Lives on the boil on forest fringes in Keralam after ESA notification

…in the high ranges, the notification has once again stirred fears about the impact of the classification on land, agriculture and everyday life. Tashkent remembers the uncertainty that followed the earlier proposals. “ After 2013, people started cutting down trees as they feared they would not be able to use their land later. Farmlands were abandoned, and land prices fell. Apprehensions about the notification have done more damage here than anything else ,” he says. A landscape built by migration The history of these settlements in the ghats region goes back to several generations. The erstwhile Travancore administration’s Grow More Food campaign in the early 1940s…

…His parents migrated from Kottayam to Idukki nearly 80 years ago. For him, the present debate is not simply about environmental regulation but about the future of communities that have lived here for generations. “ If such regulations are brought in, people will eventually be forced to leave their land ,” he fears. Idukki, where 51 villages figure in the latest draft, has emerged as the epicentre of protests as during the times of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report. All the grama sabhas passed resolutions…

…Samithy, under the patronage of the diocese, organised a series of protests across the high ranges. The Church continues to argue that human settlements and agricultural land should be kept outside the ESA. “ Human habitations and farmlands shall be fully excluded. Designating 51 villages as ESAs will disrupt normal life across the district. The Church supports the protests as the issue threatens the survival of the local population ,” says Fr. Jins Karakkatt, director of the Idukki Diocese Media Commission. The present anxiety is rooted in a decade-old debate over how the Western Ghats should be protected. The concerns extend beyond the Church and…

…beyond the Church and its affiliates. Alex Ozhukayil, chairperson of the Kerala Independent Farmers Association, sees the ESA proposal as creating two categories of residents, those who live in the ESAs and outside. “ The inclusion of a holding in theESA will take the villages out of the jurisdiction of the State Revenue department and place them with the Central regime, and residents will then be forced to seek Central clearance for almost every activity. Eventually, the residents will have to vacate the region ,” Alex fears. The issue also reshaped district politics. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Joyce George, legal adviser to the Samithy and a Left Democratic Front(LDF)-backed Independent, won the Idukki seat, which was…

…are markedly different from those heard in the high range settlements. N. Badusha, president of the Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samithy, says some interest groups are stoking unnecessary fears with ulterior motives. “ The apprehensions that there will be restrictions on building houses and digging wells in the ESAs are baseless political propaganda pushed by vested interest groups ,” he says. “We have a host of laws, including the Forest Act and the Wildlife Protection Act, to protect forests. So it is pointless to classify forest areas as ESAs to protect forests,” Badusha adds. V.S. Vijayan, a…