Three Wishes
First of all, I have three things to share:
1. A request to everybody who is reading this first line - while this article may take quite a few minutes to read, the topic under discussion is a subject that would affect you directly (whether.you wish it away or not) and hence I would encourage you to spend some time thinking about it.
2. A request for favor from those who are confident about your knowledge about the topic and has already made up your mind based on that knowledge- please go through this and correct the flaws, if any, of my analysis of the topic. I can't guarantee any favor in return for any such shared knowledge, apart from my word that I will consider and address them with complete intellectual transparency.
3. An urge to those who find my study convincing - please do not sacrifice your intellectual honesty in the altar of political affiliations or religious views or personal ideological preferences.
I also intend to keep it rather brief. In the 140-character world, I think I have already written too much, even before getting into the topic. So, I can't afford to give too much explanation. Also, if the reader is going to use his/her brain, then most of the things are self-explanatory.
The Topic: Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) Report, aka Gadgil report
Let me confess: I do not share the sentiments of the large majority in the perspective in which we need to approach the problem of environmental change caused by human actions on earth (as somebody living in a country that hosts millions of utterly destitute people in the middle of millions of aspiring middle-class, whose immediate priorities of life cannot be bundled together with the priorities of the those living in the Hollywood district of California, USA or Port-au-Prince, Haiti).
But, I am able to relate perfectly with the motivation to preserve the Western Ghats in India (as somebody who grew up in the bosom of that great gift to our country, and the state of Kerala especially, and have experienced ALL of her. Her Blessings and Curses. Her Blood and Sweat. Her Smiles and Tears). I would blame her for my bad handwriting, and would praise her for my disposition to sit and write this when I could have done a lot of other pleasure-giving things. That's the depth we go.
So, with the deep respect, sympathy and graveness the topic demands, let say this outright - this is a report that goes against the best interest of this country, the state of Kerala, you and me. This is a conclusion I have reached after considering the various aspects of the issue. What I will do subsequently is to demonstrate why I think so. As I mentioned in the very beginning, when you follow me in my analysis, if you find any diverging points, you can comment about them here in this blog and I will respond to it with utmost sincerity.
Just one caveat: I am raising only specific issues based only on the text of the report. I would expect any difference of opinion expressed in terms of the report itself. I cannot entertain objections that are motivated by purely ideological, political or religious inclinations. Accussing me of working for a mafia is a personal attack on my integrity. Accussing me of being misled by a mafia is a personal attack on my intelligence. I do not intend to respond to those who insult me personally. But, showing me a piece of information that I misinterpreted is helping me. Telling me something that I did not think carefully enough is showing me the way. I appreciate it.
A couple of points before I jump in.
If you are of the idea that the whole purpose of preserving Western Ghats is to just preserve it for the nature, and has nothing to do with the continued sustenance and progress of human beings, then you don't need to read further. Instead, I advise you to join the VHEM and extinct yourself as soon as possible for the betterment of nature.
If you are of the idea that this has nothing to do with you, then I am assuming that either you have joined the Mars One program or you think that you are already living in the Planet of Apes.
If you know for yourselves that you belong to the Bolgia Six of the Eighth circle of Dante's Inferno, it is a waste of time for you. You may stop reading.
If you are not a reader from Kerala, I do not know if my analysis will appear to be very relevant to you, because I am talking from the perspective of a Keralite. But, as an interested party, reading this will do only be good, and you will be able to apply the similar logic to your own state.
A Background
A few months back, when the protests against Kasturi Rangan report took center stage in Kerala, I had written a few pieces in this blog. A lot happened since, and the recommendations of the Oommen committee report are in the public domain. This report has documented the realities of the lives of people in the Western Ghats in Kerala and has made some detailed recommendations. Cadestral maps of ESAs were being drawn when the 2014 elections were announced. The new government has taken power in the Centre, and voices can be heard from Kerala that call for the implementation of the Gadgil report.
My attempt is to take you through the recommendations of the Gadgil report and raise certain points on how the report is very extremist and fundamentalist in nature and how it could affect our lives. Of course, there are recommendations to which I have no objections and you can go through all the recommendations at your leisure. Here, I will be focusing on the ones that need careful examination.
To make your life easier, I have taken snapshots of the report contents (so that you don't have to read through the report to figure out the section that I am referring to). I will arrange my analysis based on these snapshots.
Kerala: Ecologically Sensitive Zones (Taluk-wise)
Gadgil report essentially divided the entire Western Ghats into three Ecologically Sensitive Zones (other than the Protected Areas). Since they used a grid scheme covering a pretty large area (9*9 km), most of the physical peculiarities within a single cell within the grid are not captured in a detailed manner. This is fundamentally a fault of the methodology used. Questions can be raised whey they went with that methodology while Kasturi Rangan could drill down further or the latest Cadestral maps are prepared at a Panchayat level. I could argue that this just shows the casual or negligent approach used by the Gadgil committee. In such kind of an important exercise, the seriousness of that negligence is very concerning. Nevertheless, I am parking all such questions and taking the procedure of the committee in good faith. Probably, they didn't have time or budget. I understand. But, then they should also recognize that they cannot be obstinate about their recommendations.
Anyway, the report recommends the following Taluks in Kerala to be classified as ESZ-1, ESZ-2 & ESZ-3. There are two tables. The first one showing the Taluks with at least 50% of area coming under the criteria for classification, while the second one with less than 50% area. Keep your eyes and brains especially open if you are interested in any of these Taluks.
Examination of Recommendations
I would like to highlight some of the eye-catching recommendations and allow you to think about you own daily lives within that context.
1.
Change in land use not permitted from agricultural to non-agricultural except when there is a population surge. (And you are talking about Taluks like Trivandrum, Trichur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Aluva..., not just those places where the "mafia" resides).
In other words, most of the land in some of the most crowded places in Kerala will Rest In Peace (who is going to do agriculture?) till the real estate lobbies squeeze every coin out of every available normal guy. Then, they will lobby with some local powerful people to get certain areas converted to non-agricultural. Rinse Repeat. To use your own land for any non-agricultural purposes, you are going to have to run from Government office to Government office to Panchayat Member to Panchayat President to what not. And you know how things will get done. Anyway, I am very happy to dole out my hard-earned money for the namesake of saving Western Ghats (mind you, that "except" clause means that over a period of time, such exceptions will happen and whatever was originally intended by this recommendation will be lost). The question is: Are you ready?
2.
Green construction.
How nice. Two things could happen. One, either your dream house is going to be prohibitively expensive (most probable) or your house will be made up of stuff that are not durable in the heavy Monsoon climate of Kerala (less probable, you wouldn't take the risk, would you?). I really liked the statement: minimize the use of Steel, Sand and Cement. That's what we crib about our real-estate builders, isn't it? How cruel was I towards them - I never thought that they were doing this to save Western Ghats. May God bless them. Next time you look for an apartment, make sure that you pick the builder who use the least Cement, Steel and Sand.
3.
.
No hazardous waste processing units
If my understanding is correct, the recommendation is not to have the waste processing centers in ESZ1& 2. That would indeed save the environment, as waste trucks from all those big municipalities in Kerala will run kilometers and kilometers to reach the already controversial and non-functioning waste processing units, where the locals will protest and stop them from entering. Eventually, you will have a Kerala where waste is equally available on every single road. I can't wait to smell the breeze. What about you?
4.
No chemical pesticides/chemical fertilizers in 5 or 8 years.
Organic farming. I must say that this is indeed tempting. But, only one catch in the Kerala context. First of all, nobody in the current generation is interested in agriculture anymore. Whoever is doing agriculture are sustenance farmers. How are they going to afford organic farming? Two things could happen: Agriculture will either completely become non-profitable or the government will have to doll out a lot of money to support the farmers (which is not going to happen in reality. Let's assume that we become so fortunate to have the best government in the world. In that case, the government still need to find the money. That will be Taxes, more Taxes). My best guess is that Kerala will become totally dependent on Tamilnadu, Andhra and Karnataka (where there are plenty of non-Gadgilled land available for agriculture) even for Cocoanut. I am pretty sure that Gadgil doesn't care much about it. Why should he? The question is: would you care?
5.
Dams above 50 years to be decommissioned.
Ha Ha Ha..I can't stop laughing. Mulla Periyar. Idukki reservoir. Lower Periyar. Sabarigiri. Kuttiyadi...My Tamil friends should immediately start thinking about more Kavery water. At least, Kerala has around 10 years (Idukki was commissioned in mid-70's) to plan to live in the silky-smooth dreamy light from moon between 6 PM and 10 PM. We will indeed be back to nature. Totally.
6.
No new railway lines and major roads & highways
I don't know what to say. Just looking forward to that great future when the queue in Valayar checkpost starts from Vallarpadam Container Terminal. And, Railway...the less said the better.
Did you notice one thing? I see that there is no mention about air ports. Oh, now I get it. That's the masterly plan. Have an airport in every single village in Western Ghats to facilitate travel. How environmentally-friendly!!!
7. And now we come to the mother of all recommendations....
No Red/Orange category industries on ESZ1 or ESZ2.
No big deal, right? Definitely these industries should be highly polluting, like Nuclear reactor, for example. So, let me just list out what these are (the list is from the Central Government's website).
What?
No new HOSPITALS
No new HOTELS/RESTAURANTS
No new AUTOMOBILE SERVICING/REPAIR
No new SLAUGHTER HOUSES or Meat processing unitsNo new MILK PROCESSING and Diary products
No new Fish Processing
No new Petroleum products involving STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION or processing
In the Taluks of Trivandrum,Trichur,Kozhikode,Aluva,Kollam? In the entire district of Idukki? In the entire district of Wayanad? What kind of an attitude it must be to deny Hospitals, Hotels and Restaurants to millions of people. IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY.
Conclusion
I purposefully avoided going into further details, mostly applicable only to the high ranges, because it does not make sense to harp on them when your audience do not have either the exposure or the empathy to understand the living conditions of a subsistence farmer in the high ranges of Kerala ( I am making this statement because the response of the media and those living in the coastal Kerala in the last few months to the Kasturi Rangan agitation clearly demonstrated the same to me. No offense meant. It is a reality).
I do not know if Gadgil really meant it this way. I do not know BJP's Kerala wing wants it this way. I do not know if the entire Pro-Gadgil lobby and media needs it this way. (I do have my own theories about them. But, as I said in the beginning, such theories has nothing to do with the Gadgil report per se. And I don't want to distract people from the topic at hand). But, clearly, a section of society is not thinking through this. A section of society just wants to paint certain people in certain images and avoid the difficult discussions. A section of society is working on just assumptions. And that is not good for anybody.
There are two ways of overcoming some of these very difficult choices.
First one is proposed by Gadgil himself. He says that each Gramsabha should have a say in deciding how they want to proceed (He does not exactly recommend this anywhere absolutely, but there are some elaborate and convoluted paragraphs that can be interpreted in this fashion). Applied in Kerala, I am 100% sure that you will not have even 10 villages voluntarily picking the option to be one of the ESZ1/2. Then, the entire purpose of this project itself is defeated, as there won't be sufficient number of voluntary takers.
The second one will never be officially proposed by anybody, but will be the actual implementation in reality. This is how it is going to work. The report gets implemented. If you happen to be within the stipulated zones, your practical life will gradually get controlled by a coterie of Government officials and politicians and local thugs. For anything legal, there will be a number of applications and a number of inspections. Instead of the 10 people you approach to get a thing done, now there will be 20. Instead of the 100 hours you spend to get something moving, you will now spend 200 hours. I don't want to talk about the money involved. Now, if things end here, you are at least happy that the Ghats are now "saved". But it is not going to end there. There will be an illegal side to everything. Whatever is prevented through these recommendations, everything, except for the public utilities, will continue to happen in a parallel universe. The rich and powerful will dole out enough money and get things done through "proper channels". Eventually, you are left with two things: 1) An unsaved Ghats 2) An underdeveloped, frustrated and angry yourself.
Let me take ONV's two lines and switch it to the opposite context:
"Ithu ninte - enteyum - charama sosrooshaykku
Blogil inne kurichcha lekhanam".
My most noble theory about Gadgil report is that the committee did a lousy job. They did not expect this to be a serious business. Some of the rather outlandish recommendations, as well as the methodology adopted for classification clearly reflect that disposition. It is almost criminal to try to enforce a poorly produced report on even a single citizen, forget about millions. Understanding the reality, the previous Government took a wise decision to bring some semblance of balance, by appointing Kasturi Rangan. But, even he couldn't quite catch the pulse of the people, hence the further amendments proposed by Kerala
At the present circumstances, given the cultural habitation in Western Ghats and the necessity for any democratic government to cater to the aspirations of every section of its people, the amended Kasturi Rangan report is the optimal way to ensure Western Ghats preservation with people's support. Any other method adopted to enforce opinion on people could have drastic and unanticipated consequences. Not only that such kind of attitude is oligarchic and undemocratic, but also that such an implementation without local support is more probable to doom than succeed in the long run. The end result will be just one thing - alienating the true caretakers of Western Ghats from her and destroying the love of nature from an entire generation and their successors in the Western Ghats.
PS: Comments are welcome, For or Against .
First of all, I have three things to share:
1. A request to everybody who is reading this first line - while this article may take quite a few minutes to read, the topic under discussion is a subject that would affect you directly (whether.you wish it away or not) and hence I would encourage you to spend some time thinking about it.
2. A request for favor from those who are confident about your knowledge about the topic and has already made up your mind based on that knowledge- please go through this and correct the flaws, if any, of my analysis of the topic. I can't guarantee any favor in return for any such shared knowledge, apart from my word that I will consider and address them with complete intellectual transparency.
3. An urge to those who find my study convincing - please do not sacrifice your intellectual honesty in the altar of political affiliations or religious views or personal ideological preferences.
I also intend to keep it rather brief. In the 140-character world, I think I have already written too much, even before getting into the topic. So, I can't afford to give too much explanation. Also, if the reader is going to use his/her brain, then most of the things are self-explanatory.
The Topic: Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) Report, aka Gadgil report
Let me confess: I do not share the sentiments of the large majority in the perspective in which we need to approach the problem of environmental change caused by human actions on earth (as somebody living in a country that hosts millions of utterly destitute people in the middle of millions of aspiring middle-class, whose immediate priorities of life cannot be bundled together with the priorities of the those living in the Hollywood district of California, USA or Port-au-Prince, Haiti).
But, I am able to relate perfectly with the motivation to preserve the Western Ghats in India (as somebody who grew up in the bosom of that great gift to our country, and the state of Kerala especially, and have experienced ALL of her. Her Blessings and Curses. Her Blood and Sweat. Her Smiles and Tears). I would blame her for my bad handwriting, and would praise her for my disposition to sit and write this when I could have done a lot of other pleasure-giving things. That's the depth we go.
So, with the deep respect, sympathy and graveness the topic demands, let say this outright - this is a report that goes against the best interest of this country, the state of Kerala, you and me. This is a conclusion I have reached after considering the various aspects of the issue. What I will do subsequently is to demonstrate why I think so. As I mentioned in the very beginning, when you follow me in my analysis, if you find any diverging points, you can comment about them here in this blog and I will respond to it with utmost sincerity.
Just one caveat: I am raising only specific issues based only on the text of the report. I would expect any difference of opinion expressed in terms of the report itself. I cannot entertain objections that are motivated by purely ideological, political or religious inclinations. Accussing me of working for a mafia is a personal attack on my integrity. Accussing me of being misled by a mafia is a personal attack on my intelligence. I do not intend to respond to those who insult me personally. But, showing me a piece of information that I misinterpreted is helping me. Telling me something that I did not think carefully enough is showing me the way. I appreciate it.
A couple of points before I jump in.
If you are of the idea that the whole purpose of preserving Western Ghats is to just preserve it for the nature, and has nothing to do with the continued sustenance and progress of human beings, then you don't need to read further. Instead, I advise you to join the VHEM and extinct yourself as soon as possible for the betterment of nature.
If you are of the idea that this has nothing to do with you, then I am assuming that either you have joined the Mars One program or you think that you are already living in the Planet of Apes.
If you know for yourselves that you belong to the Bolgia Six of the Eighth circle of Dante's Inferno, it is a waste of time for you. You may stop reading.
If you are not a reader from Kerala, I do not know if my analysis will appear to be very relevant to you, because I am talking from the perspective of a Keralite. But, as an interested party, reading this will do only be good, and you will be able to apply the similar logic to your own state.
A Background
A few months back, when the protests against Kasturi Rangan report took center stage in Kerala, I had written a few pieces in this blog. A lot happened since, and the recommendations of the Oommen committee report are in the public domain. This report has documented the realities of the lives of people in the Western Ghats in Kerala and has made some detailed recommendations. Cadestral maps of ESAs were being drawn when the 2014 elections were announced. The new government has taken power in the Centre, and voices can be heard from Kerala that call for the implementation of the Gadgil report.
My attempt is to take you through the recommendations of the Gadgil report and raise certain points on how the report is very extremist and fundamentalist in nature and how it could affect our lives. Of course, there are recommendations to which I have no objections and you can go through all the recommendations at your leisure. Here, I will be focusing on the ones that need careful examination.
To make your life easier, I have taken snapshots of the report contents (so that you don't have to read through the report to figure out the section that I am referring to). I will arrange my analysis based on these snapshots.
Kerala: Ecologically Sensitive Zones (Taluk-wise)
Gadgil report essentially divided the entire Western Ghats into three Ecologically Sensitive Zones (other than the Protected Areas). Since they used a grid scheme covering a pretty large area (9*9 km), most of the physical peculiarities within a single cell within the grid are not captured in a detailed manner. This is fundamentally a fault of the methodology used. Questions can be raised whey they went with that methodology while Kasturi Rangan could drill down further or the latest Cadestral maps are prepared at a Panchayat level. I could argue that this just shows the casual or negligent approach used by the Gadgil committee. In such kind of an important exercise, the seriousness of that negligence is very concerning. Nevertheless, I am parking all such questions and taking the procedure of the committee in good faith. Probably, they didn't have time or budget. I understand. But, then they should also recognize that they cannot be obstinate about their recommendations.
Anyway, the report recommends the following Taluks in Kerala to be classified as ESZ-1, ESZ-2 & ESZ-3. There are two tables. The first one showing the Taluks with at least 50% of area coming under the criteria for classification, while the second one with less than 50% area. Keep your eyes and brains especially open if you are interested in any of these Taluks.
Examination of Recommendations
I would like to highlight some of the eye-catching recommendations and allow you to think about you own daily lives within that context.
1.
Change in land use not permitted from agricultural to non-agricultural except when there is a population surge. (And you are talking about Taluks like Trivandrum, Trichur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Aluva..., not just those places where the "mafia" resides).
In other words, most of the land in some of the most crowded places in Kerala will Rest In Peace (who is going to do agriculture?) till the real estate lobbies squeeze every coin out of every available normal guy. Then, they will lobby with some local powerful people to get certain areas converted to non-agricultural. Rinse Repeat. To use your own land for any non-agricultural purposes, you are going to have to run from Government office to Government office to Panchayat Member to Panchayat President to what not. And you know how things will get done. Anyway, I am very happy to dole out my hard-earned money for the namesake of saving Western Ghats (mind you, that "except" clause means that over a period of time, such exceptions will happen and whatever was originally intended by this recommendation will be lost). The question is: Are you ready?
2.
Green construction.
How nice. Two things could happen. One, either your dream house is going to be prohibitively expensive (most probable) or your house will be made up of stuff that are not durable in the heavy Monsoon climate of Kerala (less probable, you wouldn't take the risk, would you?). I really liked the statement: minimize the use of Steel, Sand and Cement. That's what we crib about our real-estate builders, isn't it? How cruel was I towards them - I never thought that they were doing this to save Western Ghats. May God bless them. Next time you look for an apartment, make sure that you pick the builder who use the least Cement, Steel and Sand.
3.
.
No hazardous waste processing units
If my understanding is correct, the recommendation is not to have the waste processing centers in ESZ1& 2. That would indeed save the environment, as waste trucks from all those big municipalities in Kerala will run kilometers and kilometers to reach the already controversial and non-functioning waste processing units, where the locals will protest and stop them from entering. Eventually, you will have a Kerala where waste is equally available on every single road. I can't wait to smell the breeze. What about you?
4.
No chemical pesticides/chemical fertilizers in 5 or 8 years.
Organic farming. I must say that this is indeed tempting. But, only one catch in the Kerala context. First of all, nobody in the current generation is interested in agriculture anymore. Whoever is doing agriculture are sustenance farmers. How are they going to afford organic farming? Two things could happen: Agriculture will either completely become non-profitable or the government will have to doll out a lot of money to support the farmers (which is not going to happen in reality. Let's assume that we become so fortunate to have the best government in the world. In that case, the government still need to find the money. That will be Taxes, more Taxes). My best guess is that Kerala will become totally dependent on Tamilnadu, Andhra and Karnataka (where there are plenty of non-Gadgilled land available for agriculture) even for Cocoanut. I am pretty sure that Gadgil doesn't care much about it. Why should he? The question is: would you care?
5.
Dams above 50 years to be decommissioned.
Ha Ha Ha..I can't stop laughing. Mulla Periyar. Idukki reservoir. Lower Periyar. Sabarigiri. Kuttiyadi...My Tamil friends should immediately start thinking about more Kavery water. At least, Kerala has around 10 years (Idukki was commissioned in mid-70's) to plan to live in the silky-smooth dreamy light from moon between 6 PM and 10 PM. We will indeed be back to nature. Totally.
6.
No new railway lines and major roads & highways
I don't know what to say. Just looking forward to that great future when the queue in Valayar checkpost starts from Vallarpadam Container Terminal. And, Railway...the less said the better.
Did you notice one thing? I see that there is no mention about air ports. Oh, now I get it. That's the masterly plan. Have an airport in every single village in Western Ghats to facilitate travel. How environmentally-friendly!!!
7. And now we come to the mother of all recommendations....
No Red/Orange category industries on ESZ1 or ESZ2.
No big deal, right? Definitely these industries should be highly polluting, like Nuclear reactor, for example. So, let me just list out what these are (the list is from the Central Government's website).
What?
No new HOSPITALS
No new HOTELS/RESTAURANTS
No new AUTOMOBILE SERVICING/REPAIR
No new SLAUGHTER HOUSES or Meat processing unitsNo new MILK PROCESSING and Diary products
No new Fish Processing
No new Petroleum products involving STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION or processing
In the Taluks of Trivandrum,Trichur,Kozhikode,Aluva,Kollam? In the entire district of Idukki? In the entire district of Wayanad? What kind of an attitude it must be to deny Hospitals, Hotels and Restaurants to millions of people. IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY.
Conclusion
I purposefully avoided going into further details, mostly applicable only to the high ranges, because it does not make sense to harp on them when your audience do not have either the exposure or the empathy to understand the living conditions of a subsistence farmer in the high ranges of Kerala ( I am making this statement because the response of the media and those living in the coastal Kerala in the last few months to the Kasturi Rangan agitation clearly demonstrated the same to me. No offense meant. It is a reality).
I do not know if Gadgil really meant it this way. I do not know BJP's Kerala wing wants it this way. I do not know if the entire Pro-Gadgil lobby and media needs it this way. (I do have my own theories about them. But, as I said in the beginning, such theories has nothing to do with the Gadgil report per se. And I don't want to distract people from the topic at hand). But, clearly, a section of society is not thinking through this. A section of society just wants to paint certain people in certain images and avoid the difficult discussions. A section of society is working on just assumptions. And that is not good for anybody.
There are two ways of overcoming some of these very difficult choices.
First one is proposed by Gadgil himself. He says that each Gramsabha should have a say in deciding how they want to proceed (He does not exactly recommend this anywhere absolutely, but there are some elaborate and convoluted paragraphs that can be interpreted in this fashion). Applied in Kerala, I am 100% sure that you will not have even 10 villages voluntarily picking the option to be one of the ESZ1/2. Then, the entire purpose of this project itself is defeated, as there won't be sufficient number of voluntary takers.
The second one will never be officially proposed by anybody, but will be the actual implementation in reality. This is how it is going to work. The report gets implemented. If you happen to be within the stipulated zones, your practical life will gradually get controlled by a coterie of Government officials and politicians and local thugs. For anything legal, there will be a number of applications and a number of inspections. Instead of the 10 people you approach to get a thing done, now there will be 20. Instead of the 100 hours you spend to get something moving, you will now spend 200 hours. I don't want to talk about the money involved. Now, if things end here, you are at least happy that the Ghats are now "saved". But it is not going to end there. There will be an illegal side to everything. Whatever is prevented through these recommendations, everything, except for the public utilities, will continue to happen in a parallel universe. The rich and powerful will dole out enough money and get things done through "proper channels". Eventually, you are left with two things: 1) An unsaved Ghats 2) An underdeveloped, frustrated and angry yourself.
Let me take ONV's two lines and switch it to the opposite context:
"Ithu ninte - enteyum - charama sosrooshaykku
Blogil inne kurichcha lekhanam".
My most noble theory about Gadgil report is that the committee did a lousy job. They did not expect this to be a serious business. Some of the rather outlandish recommendations, as well as the methodology adopted for classification clearly reflect that disposition. It is almost criminal to try to enforce a poorly produced report on even a single citizen, forget about millions. Understanding the reality, the previous Government took a wise decision to bring some semblance of balance, by appointing Kasturi Rangan. But, even he couldn't quite catch the pulse of the people, hence the further amendments proposed by Kerala
At the present circumstances, given the cultural habitation in Western Ghats and the necessity for any democratic government to cater to the aspirations of every section of its people, the amended Kasturi Rangan report is the optimal way to ensure Western Ghats preservation with people's support. Any other method adopted to enforce opinion on people could have drastic and unanticipated consequences. Not only that such kind of attitude is oligarchic and undemocratic, but also that such an implementation without local support is more probable to doom than succeed in the long run. The end result will be just one thing - alienating the true caretakers of Western Ghats from her and destroying the love of nature from an entire generation and their successors in the Western Ghats.
PS: Comments are welcome, For or Against .
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