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Journalism of Courage
After supporting the fishermen community in their protest against the Vizhinjam seaport project, Kerala’s Catholic Church is leading an agitation against the CPI(M)-led government over its lapses in identifying dwellings and clusters located inside the one-km eco-sensitive zones of protected forests and wildlife sanctuaries in the state. The church has come out in support of farmers and local communities who live within the proposed buffer zone.
Seeking to establish an eco-fragile zone of one kilometre around all protected sanctuaries, the Supreme Court in June had directed all states and Union Territories to prepare a list of structures within one-km range of every protected forest land.
Subsequently, the Kerala government assigned Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre to identify existing structures in buffer zones inside the state. The government also formed an expert committee headed by former West Bengal High Court Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan to conduct field studies in the proposed eco-sensitive zones.
Accordingly, on December 12, the Kerala government released a satellite survey report on human settlements and structures in 115 village panchayats abutting the protected forests and wildlife sanctuaries. The expert committee, meanwhile, asked the people to report about the structures not mapped by the satellite survey, setting December 23 as the deadline.
The survey report, meant to be presented before the apex court as well as an empowered committee constituted by the court, has drawn flak from the opposition and various farmer outfits who say it is incomplete and does not “reflect the entire gamut of structures and establishments in the proposed zone.”
The farmers residing in the 115 village panchayats fear that as the satellite survey did not reflect the ground reality, their villages would come under the purview of the buffer zone of the protected forests, leading to restrictions on economic activities.
Facing accusations of being anti-farmer, the state government on Saturday sought to diffuse the situation by announcing that it would set up help desks at all affected panchayats. But the Church has refused to relent, calling for protests starting Monday.
In Kozhikode, Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil on Sunday told the media that the Church would start a street march in the hilly regions of the district, demanding withdrawal of the survey report and exclusion of farm lands from buffer zones.
Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), which represents Catholic bishops in the state, is also supporting farmers’ protest. The council’s president Cardinal Clemis said the government should have tried to allay the fears of the farmers. “The boundary of the buffer zone should be fixed within the forest itself. The protests are quite natural and nobody can blame the farmers,’’ he said.
Forest Minister A K Saseendran called the agitation by the KCBC “unfortunate”. He said: “The Church leaders should not go for political agitations. They should withdraw from the agitation and cooperate with the government. The tenure of the expert committee, ending on December 30, would be extended.’’
While the Latin Catholic Church stood behind the fishermen in Vizhinjam, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is fighting for the rights of farmers in the Western Ghat region of the state. Most of the village panchayats, which fall within the proposed eco-sensitive zones, have a large population of Catholics belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church.
For the church, the fight for the rights of farmers in the Western Ghats is not new. In 2013, it had led a protest against the Kasturirangan committee report that had proposed declaring 37 percent of the total area of Western Ghats as eco-sensitive. The agitation had turned violent in Idukki, Kozhikode and Kannur.
The CPI(M) had then stood with the Catholic Church and its High Range Protection Samithi in Idukki, opposing the Congress-led government in the state as well at the Centre. During the general elections in 2014, the party supported Samithi candidate Joice George, who contested from Idukki and won. The agitation helped the CPI(M) make inroads into the Catholic vote bank in Idukki, which had traditionally supported the Congress.
The Catholic Church’s role in the protests can be seen as an attempt by the Church to fill the political vacuum created by the decline of the regional Christian party Kerala Congress (M) and its splinter groups. The Church has been reviving its lay association, Catholica Congress, across the state. To champion the cause of farmers, it has recently floated a new organisation called Kerala Karshaka Athijeevana Samithi (Kerala Farmer Survival Samithi). The protest against the survey report, starting Monday, is under the banner of this samithi.
