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Business News/ Opinion / Many more Malins lurk in Western Ghats
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Many more Malins lurk in Western Ghats

Rampant mining, wind farms, tourism projects and unscientific methods of farming are triggers for landslides here

Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of a landslide in Malin village in Pune. Photo: PTIPremium
Rescue workers clear the debris at the site of a landslide in Malin village in Pune. Photo: PTI

Mumbai: By Sunday, the landslide at Malin village in Ambegaon taluka of Maharashtra’s Pune district had claimed 92. Many are still trapped under the rubble and the final figure, it is feared, may cross 100.

Initial reports indicate the Malin hills were exploited for terraced paddy farming, encouraged by local officials of the state government’s agriculture department, which could have triggered the landslide that struck the village on Wednesday morning.

In that case, many more Malins are waiting to happen across the Western Ghats, the mountain range stretching from southern Gujarat to Kerala, as our hills continue to be exploited for mining, wind farms, tourism projects and unscientific farming.

It is not that policy makers are unaware of the dangers.

In 2009, the Union environment ministry appointed a committee led by well-known ecologist Madhav Gadgil to study the impact of the so-called developmental activity in the Western Ghats and recommend the kind of development projects desirable for these ranges.

The committee submitted its report in August 2011. It divided the entire Western Ghats into three categories: ecologically sensitive zone (ECZ) I, ECZ II and ECZ III. It recommended that all mining activity in ECZ I be phased out by 2016. It added that no new permission may be given for mining and polluting industries such as coal-based power plants and existing projects be permitted to operate under strict regulation with regular social audits in ECZ II. The report recommended allowing change in land use from agriculture to non-agriculture in ECZ III, but the developer of the industrial, infrastructure or tourism project should be asked to take measures to mitigate environmental and socio-economic changes.

However, all state governments concerned found the Gadgil committee report too harsh and asked the central government not to accept it.

Under pressure, the Centre appointed another committee led by K. Kasturirangan, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organization.

The Kasturirangan committee recommended reducing ECZ I from around 64% of total area of Western Ghats to 37%. But the states again found the Kasturirangan report ‘too restrictive’, and repeated their complaint that it would hamper economic development. Various political parties organized protest marches and other forms of agitation across all six states, asking the central government to reject the Kasturirangan committee report, too.

Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra’s Konkan region is home to Congress leader Narayan Rane, who recently stepped down as state industry minister. It is known for its Alphonso mango orchards, cashew plantations and pristine beaches. Some taluks in the district also see large-scale mining for minerals such as iron ore manganese.

Last year, many gram sabhas (village councils) here passed resolutions asking the state government to formally object to the Kasturirangan panel report.

What prompted this move by the gram sabhas?

An incident narrated by a social activist working in the area reveals how parties of various ideologies came together to help the mining lobby.

The activist said that members from various parties spread falsehoods about the implications of implementing the Kasturirangan report in the region.

The villagers were told that they won’t be able to convert their kuccha houses into pucca houses, as the report was against construction; and if a power line snapped the repairs would take long, for permission should come from officials from Delhi.

The gullible villagers believed these lies, and protested against the report, in effect signing their own death warrants.

Stirring a hornet’s nest

After its severe drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha election, Maharashtra’s ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine doled out several populist measures with its eyes on the state assembly elections due in October-November. One such measure was giving reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the Maratha community and Muslims.

Predictably, the move has led to similar demands from other communities as well. The state’s Dhangar (shepherd) community has demanded that it be added to the list of scheduled tribes (ST).

Community members say the Dhangad community in North India which enjoys ST status is the same as theirs. The difference in the spelling due to the North Indian pronunciation of the word Dhangar, they claim, is what robbed them of the special status.

Currently, Dhangars are included in the list of nomadic tribes (NT), which gets a 3% quota in state government jobs and educational institutions. However, since they are not on the ST list, they don’t get similar benefits in central government jobs and admissions in central government-run educational institutions.

As expected, tribal leaders from the state are up in arms. They claim Dhangars don’t meet historical, anthropological and social criteria for STs given in the Constitution.

However, their real fear is that the Dhangar community—which is prosperous compared with STs and politically more powerful due to its numbers—will corner the benefits of ST reservation.

The Congress-NCP has so far chosen to ignore the Dhangar community’s agitation but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is eager to return to power in the state after 15 years has promised to give the benefits of ST reservation to Dhangars without affecting the quota of the communities already included in the ST list.

However, it would have been advisable for BJP leaders in the state to learn from the experience of Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s first government in Rajasthan between 2003 and 2008. Before the state’s 2003 assembly elections, the BJP had given a similar assurance to the Gujjar community.

After coming to power, when Raje government attempted to fulfil its electoral promise, it was stiffly opposed by Meenas, a large tribal community in Rajasthan. This led to violent clashes between the two communities and Gujjars blocked the national highways passing through state for several days.

The upheaval finally resulted in the ouster of Raje government in 2008, even though it had performed rather well in most areas of governance.

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Published: 03 Aug 2014, 10:51 PM IST
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