Wayanad
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Contents |
The place
Rajesh Krishnan, April 19, 2019: The Times of India
From: Rajesh Krishnan, April 19, 2019: The Times of India
From: Rajesh Krishnan, April 19, 2019: The Times of India
Wayanad's natural heritage is among India’s most biodiverse, ecologically rich and yet extremely fragile
Under the surface gloss, though, deep problems lurk. Even within Kerala, Wayanad comes with a range of stark contrasts. One of the youngest districts (formed in 1980) and parliamentary constituencies in the state (established in 2009), it has among the longest records of human settlement in Kerala, attested by 7,000-year-old rock carvings at Edakkal that were discovered by Fred Fawcett, the then superintendent of police of Malabar district in 1890. Wayanad has also witnessed the highest number of farmer suicides in the state, even being called ‘Vidarbha of the South’.
Five farmer suicides have been reported here in last seven months. Agriculture is fast becoming unviable. The demonetisation drive during the peak harvest season and last year’s floods dealt a lethal blow to farmers
The district is endowed with enviable natural beauty and resources. It is Kerala’s pepper basket and produces over 80% of the state’s coffee. But Wayanad is the only district of Kerala — a front-ranking state in almost all developmental indices — which finds a place among 115 most backward aspirational districts listed by NITI Aayog.
One-third of the district is under forest. Its natural heritage is among India’s most bio-diverse, ecologically rich and yet extremely fragile. New species are discovered here almost each month, the newest being a previously unknown species of frog that was found in March.
Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad has placed this quaint district in the spotlight
“Being part of an ancient mountain range like the Western Ghats which is relatively under-explored, many more species are awaiting discovery in Wayanad,” said noted taxonomist M Sabu, who has himself discovered five plant species in the district.
The otherwise laidback hill district has started relishing its new-found status as a VVIP constituency. The tourism sector, which was badly hit by the August 2018 floods, is seeing brisk business with many hotels fully booked for the next fortnight as political leaders and the media have started arriving in large numbers.
How Wayanad has voted in past LS polls
Constituency created in 2009
2009: Cong's MI Shanavas defeated CPI's M Rahmatullah by over 1.5 lakh votes
2014: Cong's Shanavas defeated CPI's Sathyan Mokeri by 20,000 votes
“Rahul Gandhi’s candidature is going to be a game changer for tourism here, just like the visit of former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee to Kumarakom in Kottayam district in 2000 brought fame to it,” said B Anand, secretary of Wayanad District Tourism Promotion Council.
As far as tourism goes, Wayanad has many things in its favour. “Barring beach tourism, you can get everything here, from heritage to adventure and wildlife to farm tourism,” Anand added. Top hospitality brands including the Taj are setting up properties, and tourism entrepreneurs are buying prime land. In 2003, there were just four resorts here. Now there are 60. Moreover, there are tourist homes, economy lodges and around 150 homestays, together offering around 3,000 rooms.
Agriculture is fast becoming unviable as the once fertile land has been robbed of its productivity due to chemical intensive farming
But it is not all postcard-perfect. Behind the lush green fields and pepper, coffee and areca nut plantations dotting the sides of every village road lie tales of silent suffering and deprivation. Farmers are battling acute agricultural distress. The once fertile land has been robbed of its productivity due to chemical intensive farming and farmers trying various crops. Around 90% of the district’s residents are farmers.
“No other area in the world has seen such frequent changes in crops in 70 years. Farmers who migrated in large numbers mainly from central Travancore from 1950s onwards initially grew lemon grass, then moved to tapioca, which made way for coffee. Then pepper. Also, paddy cultivation has shrunk from 30,000 hectares 30-40 years back to 8,000 hectares today. It's falling further. All this has reduced soil fertility and canopy cover, besides causing the water table to fall,” said P U Das, assistant director, soil survey and soil conservation department.
What's wrong with Wayanad
On Niti Aayog's list of 115 most backward districts; poverty rank 75, health rank 114, education rank 112
Farmers battling acute agricultural crisis, climate change
Highest number of farmer suicides in Kerala
Reduced soil fertility, declining water table due to chemical intensive farming, frequent changes in crops
Poor policy decisions, deforestation endangering ecology
Forest produce like honey dwindling, affecting tribals' livelihood
Tribal have little access to housing, healthcare, education
Also farmers have been victims of climate change in the form of recurring drought caused by erratic monsoon in the district, which has been classified as one of the four climate change hotspots in the state.
“Five farmer suicides have been reported here in the last seven months. Agriculture is fast becoming unviable. The demonetisation drive during the peak harvest season and last year’s floods have dealt a lethal blow to farmers,” Rajesh Krishnan, a biotechnologist turned organic farmer and winner of the Youth Icon award instituted by the state government said.
Wayanad is the point of origin of 13 rivers, making it integral to the water security of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kabini, Wayanad’s major river, drains around 94,000 million cubic feet to the Kaveri.
“Almost all the current problems plaguing the district are because the region’s unique ecology is not considered while making policies for development,” said environmentalist N Badusha. The ecological crisis in the district is largely attributed to deforestation and fragmentation of forests.
Far from this debate, Chippy and Kamala, a couple from the Kattunayilla tribe at Ponkuzhi near the Karnataka border, continue with their lives as their ancestors have for thousands of years. They are honey gatherers. They depend solely on the forests for their livelihood. Every day, they go to the forest, offer prayers to their gods and climb tall trees in search of honey.
“Forest produce including honey, wild berries and lichen is dwindling. Last year the heavy rain and floods impacted the honey yield,” Chippy said. Tribals make up 18.5% of the district’s population, but suffer from land alienation and lack of access to housing, healthcare and education.
Political history
2009-2014
For Congress’s Kerala unit, Wayanad constituency has been a much-sought-after crown jewel among the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the last decade, ever since it was carved out in the delimitation exercise of 2009.
The constituency, which borders Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, got the tag of ‘safest seat’ of Congress in Kerala after it gave a record margin of 1.53 lakh votes for Congress leader late M I Shanavas in the first election in 2009. Shanavas, who represented the constituency till his death in November 2018, had, however, seen his victory margin dwindle sharply to 20,870 in 2014.
However, the contours of the electoral scene of the traditional UDF bastion has been transformed as never before with the high-profile entry of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as the candidate this time. With the election set to revolve around the pivot of Rahul’s candidature, it will be an uphill task for LDF candidate P P Suneer of CPI to mount a challenge.
NDA, which had earlier announced VV Paily of ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), is set to withdraw him and field a more ‘formidable’ candidate. But LDF, which had secured only around 80,000 votes in the 2014 election, does not have the political base in the constituency to give a tough fight.
Also, the pro-poor and pro-farmer plank vigorously pushed by Rahul is expected to find favour in the constituency, which has the highest tribal population in the state (18.5% of Wayanad district’s total population) and especially since 80% of the people, including plantation workers, depend on agriculture for livelihood.
Agrarian Crisis
As in 2019
Rajeev KR, The less-known story of Rahul’s Wayanad, April 19, 2019: The Times of India
Behind Its Postcard-Perfect Beauty Lies A Growing Agrarian Crisis
On April 4, as Congress president Rahul Gandhi headed towards Kalpetta, headquarters of Wayanad, the district shot to peak online popularity, according to Google Trends.
A verdant, undulating patch of God’s own country bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, tucked away in the Western Ghats, the unassuming district at first appears blessed with plenty. From Stone Age petroglyphs and ancient temple ruins to forested hills that are home to Kerala’s largest tribal communities and largest tigers population, Wayanad has had it all. But it took politics to catapult it to national limelight.
Under the surface, though, deep problems lurk. Even within Kerala, Wayanad comes with a range of stark contrasts. One of the youngest districts (formed in 1980) and constituencies (established in 2009) in the state, it has among the longest records of human settlement in Kerala, attested by 7,000-year-old rock carvings at Edakkal. Wayanad has also witnessed the highest number of farmer suicides in Kerala, even being called the ‘Vidarbha of the South’.
The district is endowed with enviable natural beauty and resources. It’s Kerala’s pepper basket and produces over 80% of the state’s coffee. But Wayanad is the only district in Kerala that finds a place among 115 most backward aspirational districts listed by Niti Aayog.
A third of the district is under forest cover. Its natural heritage is among India’s most ecologically rich and yet extremely fragile.
The otherwise laidback district has started relishing its new-found status as a VVIP constituency. The tourism sector, badly hit by the August 2018 floods, is seeing brisk business with many hotels booked for the next fortnight as politicians and media arrive in large numbers. “Rahul Gandhi’s candidature is going to be a game changer for tourism, just like AB Vajpayee’s visit to Kumarakom in 2000,” said B Anand, secretary of Wayanad District Tourism Promotion Council.
But it’s not all postcard-perfect. Behind the lush fields and plantations lie tales of silent suffering and deprivation. Farmers are battling acute distress. The once fertile land has been robbed of its productivity by chemical intensive farming and farmers trying various crops. Farmers make up 90% of the district’s residents.
“No other area has seen such frequent changes in crops in 70 years. Farmers who migrated from central Travancore from 1950s onwards initially grew lemon grass, then moved to tapioca, which made way for coffee. Then pepper. Also, paddy cultivation has shrunk from 30,000 hectares 30-40 years ago to 8,000 hectares today. All this has reduced soil fertility, besides causing the water table to fall,” said P U Das, assistant director, soil survey and conservation department.
“Five farmer suicides have been reported here in the last seven months. Agriculture is fast becoming unviable. The demonetisation drive during the peak harvest season and last year’s floods have dealt a lethal blow to farmers,” said Rajesh Krishnan, a biotechnologist turned farmer.
Wayanad is the point of origin of 13 rivers, making it integral to the water security of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kabini, Wayanad’s major river, drains around 94,000 million cubic feet to Kaveri.
“Almost all the problems plaguing the district are because the region’s unique ecology is not considered in policiy-making,” said environmentalist N Badusha. The ecological crisis is largely attributed to deforestation.
Far from this debate, Chippy and Kamala, a couple of the Kattunayilla tribe in Ponkuzhi near the Karnataka border, continue with their lives as their ancestors have for thousands of years. They are honey gatherers. They depend solely on the forests for their livelihood. Every day, they go to the forest, offer prayers to their gods and climb trees in search of honey.
“Forest produce is dwindling. Last year’s floods impacted honey yield,” Chippy said. Tribals make up 18.5% of the district but suffer from land alienation and poor access to housing, healthcare and education.
The landslide of 2024
The enormity of the disaster
August 2, 2024: The Times of India
Bengaluru : Satellite images from National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a key centre under Isro, have unveiled the extensive damage and destruction caused by the landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
High-resolution before-and-after images captured by Risat (whose radar can penetrate clouds) and Cartosat-3 (advanced optical satellite) show around 86,000 square metres of land slipped away, and the resulting debris flow travelled about 8km along the Iruvanjippuzha river, devastating towns and settlements in its path.
NRSC, located in Hyderabad, reports that the landslide originated at an altitude of 1,550 metres above sea level near the town of Chooralmala. Notably, the Isro report indicates evidence of a previous landslide at the same location, suggesting the area’s known vulnerability.
The report reads: “A major debris flow was triggered by heavy rainfall in and around the Chooralmala town of Wayanad. Very high resolution Risat SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images of July 31 shows the entire extent of the debris flow from crown to end of runout zone. The approximate length of the flow is around 8km. The crown zone is a reactivation of an older landslide.”
“... Size of main scarp of the land- slide is 86,000 sq m. The debris flow has widened the course of Iruvanjippuzha river, causing breach of its banks. Houses and other infrastructure along the banks have been damaged by the debris flow,” it added.
In Feb 2023, Isro had released the Landslide Atlas of India, which documented around 80,000 landslides across 17 states and two UTs in the Himalayas and Western Ghats from 1998 to 2022. It includes seasonal, event-based, and routewise inventories, using high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery. The atlas, which covered major events from the past, such as Kedarnath disaster and Sikkim earthquake, had ranked 147 districts based on landslide exposure and socio-economic factors. Wayanad was placed among the vulnerable districts. The database was partially field-validated and includes advanced techniques for landslide detection, modelling and prediction.
The landslide of 2024
The enormity of the disaster
August 2, 2024: The Times of India
Bengaluru : Satellite images from National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a key centre under Isro, have unveiled the extensive damage and destruction caused by the landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
High-resolution before-and-after images captured by Risat (whose radar can penetrate clouds) and Cartosat-3 (advanced optical satellite) show around 86,000 square metres of land slipped away, and the resulting debris flow travelled about 8km along the Iruvanjippuzha river, devastating towns and settlements in its path.
NRSC, located in Hyderabad, reports that the landslide originated at an altitude of 1,550 metres above sea level near the town of Chooralmala. Notably, the Isro report indicates evidence of a previous landslide at the same location, suggesting the area’s known vulnerability. The report reads: “A major debris flow was triggered by heavy rainfall in and around the Chooralmala town of Wayanad. Very high resolution Risat SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images of July 31 shows the entire extent of the debris flow from crown to end of runout zone. The approximate length of the flow is around 8km. The crown zone is a reactivation of an older landslide.”
“... Size of main scarp of the land- slide is 86,000 sq m. The debris flow has widened the course of Iruvanjippuzha river, causing breach of its banks. Houses and other infrastructure along the banks have been damaged by the debris flow,” it added.
In Feb 2023, Isro had released the Landslide Atlas of India, which documented around 80,000 landslides across 17 states and two UTs in the Himalayas and Western Ghats from 1998 to 2022. It includes seasonal, event-based, and routewise inventories, using high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery. The atlas, which covered major events from the past, such as Kedarnath disaster and Sikkim earthquake, had ranked 147 districts based on landslide exposure and socio-economic factors. Wayanad was placed among the vulnerable districts. The database was partially field-validated and includes advanced techniques for landslide detection, modelling and prediction.
Laya AS’ prophetic short story
Rajeev KR, August 2, 2024: The Times of India
A 14-year-old student’s story predicting an impending tragedy turned prophetic when the landslide hit Wayanad, sweeping away Vellarmala govt school and claiming several lives. The story, written by Laya AS for the school’s digital magazine, eerily mirrored the real-life disaster that unfolded early Monday, reports Nijeesh Narayanan. In the story, titled ‘Agrahathinte Duranubhavam’ (The Tragedy of Desire), Laya narrates the tale of two girls — Alamkrutha and Anaswra — who are warned by a talking bird to flee from their village as a great danger approaches. This fictional warning became a tragic reality. Laya’s father, Lenin, lost his life in the disaster while trying to save his family, including Laya, who is a Class 8 student. The magazine named Vellaram Kallukalwas recently released and contains 16 pieces of student writing highlighting the scenic beauty of Mundakkai and Chooralmala.
