The Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Area notification is the clearest case study available of conservation against livelihoods, and of friction between the Centre and six state governments.
It is also the only environment topic on this list where the delay itself is the story. Twelve years, seven drafts, and a policy vacuum that has done more damage than either a strict notification or a lenient one would have.
Short answer. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued the seventh draft notification proposing an Eco-Sensitive Area in the Western Ghats, reopened for sixty days of public objections after the previous draft lapsed. The Centre and the six Western Ghats states continue to disagree on which villages and areas should be included. The draft bans commercial mining, quarrying, sand mining, new thermal power plants and highly polluting industries, while exempting agriculture, plantations and local livelihoods.
What an Eco-Sensitive Area Is
An Eco-Sensitive Area is a zone where activities with high environmental impact are prohibited or regulated, in order to protect an ecologically fragile landscape.
It is not a wildlife sanctuary or a national park. Ordinary life continues inside it.
That distinction matters, because most public opposition to such notifications comes from a fear that it does not. An answer that states it clearly is already engaging with the politics of the topic rather than only its ecology.
What the Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Area Draft Proposes
| Category | Activities |
|---|---|
| Prohibited outright | Commercial mining, stone quarrying, sand mining, new thermal power plants, highly polluting Red Category industries, large scale construction projects |
| Strictly regulated | Hydroelectric power projects |
| Explicitly not affected | Agriculture, plantation activities and the livelihoods of local communities |
| Implementation | Phased, state wise or combined |
The procedural change that matters
The notification allows state wise or combined phased rollout, and can proceed without waiting for consensus from all six states.
That is the significant change. For years the process stalled because agreement from every state was treated as a precondition.
Allowing phased implementation is an attempt to break a deadlock rather than wait it out. Noting that in an answer shows you understand the administrative problem, not just the environmental one.
Why Twelve Years and Seven Drafts
Four reasons, and an answer that names all four will stand out.
Centre and state disagreement
The states and the Centre have not agreed on where the balance between ecological conservation and developmental need should sit.
Mining, quarrying and construction are significant sources of state revenue and local employment in these districts. This is not obstruction for its own sake.
Boundary demarcation disputes
Disagreements persist over village boundaries, the mapping of the Eco-Sensitive Area and satellite based demarcation.
A dispute about a line on a map is in practice a dispute about which households fall inside a regulatory regime.
Absence of financial incentives
States bear the economic cost of conservation without adequate ecological compensation.
If a district forgoes mining revenue for a national environmental goal and receives nothing for doing so, opposition is a predictable response rather than an unreasonable one.
Regulatory uncertainty
This is the sharpest point in the whole topic.
The delay in final notification has created a policy vacuum, and that vacuum has permitted illegal mining, quarrying, deforestation and unsustainable development to continue.
In other words, the failure to protect has actively caused damage. Twelve years of drafts have been worse for the Western Ghats than either a strict notification or a lenient one would have been.
That sentence is the single strongest thing you can write on this topic.
A committee chaired by Sanjay Kumar was constituted in 2022 to examine state objections and boundary disputes. Its term has been extended until July 2027.
The Two Committees You Must Know
Any question on this topic expects you to name both reports and to state how they differ.
| Point | Gadgil Committee, 2011 | Kasturirangan Committee |
|---|---|---|
| Formal name | Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel | High Level Working Group on the Western Ghats |
| Chair | Madhav Gadgil | K. Kasturirangan |
| Area recommended | The entire Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive, in three graded zones | About 37 percent, roughly 60,000 square kilometres |
The difference between the two reports is the whole debate in one table. Gadgil proposed comprehensive protection with graded regulation. Kasturirangan proposed protecting a smaller, identified area with stricter rules inside it.
Every subsequent draft has worked from the Kasturirangan framework, and every objection from states has been about which villages fall inside the 37 percent.
Why the Western Ghats Matter
Worth two lines in any answer, to establish why the argument is worth having.
The Western Ghats are one of the world’s recognised biodiversity hotspots. They run through six states, they influence the Indian monsoon, and they are the source of major peninsular rivers.
The monsoon connection is the one to make, because it links this topic to the geography block and to the El Nino and monsoon topic in the same cycle.
How This Is Asked in the UPSC ISS Paper
Question 2 carries Geography with one or two Environment parts. Biodiversity, conservation and Centre state environmental disputes all sit there.
The topic also crosses into Question 4, Polity and Governance, as a federalism case study. Federalism has been asked in five consecutive years.
Verify the pattern in the previous year papers
Model answer skeleton, about 200 words
- Opening. The seventh draft Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Area notification, reopened for sixty days of objections, with phased implementation now permitted without full state consensus.
- What an ESA is. A regulated zone, not a sanctuary, where ordinary life continues.
- What the draft does. Bans mining, quarrying, thermal power and Red Category industry. Exempts agriculture, plantations and local livelihoods.
- The two committees. Gadgil 2011 covering the entire range in graded zones, Kasturirangan covering about 37 percent or 60,000 square kilometres.
- Why twelve years. Centre state disagreement, boundary disputes, absence of ecological compensation, and regulatory uncertainty.
- Closing. The policy vacuum created by delay has permitted the damage the notification was meant to prevent. Indecision has not been neutral.
Three Mistakes to Avoid
Confusing the two committees. Gadgil recommended the entire range in three graded zones. Kasturirangan recommended about 37 percent. Reversing them is the most common error on this topic.
Treating state opposition as unreasonable. These districts lose real revenue and real employment, with no compensation mechanism. An answer that acknowledges that reads as balanced. One that does not reads as naive.
Writing about conservation without the delay argument. The policy vacuum point is the one that turns this from a description into an analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Area?
A proposed zone across the Western Ghats where high impact activities are prohibited or regulated to protect an ecologically fragile landscape. The seventh draft notification has been reopened for sixty days of public objections.
What does the draft notification ban?
Commercial mining, stone quarrying, sand mining, new thermal power plants, highly polluting Red Category industries and large scale construction. Hydroelectric projects are strictly regulated. Agriculture, plantations and local livelihoods are explicitly not affected.
What is the difference between the Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports?
The Gadgil Committee of 2011, formally the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, recommended treating the entire Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive in three graded zones. The Kasturirangan Committee, the High Level Working Group, recommended about 37 percent, roughly 60,000 square kilometres.
Why has the Western Ghats notification taken twelve years?
Four reasons: disagreement between the Centre and the six states, boundary and village demarcation disputes, the absence of ecological compensation for states bearing the economic cost, and regulatory uncertainty created by the delay itself.
How is an Eco-Sensitive Area different from a national park?
An Eco-Sensitive Area regulates high impact activity while ordinary life, agriculture and local livelihoods continue. A national park or wildlife sanctuary imposes far stricter restrictions on human presence and use.
Which committee is examining state objections?
A committee chaired by Sanjay Kumar, constituted in 2022, with its term extended until July 2027.
Which states does the Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Area cover?
Six states along the Western Ghats range, which is why boundary demarcation and Centre state agreement have proved so difficult.
What Comes Next
Two environment articles done. The next moves to Polity, and to a law that replaced one of India’s best known welfare guarantees.
Next: VB-G RAM G Act, explained for UPSC ISS
Practice. Improve. Repeat.
Sources
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (moef.gov.in), Press Information Bureau (pib.gov.in), Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report, High Level Working Group report.
