C. G. Baiju, Koottam

[Ed. Note: This is an edited version of the report by Koottam (Society for Awareness and Reformation) about the effects of clay mining in agricultural areas in the Indian state of Kerala on the environment and the lives of farmers. An article in The Hindu on March 27, 2001, was used to supplement Koottam's report.]

Bhargavi Amma and her six sisters, a few among the last successors of the matriarchal system, are waging a lonely battle to preserve their soil and paddy land. They live an isolated and battered life bearing the cruel onslaught of industrial development. This indiscriminate process has destroyed the lush paddy fields of Nenmanikkara, creating huge chasms filled with water, dry wells and ponds, an agriculture-starved community, frustrated youth, children with skin diseases, unhygienic surroundings and people clamouring for water in front of tanker trucks. Although water flows everywhere - in the Peechi Dam, in the Manaly and Kurumaly Rivers, in these huge chasms, in the wetlands where bricks are made- there is very little water to drink. The villages are experiencing a crucial lack of water. Bhargavi Amma and other isolated stories of struggle are the sole hope of saving our environment, our wetlands, our rich water resources.

Bhargavi Amma's struggle, however, is a losing battle. The Petroleum Corp. has grabbed an area of her land measuring 62 cents to lay its pipe. The land, which she diligently saved from clay miners, has been acquired by the government under the Land Acquisition Act for public interest. These struggles to save the ecology and biodiverse wetlands have inspired us to undertake this study. Policymakers and society need to open their eyes to this impending disaster.

A Misappropriation of Nature

Clay is Nature's precious gift to us, and it is our duty to preserve and nourish it. The commercialisation of clay leads to the degradation of the environment and destroys the ecological balance and damages biodiversity. Thrissur District, acclaimed to have rich granaries, lush paddy fields and thick vegetation, is now being reduced to barren lands with large chasms. Mud has been commercialised and is being utilised for manufacturing tiles to construct palatial buildings, the proportion of which no law restricts. The farmer receives compensation for selling the land, but it is proportionately negligible when compared to the tile owner's profit. Mud excavation takes place to the level of 10 feet to 12 feet, depleting the fertility of the soil and making it unproductive for several years. No mud is replaced after the clay is taken away.

This problem has serious repercussions. For instance, the groundwater level falls, and certain areas have begun experiencing a scarcity of water. Farmers in nearby areas find it difficult to cultivate their land as water drains away into the neighbouring chasms. In addition, the tile factories employ labourers from other states, and child labour is rampant. In contrast, the agricultural sector can provide employment at only low wages. Minimum labour standards are not maintained.

The government and bureaucracy have no records regarding clay mining. It is thus very difficult to initiate any action or criminal proceedings against the tile owners. The government has no clear plan as to how these lands should be rejuvenated despite several existing laws for land development and conservation. The Kumbhar traditional potters used to create handicraft pots and tiles depending on the need and the desire to maintain an ecological balance. With mechanisation, however, they have been reduced to daily wage labourers who earn a mere pittance.

The Land Conversion Crisis

Wetlands form a unique ecosystem with extraordinary stability and durability. With its peculiarities of flooding and drainage, it is very conducive for rice growing.

The functions of wetland paddy fields are the maintenance of fertility and productivity and the recharge and discharge of groundwater and the purification of water. Wetland paddy fields form a habitat of plants, predators and microorganisms. Many of these functions provide goods and services that are important to human society.

Kerala is a land-scarce economy with the lowest ratio between land and people in India. The state has been facing a crisis in its agricultural, environmental and ecological fields. In the area of agriculture, the stagnation of agricultural production has coincided with a decline in the amount of land under paddy cultivation. For example, the total area under wetland paddy cultivation was 88 lakh hectares

(8.8 million hectares) in 1974-1975; this figure declined to 38 lakh hectares (3.8 million hectares) in 1998-1999. The state's agrarian economy has undergone radical and far-reaching changes.

Land at present is seen only as real estate needed for residence and status; it is considered to be the safest and best investment. The cultivation of paddy is no longer perceived as economically viable as it does not provide what is regarded as an adequate return. The economic rationale of private owners of paddy fields therefore suggests that they convert their fields to non-agricultural purposes. They are not concerned about the ecological and environmental imbalances caused, the resultant societal loss of the economic functions of the wetland nor the economic value of the biodiversity of wetland ecosystems.

The environmental and ecological crisis that Kerala faces is so acute that about two-thirds of the state's population do not have access to safe drinking water. Kerala, one of the wettest regions in India, gets an average rainfall of about 300 millimetres of rain spread over a six- or seven-month period. Despite this heavy rainfall, an acute drinking water shortage is felt in the highland and midland regions for at least five or six months. Because of its unique features, rainwater runs off quickly into the backwaters and then to the Arabian Sea. Paddy fields in the past acted as reservoirs that helped preserve a minimum quantity of water and hence maintained the hydrological balance in the highland and midland regions. The hydrological functions of paddy fields have now been affected due to large-scale conversion. As a result, residential areas, business establishments and roads in low-lying areas are submerged under water during the rainy season.

Paddy fields in Kerala are wetland ecosystems. The reclamation and conversion of these wetlands to non-agricultural purposes has involved an irreversible transformation of this ecosystem. Massive reclamation is taking place unabated, however, primarily because of the general lack of awareness of the threat of this environmental and ecological degradation. The failure of two prominent institutions-the market and the government-to address the issues involved has resulted in poor conservation efforts of the natural capital resource base.

A sizeable portion of the farmers and tile owners in Thrissur unequivocally agree that indiscriminate clay mining has made paddy fields redundant. The existing paddy fields are also in a state of forcible conversion due to clay mining in neighbouring areas making water retention impossible. Although some people propose introducing fish culture for the reclamation of these lost lands, it has not yet been undertaken by anyone. The government and Agricultural Dept. have no plans for the lands which have been relinquished.

Meanwhile, country brick makers are destroying bunds or dikes devised for irrigation and are draining away all of the water from the pits to prepare the land for brick making. The tile owners and farmers also agree that their areas have begun experiencing a scarcity of water. Farmers trace the cause of this water shortage to the lowering of the groundwater level because of clay mining. Wells and ponds dry up as water leeches into the mining pits, which are below the level of the wells.

On the other hand, the situation in the tile factories is grim as most of the goods have not yet been marketed. Because of the bargaining power of purchasers from the state of Tamil Nadu, the selling price has been reduced. The owners complain that they are operating at a loss, and working hours have been reduced to merely four or five hours in some companies. At the same time, the products are piling up in most companies. The question then arises, Why have they engaged in the process of indiscriminate clay mining?

Another urgent question that needs to be addressed is why agriculture is not profitable. Although Kerala has an agrarian economy, do state policies and programmes provide a congenial atmosphere for the preservation and development of agriculture and soil resources?

Moreover, does our educational system promote in us an interest in Nature and physical work, or does it distance us from agriculture and merely turn us into parrot-like machines fit only for clerical work?

Furthermore, who uses these tiles? Has our "house construction mania" become only a means of building a place of ostentation, not a place of shelter?

A Review of Land Laws

There are several laws for the preservation, conservation and development of our soil, but none of these acts are implemented properly or with foresight. Among these laws are legislation that prohibits the unauthorised occupation of government land, specifies the procedure for attaining permission to quarry on public land and mobilises landholders to grow specified crops if the state government believes it is necessary to increase the production of food crops in a particular area.

Specifically, the Kerala Land Development Ltd. (Special Powers) Act of 1974 is a law that invests the Kerala Land Development Corp. with certain powers to facilitate the execution of land development programmes in Kerala. Although the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 discusses the acquisition of land by the government for the public interest and for companies, indiscriminate clay mining by small-scale industries, i.e., the factory and brick makers who have converted most of the paddy fields in Thrissur District into huge chasms full of water and where a scientific process of reclamation has yet to be discovered, is not covered by the act. Here no notice is served, no measurement of the land is taken by government officials. This process is equivalent to the large-scale acquisition of fertile land. In the act, it is conspicuously mentioned that the collector shall inquire into the objection of any interested person; but in the case of clay mining, voices are stifled by the police who arrest people protesting against this industry. Meanwhile, government officials remain paralysed to this lawlessness.

The Kerala Land Conservancy Act of 1957 checks the destruction of the earth; but it does not apply to clay mining. Why does this act merely confine itself to government land and not extend to private lands? Does a farmer have the right to completely destroy his fields and make them unsuitable for producing food?

The Kerala Land Relinquishment Act of 1958 makes provisions for relinquished lands in favour of the government. This act should come into force for all land that has been left fallow by farmers. The government should appropriate these lands and try to rejuvenate them.

The Kerala Land Development Act of 1964 clearly addresses conservation and the development of soil resources, but the padasekhara (a cluster of paddy land) committees are merely rubber stamps. Despite such a massive onslaught against the land, their powers are curtailed. Only the Kerala Land Utilisation (KLU) Order of 1967 exists that allows the state government to compel farmers to grow specific crops, but it is transgressed all the time.

In the existing grim situation, a new act needs to be formulated which considers the farmers as guardians of the land and that defines clay as common property resources. The panchayath (governing body at the village level) has been endowed with special powers because of the People's Plan Campaign, and grama sabhas (a formal meeting of the villagers) should make decisions based on the environmental conditions of the area.

The revenue divisional officer (RDO) issues orders on the basis of the KLU order, the Kerala Minor Mineral Concession (KMMC) Rules of 1967 and the Essential Commodities Act of 1955. The KMMC confers power on the government to regulate the extraction of minor minerals in the state, and the Essential Commodities Act controls the production, supply and distribution of, and trade and commerce in, certain commodities in the interest of the general public.

The clay miners are opposed to paying royalties to the Mining and Geology Dept., but no one abides by this law. The Essential Commodities Court has yet to pass a judgement on the several cases that are before it, and it never acts. Moreover, none of the political parties have taken a stand. The agricultural minister has asked the collector and RDO not to take action. The government is enjoying this brutal destruction of the agrarian economy. Unable to bear the cruel torture, the farmers may reach a stage where they commit suicide. Meanwhile, the government revels in the contradiction by promoting tourism on the basis of Kerala's greenery and, at the same time, encouraging the reckless destruction of the state's wetlands, biodiversity of the land and water resources.

The Stories of Farmers

Velakkapady Padam in Chengaloor consists of 200 acres of land out of which 50 acres have been lost. A farmer says that on the western side of his house is a river; and on the eastern side, paddy fields have been deepened recklessly by tile owners into large pits. There are eight houses placed in a row, including his home on a ridge between the river and the chasms. The soil is alluvial; and if the paddy is dug once again, the farmer says he will face the risk of being submerged in the river.

On Dec. 11, 2000, a court order prohibited clay mining in Chengaloor's paddy fields. However, "in spite of being informed about the impact it has on the environment, agriculture and water retention, our authorities are least bothered," said Seema Bhaskaran and C. G. Baiju of Koottam.

Another farmer, T. S. Parameswaran of Chittisserry, has been trying to prevent clay mining since 1985 and has been instrumental in obtaining several orders against the industry from the High Court and Revenue Dept.

"Every year, in spite of the prohibitory orders, the violation continues," he says. "The police and other officials concerned connive with politicians and delay action on the complaints filed."

With the use of special equipment, he continues, the removal and loading of clay onto trucks has become easy; and within several days, a large area is rendered unsuitable for cultivation.

In a workshop conducted by Koottam in Pudukad Panchayath, there was a dialogue among farmers, tile owners, middlemen who procure mud and governmental authorities, like village officers and agricultural officers, to arrive at a practical solution to the problem. During this workshop, one of the farmers narrated his story in which he explained that his land is situated in Mukkanamchal padashekaram where there are paddy lands on three sides and a river on the fourth side. Out of an area of 100 acres, almost 10 acres have been depleted, and the tile owners are seriously trying to excavate the clay. The farmers have been strongly opposing this indiscriminate clay mining, he says, but there is every chance that the whole area will become redundant due to the lack of water. The government authorities, he adds, turned a deaf ear when mud was dug around an electric tower situated in the padashekaram, and it is on the verge of collapsing. If this happens, half of the village will be burned to ashes, he says.

In another story, Shri Paran, a devout farmer, was petrified when he saw dead storks, frogs, fish, worms, etc., floating in the fields during the government's drive to use chemical fertilisers and pesticides in the 1960s. Sad and angry at this terrible violence unleashed on Nature, he vehemently predicted that from then onwards people would witness the degradation and slow death of agriculture. True to his words, the area of Chengaloor is standing at a crossroads awaiting

its burial. However, Shree C. P. Gangadharan, a unique thinker in Kerala and the translator of several renowned works, like One Straw Revolution and Limits to Medicine, and a native and natural farmer of Chengaloor, says that everything is not lost. There is hope that agriculture can be rejuvenated if we work in unison with Nature, he maintains. Let us implement natural farming practices, he says, and save our fields, our wetlands. This is his clarion call to the farmers.

We at Koottam plea to you to stand in solidarity with the farmers in Thrissur District who have come together to save our paddy lands. We request you to strongly criticise the Kerala government so that it immediately prohibits clay mining in our paddy fields and earmarks other lands for this purpose. We implore the international community not to avail itself of tourism programmes if the government continues this destruction of our land.