Karnataka faces pressure to offer alternative to Western Ghats plan
Karnataka’s Assembly has rejected the Kasturirangan Report’s recommendations for Western Ghats protection, citing concerns about satellite data, livelihoods and the inclusion of entire villages in ecologically sensitive areas. The State now faces pressure to produce a credible alternative while balancing conservation and development.
Karnataka’s rejection of the Kasturirangan Report has left the State under pressure to produce an alternative framework for protecting the Western Ghats. The report takes what the source material describes as a pro-development approach, allowing human settlement and a range of economic activity across the Ghats. Karnataka’s Assembly nevertheless unanimously repudiated its recommendations, citing concerns over livelihoods and the accuracy of the remote-sensing and satellite data used.
One objection concerns the report’s method of classifying an entire revenue village as an ecologically sensitive area if at least 20% of its territory is sensitive. The approach could place farmland and settlements within a protected area even where sensitive land occupies only part of the village. Karnataka also resisted the process of ground-truthing the recommendations, which the Centre asked States to begin in 2013-14.
The source material says opposition was bipartisan and that stakeholders involved in activities restricted or banned under the Gadgil and Kasturirangan proposals helped intensify fears of displacement. The Assembly’s resolution proposes returning to the unfinished task of preparing another map. But continued uncertainty could affect both communities and businesses in areas that may eventually be designated sensitive, while delays could prolong decisions about permitted development.
The issue is complicated by the fact that conservation benefits extend across all six Western Ghats States, whereas individual States bear much of the economic and political cost of restricting local activity. The Centre’s 2024 decision to allow areas to be notified State by State has increased pressure on Karnataka, which contains the largest share by area of the proposed sensitive zones. The source material says Gujarat was reportedly nearing agreement with the Centre by mid-2026, Tamil Nadu had no substantive disagreement, Kerala sought a smaller notified area, and Maharashtra and Goa wanted some villages omitted.
Karnataka therefore faces a need to reconcile farmers’ and workers’ concerns with its wider conservation responsibilities.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.