ARABLE LANDs TURNING INTO MANGROVES

The flora and fauna is the most striking feature of the land surface. I noticed that the mangrove regions are favoured by a variety of birds, both migratory and resident; and they hover around these Islands. The varied birds devour lots of different type of insects harmful to farmers. They help in the distribution of seeds of a wide range of fruits of big trees, shrubs and herbal plants and grains of diverse grasses. The seeds and the grains obtain moisture and the warmth, when they pass through the digestive system of these birds. That provides a conducive atmosphere for the seeds and grains to germinate. The Jungle Babbler (Karikilanchi) brings in elephant grass especially if they come from the nearby forest areas like Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. I have noticed that if a property is left untouched and uncultivated for forty years then it would naturally become a forested land and if this happens in a delta, it becomes a mangrove. For example, in 1970, the State of Kerala acquired some well-maintained and cultivated paddy fields and lush green coconut gardens on drained lands. These lands belonged to the Vathapilly family, Syrian Church Kumbalam and a few others. This was for the purpose of setting up the Fisheries College at Panangad now a university, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS.) Now after forty years, that fallow and undisturbed area situated on the western side of the bustling NH-47 bypass at Madavana, looks   like a virgin forest, a mangrove region. The true and devoted farmers in the delta region of the State of Kerala had been forced to leave arable wet and drained lands fallow due to various reasons like a) the indiscriminate severance of land by operation of law, the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1969, which sowed the seeds of anarchy; b) the water logging and scattered bits of land after land was acquired for the setting up of the railway-line and NH-47. This indiscriminate land acquisition was done without any foresight; c) the spiraling costs of manure and prohibitive labour charges, (the present rate is  seven hundred rupees per day for a tiller and rupees fifty per tree for a freelance climber) and scarcity of labourers like climbers and tillers) ; d) the failure on the part of the governments to provide reasonable price for the agricultural produce; and e) the restrictions  made by the Kerala Land Utility Act and the Kerala Land Utility order 1967 prohibiting conversion of wet lands for cash crops. Such undisturbed fallow lands are gradually turning into virgin forests or mangroves. When the government tries to unsettle settled positions of law, they are in reality opening a Pandora’s-box. Beyond his limitations, man tries to create a new order in nature and society, thinking that he is the master. He never realizes the fact that the Acts and Rules he is making is contradictory to the Rules of Mother Nature.

Excerpts from

NEED OF THE HOUR

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.