Environment and/(or) Development: Competing Narratives from Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka

The Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka well known as the “Pepper Queen” during colonial times gradually declined in stature and came to be known as a backward, forest district in need of “development.” These concerns framed the post-independence debates on the development of the district in terms of forestry programs and hydroelectric power projects, to help in the growth story of India. In the post-liberalization period, we have observed increasing market- and state-led drives of “resource development and conservation.” In recent years, international recognitions have come to the region’s sustainable agricultural practices and to its rich biodiversity, and it is declared a Heritage site. The dominant agricultural community of the region, the Havyaks, known for their environmentally sustainable spice garden farming, are credited with spearheading environmental movements against the material practices of the state. This article attempts to understand the complex social ecology of the region and the multiple ways in which it is portrayed and the way people talk about it. It attempts to juxtapose the environmental narrative along with the development narrative of the district and to understand and map the complex ground realities that exist interlinking the local with the global.