Lakshadweep: A plan for the worse

Lakshadweep is on the boil. Four regulations that the administration of India’s smallest Union Territory initiated between January and April this year have triggered protests in the otherwise calm coral islands, igniting a debate on conservation of their unique culture and ecology.

All the regulations await approval by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, but parts of the regulations have been implemented through two executive orders by the Union Territory administration. The regulations “will have irreversible ecological, social and cultural ramifications on the inhabitants of this rich and fragile island ecosystems,” said a June 11 statement by Vikalp Sangam, a grouping of 70 civil society organisations protesting the proposed changes.

It is pertinent to take a closer look at the four draft regulations and the Ordinances.

Draft Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Regulation, 2021

This was the first of the four new draft regulations, dated January 28, and aims to curb criminal activities on the islands. Section 3 of the regulation allows the administration to detain a “person with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”. This detention can be up to a year (Section 13) without public notice.

The authority making the detention order has to communicate to the detenu grounds of detention within seven days from the date of detention (Section 8) but it does not have to “disclose facts which it considers to be against the public interest to disclose”. Worse, the expiry or revocation of a detention order “shall not bar the making of another detention order under Section 3 against the same person”, the regulation states.

“What is the aim of bringing such an act to a place which has perhaps the lowest crime rate in the country?” Mohammed Faizal PP, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party and member of Parliament from Lakshadweep told the media. Such measures may end up being misused and might become tools to muzzle dissent, he said. As per the latest National Crime Records Bureau data, Lakshadweep had no cases of murder, kidnapping, robbery, rape or dacoity in 2019.

Draft Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation, 2021

This draft regulation, dated February 25, prohibits “selling or buying beef or beef products”. If found guilty, a person can be “punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to ten years but shall not be less than seven years and with fine which may be extend to Rs 5 lakhs but shall not be less than Rs 1 lakh”, reads the regulation.

Similarly, through an executive order on February 23, the administration removed the ban on alcohol in Lakshadweep. “It does not seem innocent when the administration introduces curbs on the sale and use of cow meat in Lakshadweep, whose population comprises nearly 95 per cent Muslims,” says UCK Thangal, one of the convenors of Save Lakshadweep Forum, a collective of islanders formed in May to oppose the reforms.

According to Census 2011, 96.58 per cent of Lakshadweep’s population are Muslims.

Draft Lakshadweep Panchayat Regulation, 2021

This draft regulation, also dated February 25, says a person with more than two children cannot contest Gram Panchayat elections. Lakshadweep has one district panchayat and 10 gram panchayats. Its population growth rate has seen a dramatic fall — from 17.19 per cent in 2001 to 6.1 per cent in 2011, which does not indicate a need to control population.

The government’s argument is the high population density of Lakshadweep — 2,013 persons per sq km against the national average of 382 persons per sq km, as per Census 2011. Experts, however, say that the two-child norm are no guarantee of population control. Lakshadweeps’s population, as per Census 2011, is 64,473.

While the regulation is yet to be enforced, the administration diluted the powers of Panchayats through an executive order on May 5. “In 2012, the Central Government had handed over five departments, directly connected to the people — Education, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Fisheries and Health Care — to Local Self Governments. A committee headed by S S Meenak shi Sundaram had recommended more powers to LSGs. However, the Administrator has taken back all these departments from the District Panchayath, through an ordinance dated May 5th, 2021,” says Vikalp Sangam’s statement. Fishery and coconut farming are the main occupations of the people here.

Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021

Also called Draft Lakshadweep Town and Country Planning Regulation, this regulation, dated April 28, provides for constitution of a Planning and Development Authority with sweeping powers over the use of land and waters.

The authority has the “permission to develop land and for other powers of control over the use of land; to confer additional powers in respect of the acquisition and development of land for planning; and for purposes connected with”. Section 2(9) of the draft regulation defines development as “the carrying out of building, engineering, mining, quarrying or other operations in, on, over or under, land, the cutting of a hill or any portion there of or the making of any material change in any building or land, or in the use of any building or land, and includes sub-division of any land”.

These clauses vest the administrator with powers to acquire any piece of the island for development and remove or relocate islanders if their existence in the localities conflicts with the proposed town planning or developmental activities.

In a media interaction on May 28, District Collector S Asker Ali defended the laws proposed by the Union Territory Administrator Praful Khoda Patel and said the changes will help develop Lakshadweep like the neighbouring island country of the Maldives which is a global tourist hub. To this end, the administration has started developmental activities in four islands.

In Suheli and Cheriam, which are usually uninhabited but are frequented by fishers seasonally, the administration has demolished fishers’ sheds and taken control of the land; while in Minicoy and Kadmat, both of which are inhabited, the plans are underway, says a source requesting anonymity. Of the Union Territory’s 36 islands, only 10 are populated.

“They are planning such mega projects in four of the islands where people live. This conflicts with the Raveendran panel’s recommendations,” says Nizamuddin KI, a Panchayat member from Kavaratti, the capital city. Development in the island has to be as per the Integrated Islands Management Plan (IIMP), approved in 2015 by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

IIMP was made after incorporating recommendations of the Justice Raveendran Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court.

“The reforms proposed are not in tune with IIMP. The actions of the administrator seem to be part of a three-pronged strategy—pave way for big players in tourism sector, restrict cultural-religious freedom, and cut off links with Kerala,” says the Vikalp Sangam statement. “We cannot be the Maldives,” says Nizamuddin.

Major differences

Scientists say there are significant differences between the Maldives and Lakshadweep, though both archipelagoes appear alike. The Maldives has a concentration of 26 atolls (ring-shaped coral reef islands) and each atoll has hundreds of islands. In total, the Maldives has more than 1,000 islands, while Lakshadweep has just 36.

“Most of the tourism activities happen there on previously uninhabited islands. Even if you assume that Lakshadweep islands are ready, the plan does not favour the local economy significantly,” says Nizamuddin.

“In the Maldives, the resorts and tourism projects are run by big private companies and not the locals, which could not be the case with Lakshadweep,” says a journalist in Kochi who has been tracking tourism in South Asia. “Patel seems to be favouring big corporates if the proposals in the draft are any indication,” he adds.

The economic and infrastruc tural projects may introduce significant changes in the land-lagoon ratio of the islands, says the Save Lakshadweep Forum. Lagoons are necessary for reef recovery.

Fragile ecology 

“Lakshadweep’s ecology is very fragile. Any development plan for this region must consider this. As things stand, the proposed plans do not seem to be well thought-out,” says KV Thomas, former chief scientist with the National Centre for Earth Science Studies. Thomas was part of the group of experts that prepared IIMP for Lakshadweep.

What is unique about Lakshadweep is that the fate of the people who make the islands their home are closely linked with the marine life, says Rohan Arthur, a marine biologist with the Mysuru-based Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF).

“The health of Lakshadweep’s coral reefs will, therefore, eventually determine the well-being of human communities in the archipelago and the habitability of the islands,” says Arthur. Hence, protecting the coral reefs and the already emaciated natural habitats of the islands is paramount.

In Lakshadweep, land is a limited commodity. Every acre of the inhabited and uninhabited islands is used by local communities for livelihood activities. Diverting this land towards infrastructure development could only serve to intensify the ecological impacts on the land.

The proposed plans to occupy the lagoons with floating constructions and solar panels are also misguided, given how vital the lagoons are, especially in the wake of climate disturbances and for local livelihoods. “Initiatives such as these would increase land and water pollution, strain the already stretched freshwater reserves, and increase demand of commercial reef fish,” comments Arthur.

Atolls already weak 

Climate-related disturbances to Lakshadweep reefs over the past two decades have resulted in atoll reef frameworks being seriously compromised, calling into question the ability of these frameworks to continue to sustain human populati ons in Lakshadweep over the medium- to long-term, show studies done by NCF. Given that, the current plans for infrastructure-heavy development on the islands is “ill-advised, to say the least”, Arthur adds.

Any stress on the land, lagoon and reef, over and above what the system is already under, would push Lakshadweep over a critical boundary of ecological decline, from which recovery could be extremely difficult and protracted.

There is also the problem of waste management, say P Pookunhi Koya, former member of Parliament from Lakshadweep and convenor of the Save Lakshadweep Forum. “Massive-scale tourism, as being mooted by the administration, will introduce unforeseen levels of waste, and managing it is going to pose gargantuan challenges to the ecosystem,” says Koya. “The proposals are silent on constructive solutions. They only focus on profit maximisation,” he adds.

“Above anything, you cannot throw the people out in the name of development,” says a source who does not want to be identified. “Lakshadweep is a 100 per cent rural area and doesn’t have the concept of building plans or lay outs. But now the administrator says we will see whether the layout of your house is correct or not, and we will allow you to live in it if it is not a bad lay out,” he says.

Activists also claim that when the administration says it will roll out villa projects in the islands, it is not in favour of inviting bids from local people for the projects. “We understand they are planning global tenders. Big players will bid for 100-200 projects together and we cannot outbid them. Clearly, this will not help the locals,” says a resident of Andrott island, who is an entrepreneur and does not wish to be identified.

The islanders say it is bizarre and shocking to see the administration going ahead with the plans unilaterally and with no significant move to take the community into confidence. “We are a population of Scheduled Tribes, and the Constitution guarantees us certain rights. All we demand is that the Constitutional values be upheld. Why is that a crime?” asks an activist.

“We are not against sustainable development that can help the local economy as well as the environment,” says Koya. “The administration can choose uninhabited islands for activities.”

This was first published in Down To Earth’s print edition (dated 16-30 June, 2021)

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