K'taka rejects Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats in present form

The Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution rejecting the K Kasturirangan report on the conservation of the Western Ghats in its present form. The resolution, passed at the end of a special discussion on the report, urged the Centre to rectify the “deficiencies” in it. Reading out the resolution in the House, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the Western Ghats in Karnataka constituted an extremely important region from the perspective of the state’s natural resources, biodiversity and ecological balance. “On July 27, 2026, the Government of India issued the seventh draft Environmentally Sensitive Area notification based on the Kasturirangan report, identifying approximately 20,668 square kilometres covering 1,449 villages in 10 districts of Karnataka under the ESA,” the resolution said.
It said forest areas, agricultural lands, plantations and houses in the villages had also been included under the ESA, while the boundaries had been determined using satellite data without conducting a joint physical survey. The resolution said the inclusion of agricultural land, plantations, houses and public infrastructure along with forest areas under the ESA could create problems relating to the construction of houses, division of family property and inheritance. It said the draft notification did not have precise boundaries based on survey numbers as it was prepared using satellite data.
“There are pending issues concerning Bagair Hukum forest rights, deemed forests, land regularisation, appeals and judicial cases,” the resolution said. It said the Kasturirangan report had not proposed special economic assistance or alternative livelihood support for people affected by the ESA restrictions. The resolution said declaring an entire village as an ecologically sensitive area merely because one-fifth of the village falls within forest limits was not a scientific procedure and had caused considerable discontent among the local population.
The Assembly urged the Centre to include in the ESA only the forest areas specified in the notification and other forest areas, while excluding agricultural and horticultural lands, plantations, human settlements and areas used for public activities, except those already approved or sanctioned. It urged the Centre to take into consideration issues relating to Bagair Hukum forest rights, deemed forests, land regularisation, appeals and judicial cases.
The state sought the constitution of an expert committee to physically measure and separately identify forest boundaries, human settlements, ecologically sensitive areas and areas of agricultural activity on a survey-number basis. It urged the Centre to formulate detailed guidelines for providing alternative livelihoods and economic assistance to farmers and workers affected by the ESA and constitute a high-level committee to rectify the deficiencies in the Kasturirangan report and suggest necessary modifications.

(State Correpondent)