in the western ghats?
Prof. Madhav Gadgil's final version of the report may not be public, but its contents in the form of a power point presentation is available on the internet. One point that caught my eye is a recommendation that no Genetically Modified (GM) crop must be allowed to be introduced into cultivation in the Western Ghats. This piece of recommendation is scientifically absurd. Prof. Gadgil and his committee must provide scientific rationale or basis for this particular recommendation. I know for the fact that Prof. Gadgil expressed similar scientifically baseless letter to MoEF during the Bt brinjal controversy, and one member of his committee, Dr. Vijayan, former chairman of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board, also holds strong bias against GM crops that has no bearing on scientific evidence.
Government (politicians) just want to make money for(people) today
and keep the economy going, they are not interested in focusing on
long term impacts, as it wont help them to gain votes.
Hope the Court will support the CIC ruling and the report will be soon released to public. Expecting the report to be published in The Hindu as soon as it is released. People are filing PIL's against so many things but it is surprising none of those Civil Society activists are talking about this report or approaching Supreme Court! The Hindu should investigate that as well.
Can't understand that in a democracy that the well being of an environmentally
sensitive area isn't the business of the ones who are meant to be its keeper(s)? A planned development of such a 'jewel' as the Western Ghat is absolutely essential to its well being. And development is going to happen.., one way or another. I would think the government would be more focussed on this evolution occurring in an orderly manner with all sides of the issue informed and involved. Any other 'pattern' is going to be seen as coercion with those who are simply out to make a profit.., regardless of the consequences to the environmental impact on the lands and people.
Normally all the politicians and mining mafia have nexus to swindle the
nature. All the last 2 decades witnessed diminishing nature and growing
money power of these both. People speechless due to fear. Unless we act
our future generation will cry for clean air and water
Western Ghats is one of the major hotspots of biodiversity where major spices like black pepper,long pepper,cardamom and turmeric originated and valuable variability and wild forms for future uses exist.It is also the cradle for a large number of medicinal and aromatic plants.Fauna and microbes of Western Ghats are yet to be catalogued and documented.It takes hundreds of years to form fertile and living soils from the rock.Any disturbance of western ghats will be detrimental to the fragile ecosystem.The soil microbes at Western Ghats are pivotal to the biological balance tilting to goodness of man.
The Govt is not interested in the GENUINE reality that is at stake rather it seems to boost the black forces. The politicians have been successful in getting a large nation into a sloppy 'Happy Go' mood...an involuntary addiction, not realizing that the common man's plight will hit the deck hard when the time is ripe.
I agree with Ralph Paul. A revolution is the only answer. A cultural
revolution to start with, an awakening akin to the Enlightenment
period in Europe, to wake us from the stupor we are falling into.
Likeminded people should join hands to deflate slowly but surely the
mountains of lies and deceit that have surrounded us, and fight day in
and day out, by the pen, engaging people, or forming groups to
sensitize people about the way our democratic freedoms are being
snatched away from us, the way our voices and faculties are being
killed, the corrupt culture and values that pass of for development,
our roles as citizens, how our actions and thoughts can make a
difference. It is only an awakened populace that can save the country
because the State is DEAD for all practical purposes.
I recommend if Right for Information be exercised to bring the reports or atleast the reasons for not disclosing the reports to the public.
By not disclosing the report, the government is again landing itself in
danger.It seems as if illegal mining is going on and the government is
providing shelters to the miners and the corrupt people.
Everyday and with every such instance of the Govt denying the citizens access to information of public interest , we are getting more and more convinced that we are not ruled today by a Govt but by a "special interests group ".
Looks like a revolution is the only answer in India now
The amount of corruption and deception by this government is amazing. They should be thrown out and a new (hopefully) cleaner government installed.
Rampant deforestation is suicidal attempt which needs to be arrested
forthwith by the Government with stern action expeditiously. It
requires "political will" with statesman vision lest we ourselves alone
will become the victims for the short term gains of a few selfish
individuals in "powers-that-be" circle.
If there is one clear conclusion that can be made from reviewing the behavior of
the Government is that the report quite obviously contains material implicating
large-scale wrongdoing on the part of a range of government ministries,
ministers and corporates. The government's arbitrary denial of the request for the
report to be made public indicates that there is indeed something extremely
alarming and distressing contained in the report that, if released to the public,
will raise significant dissent and questions. Please give this issue significant
coverage in your news content so as to heighten the imminently needed public
demands for this conspiracy within the government to be revealed. It's our right
as citizens of the country to have complete knowledge of every public matter,
especially those pertaining to long-term issues of national natural resources and
ecological services.
The Reddy bros. have done a great damage to the ecosystem by mining indiscriminately, that this eco disaster will never bring back the original ecosystem back. Sorry state of affairs in the Karnataka-Andhra border ecosystem. Red dust all over the plants and trees. One must go there and see to believe it.
Thank you for the insightful article. It is very unfortunate and
deplorable that the environmental ministry, which should be at the
forefront of creating public awareness about environmental impacts, does
not want to public discussion and engagement about this vital natural
resource. As Anil Agarwal pointed out, this "colonial" mindset of
government of owning all the natural property has to give way to more
democratic functioning--specially in a country where a substantial
population live on the natures' produce.
Excellent article. Western Ghats represents a very important ecological feature of Peninsular India and is vital for the seasonal rains during the Southwest Monsoons. Ecological damage to the Ghats will prove to be a disaster to several of the Southern States. Unchecked felling of forests and mining will affect the usual rainfall, accelerate climate change, cause soil erosion, and loss of precious flora and fauna. This is a matter too important to be left to the whims and fancies of the political class. Steps ought to be taken for the immediate release of the report under Right to Information Act. Hope concerned citizens, media and scientists will press for the release.
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