India; Debate on the Warli's Future in India


Author: 
TanejaAnisha
CSQ Issue: 
21.2 (Summer 1997) 25 Years of the Indigenous Movement: The Americas and Australia
Development always comes with a price. For centuries, the environment and the native people have borne the price of our development. With rising pollution levels, scarce green pockets, and increasing cases of pollution related diseases, environmentalists in India are now debating whether or not the country is paying too high a price.
Dahanu is one of the last green belts left in the state of Maharashtra, and the only remaining habitat of the indigenous, unassimilated Warli tribe. Squeezed between Bombay and its sprawling industries to the south and the numerous industrial zones of Gujrat state to the north, Dahanu is like an oasis. It is the "fruit and flower basket" of the two states.
Dahanu Taluka comprises 99,000 hectares (245,000 acres) of land. Of this land, 32% is used for agriculture and horticulture, 24% for grazing cattle, 2.5% are wetlands and mangrove plantations, and 38% comprises protected forests. Demographically, while only 7% of India's population remains indigenous, 65% of Dahanu's 300,000 inhabitants consist of the native Warli people. The Warlis in Dahanu own 45,000 acres of land (18% of the total acreage). The Warlis remain quite unassimilated from the rest of the India; they maintain their own dress style, customs, religion, and ceremonies. The Warlis have gained recognition only recently for their unique artwork that has been incorporated into mainstream folkart.
Dahanu is now the proposed site for a $1 billion port to be built by P&O Ports, Australia. The lone bidder for the project, P&O Ports has already received a letter of intent from the government. The government and the P&O Port authorities are planning to pursue the port project even though it is in violation of the Supreme Court of India. The Dahanu Notification of 1991, declaring Dahanu to be ecologically fragile, mandates that there may be no change in land use patterns in Dahanu's 245,000 acres, no transfer of tribal holdings, and no further industrial development. The notification also allows for a total of only 500 acres to be used for industry. The Supreme Court has also forbidden any kind of development that is not sensitive to the Warlis. However, while the Indian government might profess a concern for protecting the lifestyle of the few indigenous people of India, on several occasions they allow industrialists to bring polluting industries to tribal belts.
The port would directly influence the lifestyle and working conditions of the Warli. Currently, the Warlis farm their own lands for their subsistence and labor on the commercial fruit orchards of the prosperous Zoroastrian farmers. The Warli farmers are unable to reap profits from their own farms as they do not have access to water for irrigation, unlike the Zoroastrian farmers who have access to irrigation systems, as well as tube wells. If the Warli community is able to become self-sufficient and obtain access to water, they could make Rs. 600,000 per year like the Zoroastrian farmers. Currently, they have no choice but to accept about Rs. 30-70 a day (between one and two dollars) for their labor. Thus, a shipping yard laborer is a potentially lucrative alternative, paying an annual income of RS. 20,000. However, this would remove the Warlis from their fields into working conditions to which they are unaccustomed.
In spite of the uproar from several environmentalists and organizations which are attempting to defend Warlis, the P&O Port Company seems to be unshaken. In their environmental policy they commit to "protect the environment and minimize as far as is safe, practicable and economically sound, any adverse environmental impact of its activities." As of the printing date of this update, a response to an inquiry made by Cultural Survival has not been given by P&O Ports.
Environmental groups and organizations are voicing their concerns for the Warli people, but more could be done to help them determine their own future. The contract for the port is to be finalized on December 31, 1997. In the meantime, the Indian government and P&O Port will decide whether or not they will respect Indian laws mandated on paper. The outcome in Dahanu shall be an indication of "green India's" future, unless we can do something to stop it.
References:
The article quotes from a publication by DTEWA (Dahanu Taluka Environmental Welfare Association), India; The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company Web site on its Environmental Policy; The Supreme Court of India-Civil Appelate Jurisdiction: Writ Petition No. 231 of 1994.
Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc.

The P&O port that no one wants


Ian Burrell reports on a threat to old India

PLANS by P&O, one of Britain's best known companies, to build a giant port in one of India's most beautiful and environmentally fragile areas are to be pushed through, despite fears that it will damage the livelihoods of the tribal people living nearby.
The pounds 700m port is to be built in Dahanu, an area in the west of India that has become known as the "lungs of Bombay" because of its tropical orchards and flower farms.
Dahanu is home to the Warlis, one of India's remaining tribal peoples, who remain unassimilated into the rest of the population, living a traditional life in huts made of wood, straw and cow dung. The Independent on Sunday has obtained a report, commissioned by P&O in an attempt to gather evidence in favour of the project, which concludes that the port will destroy the Warli way of life. The report, which has not been officially released, was compiled by Vasundhara, an Indian non-governmental organisation, and found that 70 per cent of villagers opposed the port while only 11 per cent favoured it.
"Respondents feel that their existing way of life will completely change because there will be an increase in population, an influx of anti-social elements and destruction of temples," it says. "They also feel that their community will be alienated and fragmented, with industrialisation and urbanisation."
The report concludes: "The special status of Dahanu Taluka, with its high tribal population, makes the building of an industrial port in the region totally inappropriate and unsuitable."
The researchers found that there would be no economic benefit from the 29-berth port, which would be about eight times the size of the port of Liverpool. "The regional economy is a self-sufficient one and rooted in the natural wealth of the area. The sustainable use of natural resources has created a flourishing economy," they reported. "The people in the region are basically self-sufficient and self-employed ... there is a high degree of social cohesiveness."
It is argued that a port in the deep natural harbour at Vadhavan in Dahanu would take the strain from the congested port of Bombay 80 miles away. The opposition has been led by the tribal fishermen, who recently took to their boats for a mass protest against the port plans.
P&O has also been threatened with legal action, because the region is protected from development by national government environmental laws. As a result the company said it would consider dropping the deal. But last week the government of Maharashtra, which believes the port will create jobs and help to regenerate a large area of India, said it was keen to push the proposals through. The Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, said: "My government is determined to see the port start." He said opposition was "misguided".
P&O said yesterday that it was conducting a feasibility study for the Maharashtra government and no decision would be taken until April.
Sultana Bashir, of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, said: "We believe that P&O are acting in a way that would be unacceptable in the UK. We are not against building industrial ports in principle but we are opposed to developing such a port in Dahanu where it would have an irreversible social, economic and environmental impact."

Untouched by modern times, these tribal people find the might of P&O at their door


Ancient culture of India's Warlis threatened by mega-port. Ian Burrell reports


P&O, one of Britain's biggest companies, is facing accusations from environmentalists that it is threatening the cultural survival of one of India's tribal peoples with plans for a massive port development on the sub-continents' west coast.
The Dahanu Warli tribe, who farm paddy fields in Maharashtra, remain unassimilated from the rest of India, keeping their own customs, religion and festivals. They live a simple life in huts made of wood, straw and cow dung.

Flower farms and tropical fruit orchards have given their homeland, Dahanu, a reputation as the "lungs of Bombay", and led to it being designated an ecologically fragile zone.
It is here P&O proposes to build a 29-berth port, capable of handling 250 million tonnes of cargo, about eight times as big as the port of Liverpool. The "mega-port" will include a passenger terminal and facilities for delivering oil, coal and cement.
P&O dropped its bombshell in February, when its Australian arm, P&O Ports, said a pounds 700m project to build a massive port to the south of the region was being moved to a more natural harbour at Vadhavan, inside the ecologically- sensitive zone. In spite of earlier official promises, the Maharashtra state officials enthusiastically welcomed the proposal.
P&O Ports said the pounds 200m phase one of the project, to be undertaken by a proposed new company, Vadhavan International Port, would involve the development of 2,700 metres of quayside, including a berth for bulk cargo, an oil berth and a passenger terminal.
Nergis Irani, of the Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association, said: "If P&O get the go-ahead, it will bring about the industrialisation of the whole area and the Warli way of life will be lost." She claimed the proposal breached central government directives designed to protect Dahanu from developers.
P&O is preparing its feasibility report for the port project, which requires approval from the Indian ministry of environment and forests. The company has paid almost pounds 100,000 as security for its bid.
An international network of environmental groups, including The Body Shop, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, have taken an interest in the project. More extreme groups have talked of protest actions against P&O commercial cruise and ferry operations.
Richard Boehle, of Body Shop, said: "P&O will have to be very careful how they proceed with this project, or the plight of the Warli people could become as damaging to them as the struggle of the Ogoni people in Nigeria has become to Shell."
P&O, whose chairman is Lord Sterling of Plaistow, operates in 16 companies across five continents. It owns, or part owns, 53 ports, from Manila in the Philippines to Maputo in Mozambique.
Although P&O has worked in environmentally sensitive areas, like the Great Barrier Reef, where it manages a tourist centre, the Dahanu issue is a potential public relations disaster. Management has declined to comment publicly on criticism of the scheme, but company sources have defended their environmental record around the world and stress that it is working with local government officials to minimise any damage caused by the project.
In P&O literature, Lord Sterling writes: "We have a responsibility both as individuals and in our business activities to take into account the environmental impact of all that we do." Sources point out that the construction of the Vadhavan port may create 1,000 jobs and the project would open the whole region up to economic development.
The British have built in Dahanu before. But they lived apart from the Warli villages, where a rich tribal culture had evolved over many centuries. The Warlis developed their own form of painting on the insides of their huts, using a bamboo-stick as a brush and a paste made of tree gum, water and rice powder.
Dancing is central to Warli culture. Whole villages take part in a dance after the harvest to music from the sound of a tarpa, an instrument made from a dried pumpkin.
The 175,000 Dahanu Warlis, whose dark skin distinguishes them from other Indians, have lived for most of this century alongside Zoroastrian farmers who migrated to Dahanu after facing religious persecution in what is now Iran.
The Zoroastrians built wells and water pumps and helped to create fruit orchards.
Dahanu now has a yearly production of 50,000 tons of the chickoo tropical fruit, 70,000 tons of fish and 5 million coconuts. Every month it produces 8,500 railway wagons of vegetables. Campaigners claim there is zero unemployment and say an improved water supply could ensure the Warlis' self-sufficiency.
The threat to Dahanu first emerged a decade ago when the World Bank funded a project to set up a power station in the area to supply the urban sprawl of Bombay, 80 miles to the south.
The plan ran into a storm of protests from environmental campaigners who claimed it would pollute the region's last remaining green area.
A succession of court battles helped bring about the Dahanu Notification of 1991, in which the Indian ministry of environment declared the area "ecologically fragile" and banned changes in the pattern of land use or the transfer of tribal holdings. Environmentalists thought they had finally saved the region when the government identified Bordi, a Dahanu village, as the country's first "eco-tourist destination".

The tribal's right


By Michelle Chawla
Dahanu’s special environmental status has made little difference to the poverty-stricken Warli tribals, shunted out of the forests and lands they cultivated for generations. The 2006 Tribal Bill, on the other hand, goes a long way in granting them their rightful share of the forests
Shankar of Raytali village, Dahanu, retells the popular Warli folktale about the rat that takes away the grain from the fields. Called ‘The Rat's Right’, he explains that the rat was one of the earliest creatures to provide humans with the seeds to begin agriculture. Thus when they see the tops of their rice crop eaten up, the adivasis do not call the rat a thief, but say that it has taken its rightful share. The rat inevitably finds its role and space in the lives of the Warlis.  
Several other stories of wolves and ants, rabbits and tigers follow, revealing the rich cultural ecology and ethos of the community of Warlis, the tribal people of northwestern Maharashtra and south Gujarat.  
Numbering approximately half a million (Census of 1991), a majority of the Warlis live in Thane district of Maharashtra in tiny hamlets spread across the fringes of the picturesque Sahyadri mountain range. A deep environmental consciousness is reflected in their worldview, in which humans and nature are linked in a relationship that is celebrated in myth and reality. 
The folklore also records the history of oppression, brutality and resistance against the takeover of their forest homelands by the British and the loss of lands to Parsi and Marwari landlords and moneylenders. A tongue-in-cheek story tells how a Parsi landlord eventually usurped everything from the Warlis, even his wife!  
Of a total population of 3,31,829, in Maharashtra’s Dahanu taluka (Socio Economic Abstract, 2006-07, Thane district), 64.84% are tribal, belonging predominantly to the Warli tribe. Dispersed  across 174 villages in Dahanu, the Warlis are today a marginalised community.  
Brutally shunted out of the forests and their homelands during British rule, independence did not alter the harsh realities for these communities. With a majority of the forest lands taken over by the government, the adivasis lost their habitats and culture and took to settled and subsistence agriculture while still being dependent on the forests for food, fuel, medicine and in many cases cultivation.  
Some became daily wage labourers on farms, brick kilns and boats. The changes in the forest management system had a negative impact on their social and cultural lives. Low levels of literacy, malnourishment, poverty and deprivation are the realities of a once proud and brave Warli community.  
Moreover, the post-independence development agenda of modernising and integrating tribals into the mainstream, has been partial and fragmented, impacting the Warli identity and consciousness adversely. The struggle for access to forests, rights over land and minimum wages became the critical conflicts around which the Warlis have been struggling for the last several decades.  
In the current milieu with Dahanu being an environmentally protected region since 1991 and the passing of the Tribal Bill [Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006], it is critical to analyse whether these laws and notifications have played a role or contributed in changing the conditions of the tribal communities.  
Dahanu's environmental status and its forests  
At a brick kiln in the village of Ganjad in Dahanu, Jaanu Ravte bargains over the price of bricks to build a new home. “There are hardly any large-girthed trees left in the forest for me to build with,” he states when asked why he is not constructing a traditional adivasi home. While this may seem ironic given that the village is in the declared ecologically fragile zone of Dahanu taluka, it is the reality in most parts of the region.  
Envisaging the potential damage to the tribal area due to industrialisation, the ministry of environment and forests declared Dahanu an ecologically fragile region in 1991, specifically stating that the tribal culture needed to be protected. With this, Dahanu's forests -- approximately 45.91% (46,706 hectares) of the total lands -- became protected, with no polluting industries, quarrying or commercial felling permitted in the region. Dahanu has 34,720 hectares declared reserved forests and 11,986 hectares as protected forests.   
However, according to Deputy Conservator of Forests, Dahanu division, Mishra, “Despite these restrictions, there has been illegal commercial logging, forest fires, felling for energy use and shifting cultivation that has caused degradation of the forests.”  While the forest department claims a lack of support from the community, tribal activists state that the forest department has no genuine commitment in protecting the forests.  
“The reality is that the pressures on the Warli community to eke out a livelihood from their eroding forestlands has increased tremendously, with the growing urbanisation and industrialisation all around – Mumbai to the south and the Vapi-Valsad industrial corridor to the north. Meanwhile, systematic and large-scale efforts to save and rejuvenate the forests in partnership with the community have not taken place simultaneously,” states Lahani Tandel, tribal leader and sarpanch of Sogve panchayat.  
While the community has restricted access to the forests for fuel, other minor forest produce, and cultivation, the sense of ownership and thereby participation in conservation is absent in most areas.  
For its part, the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee Dahanu's development, has played an important role in ensuring that afforestation projects are undertaken and maintained for the benefit of the community. The DTEPA has sanctioned   nine projects where more than 70 hectares of land have been brought under afforestation. Moreover, acting like a watchdog, it has ensured that any illegal stone quarrying activity in the forests is immediately stopped and no new quarries are permitted.  
Nevertheless, these legal mechanisms have had a limited role to play in a reality that is far more complex.  
Tribal bill and justice 
For the communities in Dahanu, the passing of the recent Tribal Bill that recognised their rights was a step at reversing the historical injustice they had faced at the hands of the colonial and modern State.  
Brian Lobo, of the Kashtkari Sanghatana, a grassroots movement that actively campaigned for the Tribal Bill and is involved in its implementation in Dahanu, believes that  “the Bill is a culmination of a struggle that has gone on for 200 years”. “For us,” he continues, “it is one step closer to the democratisation of forests and towards the dismantling of the forest bureaucracy that controlled the jungle and abused the adivasis. We definitely believe that the Bill can change the reality of forest-dwelling communities given that it provides power to the people to control the forest.” 
According to estimates provided by the forest department in Dahanu, there are currently approximately 5,500 individual claims for regularisation of forest plots. Dighe, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Dahanu, who has mixed reactions to the bill and seems reluctant to see its implementation, admits that most claims are for fairly small sizes of land, granted to the communities several decades ago and not regularised till now. More importantly most claims do not exceed a few gunthas of land, contrary to propaganda stating that the bill would amount to a land grab by brokers and the land mafia.  
The regularisation and eventual handing over of these plots to the tribals will indeed be a huge victory for the community and enhance the livelihood of the families.  
However, the most powerful sections of the Act concern community rights to manage, protect and conserve its forests. While the state government and forest bureaucracy continue to ignore these aspects of the bill, the community’s preparedness to take control of this resource also seems lacking. 
For the Tribal Bill to significantly alter the power equations and grant control of the forests to the adivasis, communities must be united and work towards conserving and protecting a resource that is collectively owned.  
Conclusion 
While the environmental legislations in Dahanu, may have played some role in allowing the Warlis to retain a measure of their tribal ethos and identity, the Tribal Bill goes a longer way in granting them their rightful share of the forests. However, much more would need to be done to grant the Warlis their rightful place in society. In the meanwhile, the struggle for the Warlis continues.  
(This is the concluding part of Michelle Chawla’s  series on the conflict between environment-protection, development and livelihoods in the protected area of Dahanu. Michelle has a Master’s degree in social work and is founder and trustee of the Tamarind Tree Trust, which is located on a chickoo farm in Dahanu, Maharashtra, and works on developmental and environmental issues in Dahanu. This series was researched as part of the Infochange Media Fellowships 2008.) 
Infochange News & Features, July 2009 

Trapped into farming


By Michelle Chawla
The declaration of Dahanu as an ecologically fragile zone in 1991 has had repercussions on the orchard economy too. Farmers, already troubled by declining yields and globalisation, cannot convert their orchards to non-agricultural use. They feel they are trapped into farming by an environmentalism that is out of context
Agriculture in Dahanu
The main difference between a farmer today and one 50 years ago is that today's farmer has a mobile phone, said a principal scientist from the Institute of Horticulture Research, during a seminar on knowledge dissemination in agriculture. While this metaphor may be an exaggeration of the conditions today, the reality is that in the India-booming narrative, the agricultural sector has been left behind.
In spite of employing about 60% of the population, it grew at a slow rate of 2.7% in 2007-08, relative to 11% growth in both the services and industry sector.  Agricultural incomes are lower and growing slower than incomes in other sectors.  The reasons for this range from the adverse impact of globalization to inadequate access to credit and direct markets, poor infrastructure and post-harvest facilities and lack of technology.
Ironically, until very recently, prior to the economic slowdown, a booming real estate market had skewed land prices in many regions, making it more lucrative to sell land rather than farm it. Eecological realities such as climate change and impact of industrial pollution add to the farmers’ woes.   
Grappling with these realities daily is the farming community of Dahanu taluka, a small region 120 km from Mumbai, on the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Agriculture in Dahanu
Out of a total geographical area of 100,000 hectares in Dahanu, approximately half (45%) is under agriculture and horticulture, making this the predominant source of livelihood in the region. Given that it is primarily a tribal belt, rice is the primary crop grown on 19,000 hectares of land while pulses, millets and vegetables constitute a smaller share. This is largely rain-fed subsistence farming.
However, the region of Dahanu has become famous for its commercial cultivation and large-scale production of the chikoo (sapota) fruit. It was way back in 1898, a little over 100 years ago, when the first commercial cultivation of chikoo in Maharashtra was undertaken in the Gholvad region of Dahanu taluka.  
The coastal plains with their warm and humid climate and rich black cotton soil have created a lucrative and vibrant horticultural economy, with a production totaling approximately 400-500 tonnes  annually.
Currently, while the total land under chikoo is 4,126 hectares, constituting only 6% of the land in Dahanu, it has generated employment for the communities in Dahanu, both in terms of direct agricultural labour on farms as well as trading, packaging and transportation. Besides sapota, other plantations in the area include coconut, mango, and litchi.
However, the economy has faced multiple problems in the last few years. 
Orchard economy at risk
“Till the late-1990s, we had a comfortable life. Chikoo being a sturdy crop it did not require heavy doses of pesticide and fertilisers. Its around-the-year fruiting made it a very viable high-income crop. But a slow decline in production, especially from the older orchards, pest attacks and a crash in prices in the period up to 2005 has made farming challenging for us,” states Sanjay Adhiya, a second-generation farmer.  
Professor Mohan Bari, retired chief scientist with the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra in his research report, ‘An Environmental Study on Decline of Chikoo Fruit Production in Coastal Parts of Thane and Navsari Districts’, 2003, finds that chikoo production increased till the year 1999 and then began declining in these regions for various reasons including change in atmospheric temperature, infestation of bud borer and water stress. 
According to data from the same report, chikoo production dropped from a high of approximately 400 tonnes in 1997-98, to 50 tonnes in 2001-02. Local traders verify these figures, stating that truckloads have dropped from around 70 in 1995 to around 20 truckloads in 2003. 
However farmers also allege that the decline they faced in the early parts of 2000 is due to the emissions from a local thermal power plant.   
A research study conducted in 2004, ‘Decline in the Yield of Sapota from the Orchards of Dahanu
Taluka: An Ecological Investigation’, by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History concludes  that “the pattern of decline indicates a causative relationship with the environmental pollution, especially atmospheric pollution and the consequent environmental impacts. The Dahanu thermal power plant is the single most likely source of this pollution and hence more stringent pollution control measures in the thermal power plant especially to reduce the SO2 and Ash emissions are imperative for the environmental health and long-term sustainability of Dahanu’s orchards, farms and other traditional livelihood supports”.
Impact of globalisation
Besides the agro-ecological challenges, farmers are confronted with challenges from a new economy.
During the same period, globalisation led to the opening up of the agricultural markets, permitting the entry of various fruits and vegetables into India.  
“With a diverse variety of international and Indian fruits available to the consumer throughout the year, the common man's fruit, chikoo, now competes with apples from Australia and kiwi from New Zealand,” states Hemant Babu, a local orchard owner. “Very often we are stuck with selling our produce at low prices of Rs 2-3 a kg. The critical challenge for us is to be able to directly access the markets, innovate, introduce fruit processing and most importantly remove our dependence on the cartel of brokers that currently dominates the prices.” 
G Kolhe, head of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Dahanu agrees, stating that there is an urgent need for value addition in these competitive times. The KVK in a report authored by him clearly outlines the need for the development of products such as dehydrated chikoo slices and chikoo powder, direct retailing and better packaging as the way forward.
Impact of protection of orchards 
The declaration of Dahanu as an ecologically fragile zone in 1991 has had its own repercussions on the orchard economy. While the restrictions on industrialisation ensured controlled and limited pollution, the Notification led to a freeze on all orchard lands.  
The Notification categorically classifies orchard land as an environmentally sensitive area along with tribal lands and other green areas and stipulates “no change in land use” of these zones.  
“Our farms, specifically in the growing urban area of Dahanu, are barely viable given the reduced yield with the age of the trees and the increased developmental activities around. Yet, because of the environmental laws we are forced to continue to farm since we cannot convert the lands into non-agricultural use,” asserts a local Irani farmer.        
This contradiction has led to resentment and frustration amongst some orchard owners who would like to opt out of farming. Feeling trapped in an environmentalism that seems out of context, many of them have tried various ways, both legitimate and illegitimate, to 'de-reserve' their lands in the Development Plan of Dahanu.   
While there have been many discussions and debates on the relaxation of this norm, particularly for the orchard owners of the urban area, local environmentalists claim that the region has stayed an unpolluted and fairly well planned zone because of the Notification. Any relaxation of these norms would result in the opening up of Dahanu, with accompanying violation and misuse.
For now, the farmers continue to confront the multiple challenges of agriculture, ecology, environmental protection, industrial pollution and a new economy.
(This is the fourth in a series of articles by Michelle Chawla, researched as part of the Infochange Media Fellowships 2008. Michelle has a Master’s degree in social work and is founder and trustee of the Tamarind Tree Trust, which is located on a chikoo farm in Dahanu, Maharashtra, and works on developmental and environmental issues in Dahanu. Her series for Infochange documents the conflict between environment-protection, development and livelihoods, by looking at Dahanu as a microcosm in which these conflicts have been playing out since 1991.) 
InfoChange News & Features, June 2009

Making environmental mandates meaningful


The quasi-judicial Dahanu Authority has become a model for environmental governance, taking on giant corporations and standing for social and ecological justice. But until its mandate is endorsed by the citizens and elected representatives of Dahanu, meaningful development cannot take place, says Michelle Chawla
While India has a series of constitutional provisions and stringent environmental laws and policies to ensure that its forests, water and land are protected, there is a high level of non-compliance with most environmental laws. Interestingly, from time to time the Supreme Court of India, in response to public interest litigations and sometimes acting on its own has compelled bureaucrats to enforce environmental laws and rules that the government is unable to implement.
This has led to complex configurations in society, given the contradiction in the values espoused by the Supreme Court on the one hand and those of business and political interests on the other.
Dahanu, located on the west coast of Maharashtra, is a microcosm of this contradiction, wherein the intervention of the Supreme Court and the enactment of notifications and authorities to protect the environment has led to a creative new space for debate and action on conservation.
However, the question that remains is whether these approaches are replicable in a milieu where competing lobbies continue to battle over the appropriation of natural resources. 
Efficacy of Dahanu Authority 
Tukaram Machi, a fisherman from Pale village in Dahanu, complained that “the water released from the power plant is so hot that the marine life is being affected and we are finding it difficult to lay our nets” in a presentation to the expert members of the Dahanu Authority.  The technical representative of the power plant and the officer of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) present at the meeting, fumbled to respond to this allegation, stating that all pollution control measures were in place.
Dissatisfied with this response, the expert members ordered a site inspection and testing of the outlet of water at the plant site in the presence of community and civil society representatives. A date was fixed and MPCB was told to conduct the sampling.
While it is rare to see tables turn so quickly on corporations and government institutions known for their lackadaisical approach on issues of environmental pollution, this scenario has been repeated frequently in the last decade at the meetings of the quasi-judicial Authority set up to protect Dahanu taluka.  
Set up on the directive of a Supreme Court order in 1996, the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) was the culmination of an environmental campaign that had extensively relied on the courts to protect Dahanu.  
The Notification setting up the Authority directed it “to protect the ecologically fragile area of Dahanu taluka and to control pollution in the area, to consider and implement the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle, to implement the Dahanu Notification and the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification”. Significantly, it also permitted the Authority to exercise powers under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act for issuing directions.  
“For the activists, the Dahanu Authority opened up a new space for engagement and dialogue with the authorities and corporations. Functioning like a people's court, the Dahanu Authority invites to its meetings members of concerned government departments, elected representatives, community and civil society groups, corporations and agencies interested in undertaking work or projects in Dahanu.  Any person or community aggrieved by an environmental violation can send a petition to the Authority. All concerned  are invited to the hearings,” states Maya Mahajan, former activist with the Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association (DTEWA), the environmental organisation that spearheaded the movement.  
The hearings are held every four to six months in the Maharashtra State Secretariat building and decisions are taken after a thorough investigation and examination of issues to ascertain whether these proposals are permitted within the notified Dahanu taluka (Dahanu, in north western Maharashtra, was notified as a ecologically fragile zone by the ministry of environment and forests in 1991, putting restrictions on industrial development and land use).  
Headed by retired judge of the Mumbai High Court, Justice Dharmadhikari, and supported by a team of experts from fields as diverse as urban planning, terrestrial ecology, oceanography, environmental engineering  as as well as government and non-governmental representatives (see list of members in Box), the Dahanu Authority held its first meeting on May 6, 1997 and has since taken up critical  issues that have steered the path of development for the region.  
Till date, the Authority has held 38 meetings over a span of 12 years, addressing diverse environmental and developmental issues such as the construction of a mega port, pollution control of a thermal power plant, sea water ingress on coastal communities, building of national highways, laying of high-transmission towers, and preparation of a Regional and Development Plan for the taluka.  
“As members of the Authority, with the responsibility of protecting Dahanu,” states V W Deshpande, former member secretary and now member of the Dahanu Authority, we have functioned independently, providing inputs and opinions objectively and in keeping with our legal mandate. While there have been many challenges, our aim has been to ensure planned and sustainable development of the fragile zone.”  
Issues and contradictions 
One of the issues taken up by the Authority that merits attention is the setting up of a multi-berth industrial port in Vadhavan village in Dahanu in 1997, the first year of functioning of the Authority. A series of hearings were held, where people’s organisations, environmental groups and representatives of the international shipping giant Peninsular and Oriental (P&O) Company presented their case to the Authority. Scientific, economic and sociological studies were presented by both sides.  
Eventually, in spite of pressures from vested interests, the Dahanu Authority rejected the siting of the port in Dahanu, stating that it could be considered an industry not permitted as per the notifications.  The chairman, Justice Dharmadhikari, a Gandhian by conviction, states that  “pressures have not worked for him and his Authority”.  
Due to the presence of a strong leadership and a team of experts from diverse fields, the Authority has engaged in a variety of development discourses, becoming a model for environmental governance. Aware of the politics of control over natural resources, the Dahanu Authority has stood unwaveringly by the principles of social and ecological justice.  
However, there has been considerable resistance to the orders and directions passed by the Authority, both by officials and companies.   
In the case of the port at Vadhavan village, the order was upheld. “In many cases, however,” states Kerban Anklesaria, advocate on behalf of the environmental group that has been appearing for most of the Authority hearings, “while the Dahanu Authority has powers under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act to issue directions, it has no powers to ensure that these directions are implemented.”  
This contradiction became visible in the setting up of a pollution control device, a Flue Gas De-sulphurisation Unit (FGD), to reduce sulphur emissions from the thermal power plant owned by Reliance Energy. While the ministry of environment and forests gave clearance to the company on the condition that it would set up the FGD, the company went ahead and set up the thermal power plant in 1994 oblivious to this clause.   
The Dahanu Auuthority on being petitioned by local environmental groups, passed an order in May 1999 that the FGD Plant had to be set up within six months. In 2003, the company had still not complied and another order was passed by the Authority.  
Finally in March 2005, after a prolonged series of hearings and scientific reports being presented to the Dahanu Authority, the company was directed to pay a Bank Guarantee of Rs 300 crore to display its commitment to installing this plant.  
Still unyielding about setting up the FGD, the company appealed against the Authority's order in the Mumbai High Court. However they lost the case and had to provide a Bank Guarantee of Rs 100 crore and set up the plant by October 2007.   
“Bringing to task a corporation like Reliance has been a landmark victory. However, it was an extremely difficult campaign for the people of Dahanu. Without the support of the expert members of the Authority who were able to decipher the scientific data and piles of information submitted by Reliance, the case would have been lost,” continues Anklesaria.  
In spite of being a declared protected zone with a Supreme Court-appointed Authority, the struggle against environmental pollution that was directly impacting people’s livelihoods in the predominantly agrarian region took a decade to come to a conclusion.  
In several other cases, while the Dahanu Authority passed significant orders, getting the local authorities to implement them has been an uphill task. A lack of environmental consciousness coupled with challenging ground realities has more often than not led to non-compliance.  
A classic example of this is the issue of solid waste management of Dahanu town. The Dahanu Municipal Council (DMC) has been unable to resolve the issue of a dumping ground for the last decade. Unable to find a permanent location to treat and dispose of the solid waste of Dahanu town, the sanitation officer inevitably promises better segregation and finalisation of a site at every meeting of the Dahanu Authority.  
At the last meeting of the Authority held on February 27, 2009, Dr Asolekar, expert member, reprimanded the DMC for not abiding by the laws applicable for treatment of solid waste, specifically in an ecologically fragile zone. He said that Dahanu should be a zero-waste zone with exemplary segregation and disposal facilities. Justice Dharmadhikari even threatened prosecution of the Chief Executive Officer of the DMC, given the number of years this issue was being discussed.
In a business as usual manner, the sanitation officer with the Dahanu Municipal Council present at the meeting responded that attempts at segregation were ongoing and a few other sites had been shortlisted as permanent locations for management of solid waste. However, there was resistance from local communities for dumping waste there and he was unsure if they would be able to finalise a space.  
The apathy and lack of commitment on the part of the officials is obvious from the fact that the total waste generated in the DMC is a meagre 11 tonnes of which seven is bio-degradable waste, making it imminently possible for a small urban region like Dahanu to successfully treat this waste.  
Thus, even as the Dahanu Authority holds hearings and decides on various environmental issues, local institutions and elected representatives resent the loss of control over decision-making of their region as well as being accountable to the Authority.  
Priyanka Kesarkar, Chief Executive Officer of the DMC, states that she is unable to sanction many projects in the town since she is waiting for the Dahanu Authority to clear the much-awaited Development Plan of the municipal area. 
The Plan has been under preparation by the town planning department under the supervision of the Authority for several years since it has often failed to comply with all the environmental restrictions.  
Conclusion 
The leadership and vision of the Dahanu Authority has been key to ensuring the ecological protection of Dahanu. However, until the mandate is endorsed fully by the people, both who live in the protected zone as well as the elected representatives and officials, meaningful development that is socially and ecologically just cannot take place.
(This is the third in a series of articles by Michelle Chawla, researched as part of the Infochange Media Fellowships 2008. Michelle has a Master’s degree in social work and is founder and trustee of the Tamarind Tree Trust, which is located on a chickoo farm in Dahanu, Maharashtra, and works on developmental and environmental issues in Dahanu. Her series for Infochange documents the conflict between environment-protection, development and livelihoods, by looking at Dahanu as a microcosm in which these conflicts have been playing out since 1991.)

People vs environmentalists


By Michelle Chawla
There is no doubt that there is a sharp polarisation between Dahanu’s environmental lobby, which pushed through the region’s ecologically fragile status, and local communities, including industrialists, farmers and adivasis. Is this the result of an environmental movement that failed to ensure community debate and engagement?
Dhakti Dahanu, The Fishing Village
August 22, 2003 will remain etched in the history of Dahanu taluka, a small region in northwest Maharashtra, as a day when the polarisation between the environmentalists and the people was exposed in a most dramatic manner.   
In a public hearing organised by the ministry of environment and forests to review the environmental status of Dahanu as an ecologically fragile zone, representatives of adivasis, fisherfolk, urban middle class, farmers and political parties vociferously claimed that environmental protection had wrecked their lives by closing all options for development.  
Preventing the environmentalists and their supporters from making their case, the representatives implored the expert committee to immediately remove the Dahanu Notification of 1991 that classified it as an eco-fragile zone in order that jobs and livelihoods could be created. They also pleaded for the relaxation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notifications that do not permit any development along Dahanu's seacoast 500 metres from the high tide line.  
While the environmentalists claimed that the entire show had been staged by vested interests, the public hearing nevertheless starkly revealed the contradictions and dilemmas of an environmental narrative, spanning over two decades, where ecological protection had been brought to a region via the legal institutions.  
History
The environmental campaign started in 1989 with opposition to a proposal to set up a 500 MW coal-fired power plant in Dahanu to power the growing megapolis of Mumbai, given its proximity (120 km) to the city.  Predominantly a tribal and agricultural belt, a few orchard owners were alarmed by the possible adverse effects on the region and began campaigning against the thermal power plant under the Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association (DTEWA).  
While they lost the case against the thermal power plant in the Mumbai High Court in 1991, they continued to push for Dahanu's protection. The ministry of environment and forests, utilising a clause in the Environment Protection Act, recognised the tribal culture, marine and horticultural wealth of the region and passed a landmark notification declaring Dahanu ecologically fragile.  
It said, “the Central Government, in consultation with the Government of Maharashtra, after considering the need for protecting the ecologically sensitive Dahanu Taluka, and to ensure that the development activities are consistent with principles of environmental protection and conservation, hereby declare Dahanu Taluka, District Thane (Maharashtra) as an ecologically fragile area and to impose restrictions on the setting up of industries which have a detrimental effect on the environment.” 
Dahanu was only one among three areas in the country declared ecologically fragile at that time, the other two being Dehradun and Murud Janjira. Currently there are ten such designated zones.  
The Notification specifically restricted the setting up of industries to a limit of 500 acres. It classified industries into Red, Orange and Green categories on ecological considerations, disallowing the Red category. The Notification also significantly stipulated "no change in land use" while directing the state government to prepare a Regional Plan demarcating all green areas, orchards, tribal areas and other environmentally  sensitive ones. 
Land use clause in the Dahanu Notification, 1991 
“The Government of Maharashtra will prepare a Master Plan or Regional Plan for the taluka based on the existing land use patterns....to clearly demarcate all the existing green areas, orchards, tribal areas and other environmentally sensitive areas. No change of existing land use will be permitted for such areas...”
The Dahanu Industries Association was one of the first to react negatively to the Notification and petitioned the Mumbai High Court against it. “There was no public debate or engagement on the issue of development of Dahanu. We were unexpectedly declared a special eco-sensitive zone with a prohibition on industries, leading to frustration amongst the business community,” states Amar Dhanukar,  treasurer of the Dahanu Industries Association, which lost the case against the Notification.
For the business and commercial community in Dahanu along with representatives of some political parties, the Notification became an obstacle to accessing the booming modern economy. Over the last decade, they have played a key role in accusing the Notification and environmental laws for Dahanu's slow-paced development.
“The frustrations of the local business and political interests also came from the fact that environmental norms could no longer be bypassed. Permissions and procedures for Dahanu became legal and lengthy. Local politicians did not have the liberty to sanction projects and proposals,” states Kerban Anklesaria, lawyer associated with the environmental movement.
Along with disgruntled commercial interests, political parties like the Communist Party of India (Marxist) actively demonstrated against the Notification, claiming that the tribal community would suffer due to lack of employment opportunities.
However, the reality is that there is no blanket ban on industries. The Notification provides guidelines for the setting up of industries stating that “only those industries that are non-obnoxious, non-hazardous and do not discharge industrial effluents of a polluting nature will be permitted”.
Moreover, the indicative list of Red category industries includes refineries, cement plants, petrochemical industries, sugar mills etc, reflecting that the Notification protects the area from industrial pollution and does not restrict development.  
Given that the environmental campaign was led by a handful of orchard owners, especially at the initial stages, it was critical to get wider support from the community. Moreover, had an atmosphere of public debate been created to dispel the incorrect interpretations of the Notification, the community may have been reassured that development of many sectors such as information technology, food processing, and eco-tourism were open.
Setting up of the Dahanu Authority
While the Notification was based on the philosophy of appropriate utilisation of natural resources, conservation and planned development, the interpretation of development was very different for the  bureaucracy and institutions that were implementing it.
Unable to see any value in such a Notification, given that rapid economic growth and industrialisation were the mantras, development continued in violation of the Notification in the period from 1991 to 1994. 
“It was ironical that the state government and institutions like the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board that had the responsibility of protecting Dahanu were acting in contravention of the Dahanu and CRZ Notifications. They granted permission to prohibited industries and to buildings along the seacoast. Additionally, they drafted a Regional Plan for Dahanu that promoted urbanisation and industrialisation, against the spirit of the Notification,” states Noshir Irani, local orchard owner and former secretary of the DTEWA. 
The environmentalists were unhappy with these violations and contested them in a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 1994. The case ended in 1996, with a landmark order that resulted in the setting up of a quasi-judicial authority, the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) headed by retired Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court, Justice Dharmadhikari, with a team of experts from diverse fields such as urban planning, terrestrial ecology, oceanography and environmental engineering.
The Dahanu Authority's role was to ensure that the development of the ecologically fragile region was in consonance with the Dahanu Notification and other relevant legislations.
Since its inception in 1996, the Authority has played a significant role in steering the development of Dahanu by scrutinising and deciding on large projects, developing innovative schemes for afforestation, ensuring that the thermal power plant controls its emissions and taking to task unplanned and illegal development.
“This was practically the only green zone left on the west coast when the Authority was formed. We felt that it should be conserved, else the future generations would suffer,” states Justice Dharmadhikari, Chairman of the Dahanu Authority, which has set precedents for environmental governance in the last decade. “There were many challenges before the Authority and credit must go to the expert members who provided their independent views so that we could consider the pros and cons of many controversial matters,” he continued.
Notably, the Dahanu Authority through a series of hearings rejected the siting of a multi-berth industrial port proposed by global giant P&O Ltd at Vadhavan village in Dahanu in 1998.
Additionally, the thermal power plant (owned by Reliance Energy) was forced to install a Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plant (FGD), a pollution control device to reduce sulphur emissions, after the Dahanu Authority demanded a Bank Guarantee of Rs 300 crore from the company. The unit was finally commissioned in October 2007, the culmination of a decade-long campaign, and the expert members of the Authority recently visited the plant for an inspection. 
“For us orchard owners whose crop is at risk from the pollution of the thermal power plant, the Authority, being an independent organisation devoid of any political compulsions, has been able to operate autonomously, and played a critical role in holding companies like Reliance accountable,” states Vijay Mhatre, President of the Dahanu Parisar Bachao Samiti, a loose federation of orchard owners that emerged more recently, in 2004, when they began facing a decline in production of chikoo.
Along with the environmental group, they played a key role in petitioning the Dahanu Authority for the installation of the FGD that reduces the sulphur emissions from the plant.
The setting up of the Authority consolidated the environmental movement, but further polarised Dahanu society. While it may have been easy to bypass the Notification, the Authority stood its ground. Government officials were apprehended at meetings of the Dahanu Authority. Elected representatives had no choice but to acknowledge the institution. 
Consequently, concerted efforts were made to disband the Dahanu Authority. The public hearing of August 2003 was a result of efforts by politicians and business interests which led a delegation to the ministry of environment and forests stating that Dahanu should be de-notified and the Authority  disbanded since the local representatives were capable of charting the development of their own region.
Additionally, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court by the Ministry of Environment and Forests asking for the dissolution of the Dahanu Authority in 2002.  The DTEWA however, fought hard and won the case, further strengthening the work of the Authority.
Regardless, the polarisation continues.
Besides frustration over the absence of large industries (Reliance Energy's thermal power plant and the Associated Capsules Company are the only two big industries in Dahanu), business and political interests feel stifled due to lack of developmental activity.
“Regular development has been thwarted and there are simply not enough jobs because of the Notification,” states Manisha Chaudhury, member of the Bharatiya Janata Party which is actively opposing the Notification.  Adds Amar Dhanukar of the Industries Association, “Industries do bring jobs and there is no doubt that all those employed in the handful of small industries existing in Dahanu earn more than the agricultural labour on farms and definitely have a better standard of living.”
Dismissing the pro-development voices, Justice Dharmadhikari states, “The cry for employment is not from the unemployed but from industrialists who have a self-interest and who thought that Dahanu would become a suburb of Mumbai, good for resorts and chemical industries. We have no problem with industrialisation that is environment-friendly, with agriculture-based industries, with information technology-based units and all other non-polluting processes.”
However, the Dahanu Authority, functioning out of Mumbai, has been unable to fully integrate into mainstream Dahanu society. A local presence in Dahanu where people were able to engage on issues, could have avoided much of the face-off that exists even today. It would have created the space for participation and engagement on the contentious environment versus development debate.  
At a meeting held in January 2009 to discuss the future of declared ecologically fragile areas, the ex-director of the ministry of environment and forests, Lakshmi Raghupathy rightly suggested that any new proposals should come from the state or even the taluka, with local people’s support as effective implementation can be ensured only with support at state and local levels.
Conclusion
There are many in Dahanu who believe that the Notification and the Dahanu Authority have played an important role in ensuring that the region does not become like the neighhbouring Vapi, a toxic hotspot, or Boisar.
Unfortunately, they have been unable to form a critical mass or a formidable force against the conventional commercial interests. Networks like the Dahanu Parisar Bachao Samiti, representing a large number of farmers, can push an alternative paradigm of development and support the work of the Dahanu Authority.
However, the framework for the protection of Dahanu's natural resources remains largely confined to the realm of law, dependent on the commitment and conviction of environmental activists and members of the Dahanu Authority.  Even as competing lobbies continue to push for the removal of the Dahanu Authority and de-notification, the environmentalists walk a tightrope attempting to protect the natural resource base of the region. 
(This is the second in a series of articles by Michelle Chawla, researched as part of the Infochange Media Fellowships 2008. Michelle has a Master’s degree in social work and is founder and trustee of the Tamarind Tree Trust, which is located on a chickoo farm in Dahanu, Maharashtra, and works on developmental and environmental issues in Dahanu. Her series for Infochange documents the conflict between environment-protection, development and livelihoods, by looking at Dahanu as a microcosm in which these conflicts have been playing out since 1991)
InfoChange News & Features, April 2009
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