Protected Special Agricultural Zone GS: 3 "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• Tamil Nadu CM declares Cauvery Delta as Protected Special Agriculture Zone. A law in this regard will be enacted soon. The protected zone will include Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam districts and delta regions of Trichy, Ariyalur, Cuddalore and Pudukkottai.

 

What does this announcement mean?

• By making such an announcement, the State’s Chief Minister (CM) has recognised farmer concerns about hydrocarbon exploration.
• It also accorded primacy to food security.
• The State’s CM has rightly sensed that the farmers’ emotive and intense opposition can be ignored only at a political cost.
• This decision comes weeks after the CM protested the Centre’s unilateral amendment of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006.
• [Amendment - Exempted prior environmental clearance and public consultations for oil and gas exploration.]

 

What is a Protected Agriculture Zone?

• Declaring as the Protected Special Agriculture Zone ensures that particular region will not be granted permission for any new projects like those related to hydrocarbons.
• Only Agro based Industries would be given permission to be built.

 

 

What are the regions declared as Protected Zones?

• To guard the delta areas and end farmers’ ordeals, the special protection will be bestowed on Cauvery Delta districtssuch as Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagappattinam, Pudukottai, Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Karur and Tiruchirappalli districts.

 

Why such protection is essential?

• The Cauvery Delta Region is an important agricultural region in Tamil Naduand farmers continue to do agriculture, despite climate changes.
• It is just and reasonable that projects like hydrocarbon exploration have raised concerns among farmers and other agriculture-based labourers.
• Since the delta region is close to the sea, there is a need to safeguard the region.

 

 

 

Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) 

• Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) lies in the eastern part of Tamil Nadu. It is bounded by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Palk Strait on the south. In this zone, rice is the principal crop.
• The Cauvery delta region is the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu that comprises eight districts.
• This region produces 33 lakh tonnes of grains in 28 lakh acres.

 

Why there are protests in this region?

• Protests - This delta has seen multiple protests for a decade over methane, hydrocarbon, oil and natural gas projects, which required acquisition of fertile lands and well drilling.
• These proposals triggered fears of groundwater contamination.
• Response - In 2013, the then CM ordered suspension on coal bed methane exploration and production in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur and followed it up with a ban in 2015.
• But in 2017, the Centre signed contracts for hydrocarbon extraction from 31 areas of discovered small fields.
• Two years later it allowed Vedanta Limited to conduct tests for 274 hydrocarbon wells in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

 

A Special Agricultural Zone is one where agricultural land is preserved for posterity because of its importance to increasing agriculture production and promoting livelihood security for a large number of farm families. Agricultural scientists such as M.S. Swaminathan have for long-mooted such zones similar to special economic zones; like the Indira Gandhi Canal Area (Rajasthan Canal) in Rajasthan, the Kuttanad wetlands of Kerala (GIAHS), Punjab-Haryana belt, etc.

 

What would be the benefits of this declaration?

• The benefits that have accrued for farmers are manifold.
• Drilling for extraction of oil and gas in these regions that hampers agriculture and posing much environmental impact or health hazards will be stopped immediately.
• Whatever the project introduced by the centre, it cannot be implemented without the NOC from that state.

 

Background: 

• The Central government recently amended the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006, exempting prior environmental clearance and public consultations for oil and gas exploration.
• In 2019, the Centre had relaxed rules that incentivize companies conducting oil exploration surveys in less-explored oil fields. 
• The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and the Vedanta group were granted permission to conduct exploratory oil surveys in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
• The Cauvery delta, which produces 33 lakh tonnes of grains in 28 lakh acres, has seen multiple protests for a decade over methane, hydrocarbon, oil and natural gas projects, which required the acquisition of fertile lands and well drilling.
• Offshore drilling operations can also hamper fish, build up heavy water contaminants, disorient whales and sea life and increase the risk of oil spills.

About EIA exemption:  Earlier, firms seeking to conduct exploratory surveys had to prepare an environmental impact assessment plan, which had to be scrutinized by a centrally-constituted committee of experts. Then the proposal had to be subjected to a public hearing involving the local residents of the proposed project site. However, public hearings were often exempted. The new amendments demote exploratory projects from the highest level of environmental scrutiny, called category ‘A’, to the ‘B2’ category. This means it will be conducted by the states concerned and will not require an environmental impact assessment plan. It has made it easier to dig deeper into unconventional oil and gas. Developing an offshore or onshore drilling site as a hydrocarbon block will, however, continue to merit a “category A” scrutiny. Also under Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), the requirement for separate licenses to explore and extract conventional as well as unconventional oil and gas resources, including CBM (coal-bed methane), shale gas/oil and gas hydrates, was replaced by a single license.

 

 

Significance

• The delta districts contribute a substantial portion of Tamil Nadu’s foodgrain requirement and any threat to the cropping pattern would destabilize the food security. 

• Legal obligation: the government has to maintain adequate reserves to provide five kilograms of wheat, rice or millet per month to nearly three-fourths of our population, a legal obligation under the National Food Security Act. In the coming years, food grains will not be easily available in the international market and price volatility will be high.
• Saving farmlands: in the interest of food security, there is a need to create SAZs where land will be only utilized for farming. 
• Fighting climate change: A lot remains to be done to face the challenges arising from a sub-normal monsoon. One major drought can exhaust the food stocks.

 

 

 

What challenges does the State have?

• In 2017, a government notification delineated 45 villages in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts in the delta, as a Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region.
• This notification eyed on over ₹90,000 crore in investments.
• The proposed PSAZ raises a question on this ambitious scheme.
• The government may have to brave central pressure and litigation from companies which pumped in money for exploration.
• The latest decision may have implications for the State’s investment climate, as it recently closed the Sterlite Copper plant.
• But the intent to prioritise farmer interests and food security is beyond reproach.

 

Way forward

• Tamil Nadu now has to enact legislation to protect a vast region, largely in the coastal area, from industries that would affect farming. 

• The center should take the initiative to set up such SAZs in partnership with state governments, especially in the 33 drought-prone districts identified in distressed states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala where hundreds of farmers have committed suicide due to debt burden and poor returns from low-yields.
  • Areas identified for SAZ status should be given special facilities to ensure that agriculture remains economically viable. 
  • As is the case with reserved forests, an independent body could be constituted to consider proposals for permissible industrial projects in the delta region.
  • The government has to take steps to facilitate the establishment of food processing industries and value-added units, besides encouraging farmers to cultivate pulses in a big way.
• Water use efficiency: The latest technology for the most efficient water use should be adopted. Water harvesting in homes, farms, and factories should be accorded maximum importance. 
  • The construction of subsurface dykes to improve the groundwater table and the modernization of canals were among the measures that the government should focus on simultaneously.
• A sector-specific EIA manual on exploration and production of unconventional hydrocarbon resources may be a good idea.

 

Source)

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/safeguarding-the-delta/article30785780.ece