Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel , as it is formally
known, was submited to India's Ministry of Environment and Forests
in 2011 by a panel of scientists, including former Kerala State Biodiversity
Board chairs Vijayan and Varma. It contains a blueprint for protecting the
biodiversity of the Western Ghats, advises a ban on several forms of in-
dustrial and agricultural activities in the region, and recommends a com-
plete conversion to organic farming as a form of sustainable development.
It also suggests the adoption of Kerala's organic farming policy across
state lines: “The Organic Farming Policy of Kerala . . . could be adopted
as a model not only for the Western Ghats, but also for all the six States
beneited by the mountain system.”3 The Gadgil report, therefore, gave
the proponents of Kerala's organic farming policy a vehicle for protesting
the Green Revolution and scaling up organic agriculture nationally, using
Kerala as an exemplar.
The release of the report, however, incited uproar among many indi-
viduals from rural areas such as Wayanad. Echoing misgivings similar to
those dividing Kerala's organic farming movement, several rural farmers
and laborers claimed that carrying out the recommendations of the re-
port would threaten their livelihoods. They were joined by mining indus-
try interests and even political and religious leaders from several states.
In response, the Ministry of Environment and Forests created an-
other panel, led by Dr. K. Kasturirangan, to study the Gadgil report.
Kerala's current Chief Minister welcomed the resulting “Kasturirangan
report” of 2013 and was quoted in a national paper as saying, “we are now
relieved . . . the Gadgil report had impractical recommendations like
adhering to organic farming.”4 His surprising words confirmed some of
Usha's fears: while Kerala's new UDF government will continue to fund or-
ganic farming, proponents of Kerala's growing organic farming counter-
movement cannot be guaranteed the same amount of support they re-
ceived under the previous political front. Nor can they be guaranteed
that the UDF will champion the organic farming policy both within and
outside of Kerala, a situation that is causing Thanal much apprehension
now that the state's organic farming policy has entered into political dis-
cussions at a national level.
The Kasturirangan report, like the original, Gadgil report, also en-
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