Green future for whom?: Revisiting the marginalised lives of Challakere and Pavagada

In Challakere, weaving used to be not just a major form of livelihood but an integral part of the socio-cultural life of the community. Challakere kamblis, a type of water-resistant blankets made from wool, is significant to the locals for every occasion from cradle to grave. Newborn babies are placed on a Challakere kambli, brides are gifted kamblis and sheep, the dear departed are sent off with a piece of the kambli. One of the biggest customers of the water-resistant blankets, used in both monsoons and winters, was the Indian Army. 

The once thriving industry is, today, a mere shadow of its past. The government took over 13,000 acres of the grasslands of Challakere to build Science City, cutting off the villagers’ access to water and land to graze sheep and cattle. Buying fodder was too expensive for most villagers resulting in distress sale of the sheep and the decline of a local industry. 

Net-zero target

With a goal of becoming a net-zero nation by 2070 and achieving 500GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030, India’s climate objectives are tall. The country witnessed a 2x increase in solar installations in 2024 compared to the previous year. There has been an increased push towards renewable energy making India one of the fastest growing renewable energy markets.  

While clean energy is inevitable for a clean future, what shouldn’t be ignored is the unequal distribution of burdens of climate action on the poor and marginalised of rural India, argues Bhargavi S. Rao, educator, researcher and former trustee at Environment Support Group (ESG). Speaking recently at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, she highlighted the land diversions or ‘green grabbing’ in Pavagada, Challakere and Chamrajnagar in Karnataka, where farming communities have been displaced and dispossessed in the name of development. 

The walls of Science City

“Renewable energy projects are very land intensive. Today renewable energy policies seem to be determining how land will be diverted to create these new forms of energy production,” Rao said. 

It was in 2009 that the government started taking over around 10,000 acres of contiguous grassland in Challakere for building science city. Part of the commons, the grasslands or kavals were ecologically, historically, culturally and economically significant. These vast lands were set aside by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in the 18th century for the strong, fast and highly drought-tolerant Amrit Mahal cattle rendering it the name Amrit Mahal kavals.  

A document by ESG notes how the Kavalgara (Kaval protector) of these lands ensured that the Amrit Mahal breeds got the first right of grazing in the post-monsoon period, a tradition that continued in the post-independence period as well. The pastures were then opened for other cattle breeds, goat and sheep owned by local communities.  

In 1969 it was given district forest status. Protected through centuries, the grasslands remained critical for pastoral and agrarian communities in the locality and for a wide variety of flora and fauna including the critically endangered great Indian bustard.  

Unilateral takeover

The takeover of the kavals by the government with barely any consultation with the locals or the panchayat authorities upended all of it.  

“Challakere got divided like a piece of cake,” Rao says.  

The grasslands got allocated to ISRO, DRDO, BARC, IISc, KSSIDc and private company named Sagitaur Ventures. 

The high walls of the science city blocked off the kavals from the people in the 70 surrounding villages who not only used the commons to graze their cattle, but also to collect firewood, fruits, tubers and palm leaves.  

ESG filed a case in 2013 at the National Green Tribunal which gave specific directions to each of the organisations in the region and asked the government of Karnataka to come out with a state action plan for the Great Indian Buster and to protect the remaining grasslands.  

“It particularly told the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change to revisit the decision to remove solar parks from the purview of environmental clearance. It directed DRDO to ensure water supply for the local communities. To BARC, it had given a direction saying that it has to consult with the local people and make way for them to take their animals across. NGT also said that none of these agencies can break down the places of worship,” Rao explained to The Hindu.  

According to her, after the initial few months of compliance, the agencies continued building the wall and limiting the access of the villages leaving only a very narrow path making it practically impossible to pass with huge herds of livestock. Nor did MoEF and CC act on the suggestions of NGT. This became a precedent for future land diversions. 

“Challakere which was the largest grassland ever in Central Karnataka, is now gone,” says Rao.  

“In the 3,000 acres that were protected by the NGT you can see that a private foundation is planting saplings of trees with the help of the Forest Department.” 

The Solar Park in Pavagada

The works of solar park in Pavagada began in 2016. “The way land got diverted in Pavagada is very interesting,” says Rao.  

No consultation with the panchayat or local authorities was held. Instead, Rao notes, retired government officials were hired to visit the houses in five villages in the region and persuade people to lease out their lands for the solar park. The consent was not free, prior and informed. The promises included jobs in return and revenue from the land.  

“The amount that they are getting here for the land is just ₹21,000 rupees per acre per year,” Rao notes.  

A large chunk of the 13,000 acres came from small and marginal farmers.  While Pavagada is mostly a dry and arid region, having the land to themselves meant the farmers could use it in emergency situations, as collateral for a loan or to grow ragi or chillies during a spell of rain.  

“They grew jackfruit and tamarind trees on these farms which became additional sources of income. They could graze their own animals on it. But once the land was given away, they lost access to the land.” 

Leasing the farm to the solar park meant the land was locked away for 28 years. As the land was levelled, trees went away. The socio-economic implications didn’t stop with that. With livelihoods affected, youngsters migrated to cities. Parents started pulling their girl children out of schools as going to school meant crossing the huge solar parks that have barely any human presence.  

“Child marriage has started in Pavagada. Trafficking too, both for labour and otherwise,” says Rao.   

The job myth

Often, the promises touted by the renewable energy push not only include a green future, but also more jobs for the locals. But on the ground, the reality seems to be different.  

Rao, who visited Pavagada in December, points out that in the 13,000 acres of Pavagada solar park, only 2,000 are employed out of whom very few are from the region. The jobs offered are of security guards, cleaners and so on. 

“When the park started, women were employed for de-weeding, wiping and cleaning the panels and so on. But today, everything is automated. They have lawnmowers. They don’t need anybody to sit and cut the grass anymore,” she says. 

When it comes to skill development and training, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has introduced programmes such as Suryamitra, Varunmitra  and Vayumitra to train Solar PV, solar water pumping systems and wind power technicians respectively. While the programmes look promising in creating a workforce in the renewable sector, Rao notes that skill trainings happen rarely in rural areas. 

There isn’t the safety net of traditional livelihoods such as sheep and cattle rearing and weaving to fall back on to as they are being wiped out. The result is a huge outflux of people from these regions to places like Bengaluru where they seek jobs in informal sectors such as construction or platform-based gig works.  

Alternate imaginaries 

Yet another serious issue is the breakage of solar panels and wind blades that are piling up inside the facilities with the potential to turn the lands into toxic hotspots in the future in the absence of mechanisms to deal with it.

While there is no denying that renewable energy is going to be and needs to be an integral part of our future, what needs to be an integral part of it is the devolution of power to villages. 

“Local communities should be part of the decision-making, and they should be able to negotiate better if we are replicating the Pavagada model. If only we help every village to imagine its energy needs and put up their own rooftops, their own agro photovoltaic, their own windmills… those decisions need to come ground up,” says Rao, who fears the top-down approach would push a large section into irreversible intergenerational poverty.

“If we are thinking about addressing climate change on one hand and also making these shifts, there needs to be a much more logical way of thinking while building the renewable energy installations,” Rao says. 

Focus on women

Ways to allow animals to graze and skill training with special focus on women also form part of her suggestions. 

“While we try to solve one climate change problem, we seem to be forgetting the fact that there was a large section of society neither connected to the grid nor producing any emissions. They are at a disadvantage at the intersection of caste, class, education and language. While creating solar parks and renewable energy, instead of being completely pushed to the edge, what they need if handholding and further strengthening of their skills.”