A special session of the Karnataka legislature convened to discuss the Kasturirangan Committee report on the Western Ghats rejected its recommendations and sought modifications to the seventh draft notification issued by the Union Environment Ministry on July 27, 2026. The state has sought a year to conduct a fresh forest survey through a technical committee, along the lines of the Kerala model, and consult the Centre thereafter. All political parties in Karnataka oppose the notification, which proposes an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) covering about 37 percent of the Western Ghats—59,940 sq km across six states. In Karnataka, this covers 20,668 sq km and 1,449 villages across 10 districts. Villagers fear displacement and loss of livelihood. The state is expected to formally respond by September 27, 2026.
The report has been criticised for relying on remote sensing and satellite imagery from 2012 to demarcate ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ landscapes. Given the changes since then, Karnataka’s proposal for a ground survey merits consideration. Kerala had adopted a similar approach through the Oommen V Oommen Committee, which conducted a survey and submitted its report in 2014, seeking changes to the proposed ESA. The National Green Tribunal subsequently granted relaxations and reduced its extent. Karnataka has maintained that people cannot be evicted, while making it clear that further encroachment and unregulated commercialisation cannot be allowed.
The Kasturirangan panel submitted its report in 2013 after reviewing the 2011 Madhav Gadgil report, which had proposed declaring the entire 1,29,037-sq-km Western Ghats an ESA, with stringent restrictions on mining, farming, tourism, and thermal and hydel projects. Kasturirangan expanded the region under consideration to 1,64,280 sq km across six states, while excluding settlements, fields and plantations from the strictest restrictions. It recommended that mining and power projects be considered only after detailed ecological assessments.
Karnataka will now have to strike a delicate balance between conservation and development. Recent floods and landslides underline the ecological risks. Mining, quarrying, road construction and tourism will have to remain within carefully managed limits. The Western Ghats, a Unesco biodiversity hotspot and home to 13 national parks and sanctuaries, must be protected without undermining the livelihoods of those who live there—and preserved for future generations.
