Mini hydel causing macro scars in the Western Ghats

There is a rush to flood the Western Ghats in Karnataka with mini hydel projects, each with an installed capacity of around 25 MW. Promoted by public sector Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited and built by private players, as many as 836 mini hydel plants with a combined capacity of over 4,000 MW have been under various stages of implementation, from consideration to construction. Numerous such projects shall soon dot the rivers like Netravathi, Kumaradhra and Gundias on Dakshin Kannada map. Reports indicate that nearly 108 mini hydel projects are at various stages of completion.

Since these can be built without undergoing any environment impact assessment and consequently do not need environment clearance as well as mandatory public hearing, there is literally a ‘gold rush’ to scar (see picture) the picturesque Western Ghats with such power units. Though one would imagine these units to be non-obstructive and non-offensive in nature, dams to create the desired head discharge are at times as high as 10 meters.

Simply assuming that a mini hydel project will be green and clean by default could indeed be untrue. Sample this: the 24.75 MW MHP by AMR in Perla Village and another 24.75 MW MHP at Shemburi by Ritwick Energy near Mangalore are in reality on big project worth 50 MW whereas as per the Project Design Document submitted to UNFCCC for claiming Carbon Credits, both were 'separate' mini projects. Much to everybody’s surprise, Netravathi river has been dammed with huge submerge upstream of the structure, sudden release from which had drowned three youths last year.

Same is the case with the Maruthi Power Gen dams in Hassan, which were shown at two different locations on paper (to avoid forest clearance) but were being executed as one huge structure on ground. The construction and tunneling activity has caused extensive damage to forests and wildlife habitat.  On the other hand, Kukke I Project near Hosmata is unique as it will not only submerge houses and endanger a critically endangered plant that has recently been rediscovered in the area but will submerge part of another MHP unit upstream as well.

Since mini hydel projects do not need mandatory public hearing, an informal public hearing was organised under the aegis of the Save Western Ghats Movement by Prakruti and SANDRP on Aug 4-5, 2012 at Kukke Subramanya, a small temple town near the origin of the river Kumaradhara in Dakshin Kannada district. As many as 60 affected farmers, fishermen, activists, researchers and scientists took part in the discussions and issued a ‘Subramanya Declaration’ that called for greater regulation of the sector alongside punitive action for those violating the norms.

Mini hydel projects can be clean, green and welcome provided the sector is regulated and efforts made to involve local population in planning and implementation of such schemes with a caveat that the communities have access to power generated through MHPs in their area.

Parineeta Dandekar

Whose playground is Western Ghats?

Democracy is a numbers game connecting people with legislators and parliamentarians. While people play this game once in every five years, for the intervening period the dice remains loaded in favor of the elected representatives. In peoples' faith they hold the dice but quite often end-up playing to serve vested interests. Else, legislators in Karnataka and Kerala assembly would not have been up in arms that 'development projects' will be halted in the Western Ghats by UNESCO heritage tag and the controversial WGEEP report respectively. Branding anything 'anti-development' is the dominant political discourse of our times.

Could legislators have taken a different stance had peoples' voices been echoing in their ears? It is anybody's guess but it would surely have made a difference because at the end of the day it is the 'constituency' that matters for the legislators. With this in mind, the idea of a Member of Parliament Forum on Western Ghats was mooted by SWGM in 2009 and first attempts to set up such Forum were also made. However, it was in 2010 that then Environment Minister had announced the setting up such Forum under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment & Forests. Ever since the WGEEP had a session with the Forum nothing much has been heard.

The reason for elected representatives to be short-sighted and small-minded has much to do with a lack of accountability towards the people they represent. It is more by design than default that peoples' real concerns rarely echo in the corridors of power. Given the way our society thinks and works, the task of sustained connection with legislators has often to be through petitions, protests and panels. Since much of this has limited impact, civic campaigns and peoples' movements remain the next best option. But literature is replete with evidences that campaigns/movements neither make legislators see 'logic' in (orchestrated) public voice and nor do governments capture 'reason' emanating from science (WGEEP) being presented to them.      

Without doubt, judicial activism does provide temporary reprieve in such situations. However, in an era marked with 'consistency deficit', 'governance deficit' and 'compliance deficit, court orders and judgements run the risk of poor compliance. In a democratic set-up, undermining peoples' power could indeed be suicidal. Couple of us who worked with an MP to get the National Green Tribunal bill passed in the Parliament with desired amendments can indeed vouch for the change that can be brought by engaging with the elected representatives. It is high time MP Forum on Western Ghats and/or State Legislators Fora on Western Ghats are revived to get some sense into the politics that is obsessed with 'economic assessment' of Western Ghats. After all, Western Ghats could not be allowed to be the playground for the politicians alone!   

SWGM: Reinvent or Perish!

The resurrection of the loose-knit Save Western Ghats Movement in 2009 was indeed a shot in the dark, few of us who conceived it knew it as an 'art of the impossible' (recall the Bamboo musicians in the picture!). Any work of 'art' creates a 'dent', we knew. The unpredictable spontaneity did the trick, both at Goa and at Kotagiri. The unrealistic demand, at least at that time, of a 'western ghats ecological authority' was a work of 'art' for us. Like any work of 'art', there ought to be at least a buyer for it. The connoisseur in Jairam Ramesh saw value in putting money on it. The day he bought our art work at Kotagiri in 2010, we were left penniless. Not penniless in monetary sense but in every other sense of the term.!

First, our 'art' was redrawn to suit to the minister's 'drawing room'. Perhaps not without reason, the fine lines of an 'authority' were converted into hard lines of a what was construed as a 'panel'. Second, an imaginative piece of work was converted into a 'process', with a definite timeline to deliver the end-product a'la WGEEP Report. Pinning hopes on the leftover of the original, the movement laughed and cried at each stage of the process (post 2010), missing out on the next possible opportunity to get back on the drawing board for its next 'creation'. Living in a state of strange schizophrenia the SWGM instead has been lost in the illusory notion of being close to achieving the unachievable!

Many may disagree but any 'movement' is 70 per cent work of 'art' and 30 per cent 'commerce'. Since the first work of 'art' was bought at Kotagiri, this ratio has been reversed. What was spontaneously unpredictable could now be predictably contrived - the movement has literally been swallowed by time-bound activities. What is not written in the project document is most unlikely to be considered, cause-effect linearity determines the logic of any 'action'. No wonder, it is a losing battle that the 'movement' is currently engaged in, if at all. Unless the current batch of 'proponents' go back on the drawing board, commerce-driven gainful engagement will ensure that the SWGM only celebrates its 'past', something to 'w(g)eep over!
      

Heritage Tag: Milestone or Millstone?

By tagging the Western Ghats to the World Heritage List, UNESCO has brought to fore the hitherto low-pitched battle between environmentalists and the development juggernaut. While environmentalists have lauded the move, industrialists have denounced it as an anti-development measure. The Federation of Indian Mining Industry has gone to the extent of saying that: 'India's growth is being stalled' whereas Deccan Herald editorial opines that 'the new tag has defeated such naysayers'.

The heritage tag to the Western  Ghats does improve its TRP but getting the rating translated into tangible actions to protect the fragile ecosystem could indeed be far-fetched. Such perceptions are not without reason because the 39 sites of the Western Ghats selected as heritage sites have all been governed under the existing environmental regulations and legislation. It is unlikely if the heritage tag alone would suffice to accentuate compliance of existing protective measures....more

WGEEP report is nobody's baby?

Is there a hidden message the government has conveyed by dropping Prof. Madhav Gadgil from the National Advisory Council (NAC)? Has persistent efforts by Gadgil to ensure that the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), of which he has been the chairperson, be accepted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests been negatively construed by the government? It is seemingly clear that Gadgil's stance as an activist, to get the report accepted, hasn't gone well with the government.

Sources indicate that at this crucial juncture, with a close eye on the 2014 general elections, the government wants the NAC to work in close synergy with the UPA to provide a clutch of actions that can deliver political goodwill to keep the 'aam aadmi' image of the ruling coalition alive in popular perception. With Food Security Bill, Communal Violence Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill already mired in controversy, the NAC can least afford controversies and dissension on additional matters.

Insiders believe that the WGEEP report, despite public opinion been sought on it till July 5, would remain an exercise in ecological academics. If it could not be accepted when Gadgil was member of the NAC, the chances that anything dramatic may happen when he is no longer member of the august council seems remote. While the Western Ghats may not be politically volatile region, accepting WGEEP recommendations may have serious implications (with likely spillover to other regions) on the growth agenda of the government.  Jairam Ramesh, who was instrumental in setting up the panel, has already expressed his fears that the WGEEP report may get junked.   

Gadgil's Dilemma

One can only sympathize with Madhav Gadgil who, after leading the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests for little over a year, has to lobby to see the panel's report accepted, not only by the ministry which chose to appoint him to lead the panel in the first place but by the respective state governments who are supposed to implement the recommendations in their respective states in the region. The situation could not have been worse given the fact Gadgil is a member of the National Advisory Council as well.

One can only sympathize with Madhav Gadgil who, after leading the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests for little over a year, has to lobby to see the panel's report accepted, not only by the ministry which chose to appoint him to lead the panel in the first place but by the respective state governments who are supposed to implement the recommendations in their respective states in the region. The situation could not have been worse given the fact Gadgil is a member of the National Advisory Council as well.


Gadgil's response to Kerala government's decision to appoint a committee to propose alternatives to the recommendations of the WGEEP clearly reflects his predicament. Said he: “Let the people of the State and not a government-appointed panel decide on the fate of the report. Any decision on the report shall be taken through a democratic process and not by the expert panel." Gadgil seems to have contradicted himself in his outburst,  missing on the crucial fact the WGEEP has been a government appointed panel only.  Can one government appointed panel hold itself sacrosanct over the other?


Despite the fact that the ministry is now seeking public opinion on the panel's report before accepting it, the writing on the wall makes it clear that like numerous other reports this too will find a convenient place on the dust-laden shelves.  Without doubt the Save Western Ghats Movement would not like this report to languish because it has been the outcome of one of its major demands that the then environment minister Jairam Ramesh had accepted at Kotagiri in 2010. Gadgil can draw comfort from the fact that his panel, though appointed by the government, was fulfilling a democratic obligation. 


Jairam Ramesh had conceived WGEEP as a precursor to Western Ghats Ecological Authority, which was put forth as a demand in the Citizen's Manifesto on Western Ghats, released by SWGM before Lok Sabha elections in 2009. The irony is that neither the self-appointed custodians of SWGM (the core team/group) are taking the panel report to the people nor does it dawn on Gadgil that it is finally peoples' power that will exert desired pressure on the elected governments.  In a compliance deficit state, decisions by information commission and green tribunal can only go half the distance!


It is both a challenge and an opportunity for Gadgil to first acknowledge the role of SWGM in what he and his panel has been able to accomplish, and then join hands with the movement to get WGEEP report accepted as a Citizen's Report to Save Western Ghats!  

Jairam in Kotagiri

 After hectic travel across the country hearing public outrage against the introduction of Bt 
 Brinjal, Hon'ble Minister of Environment & Forests inaugurated the Save Western 
 Ghats congregation at Kotagiri on Feb 18, 2010. In response to the demand for creating
 the Western Ghats Ecological Authority, the minister announced the setting up a
 Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) with the primary task of making recommendation based on scientific facts for such an authority. The Ministry appointed ecologist Madhav Gadgil to chair the panel, the report of which shall be presented within a year.