A 'Reform Wave'

A ‘reform wave’ Lakshadweep could do without Though there is room for improvement, the archipelago does not need the measures announced by its administrator must highlight that Lakshadweep first Navodaya Vidyalayas. Kadmat conservation and natural resource was an assignment that I consider has a degree college that was de- management arrived at after wide to be the most enriching in my ca- signed by K.T. Ravindran, an auth- consultation, eminently possible reer — I was Administrator, Laksh- ority on vernacular building tradi- within the existing infrastructure adweep, 1987-90. tions, who was to become dean of the Union Territory, and also Upon the conclusion of my and professor and head of the de- taking into account climatic com- Wajahat Habibullah term, the Union Territory had its partment of urban design at New pulsions. Maldives is hardly a suit- own decentralised political entity Delhi’s School of Planning and Ar- able model. Water bungalows — an from the adoption of panchayati chitecture. Vernacular building expensive concept and also hazar- raful Khoda Patel, a former raj much before the constitutional K.K. MUSTAFAH traditions are the theme of all go- dous to the coral — favoured by the Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Par- amendments of 1993, in which the first visit to Lakshadweep in 1985. vernment housing projects under- NITI Aayog, would collapse in Pty (BJP) Minister who took Island Development Council, at Together with his visit to the Anda- taken in the islands in the 1980s, Lakshadweep’s turbulent mon- additional charge as Administra- the apex of the local government, man and Nicobar islands, Rajiv with leading architects providing soon. It should be noted that a tor, Lakshadweep, in December was mandated to advise the Admi- Gandhi was concerned about the the designs. Kavaratti has a desali- wooden jetty installed at the div- last year, is in the news for having nistrator on development; its own development agenda for these ec- nation wind-powered plant gifted ing school in Kadmat needs to be introduced a slew of draft legisla- airport, and a flourishing tourist ologically fragile territories — an by the Danish government. And dismantled every monsoon. tion that will have a wide-ranging industry, with an international agenda hitherto dictated by a fara- although the poverty line in terms impact on the islands: the Laksh- tourist resort in Bangaram. Ac- way government to a design set by of GDP is only slightly higher than Obtuse plans adweep Animal Preservation Reg- cording to its first franchisee, Jose the Union Planning Commission, the World Bank’s poverty thresh- But, ostensibly, in the pursuit of ulation, 2021; the Prevention of Dominic, this facilitated ecotou- and without so much as a refe- old, Lakshadweep today has no ‘holistic development’, using the Anti-Social Activities Regulation rism in Kerala. rence to the people most con- poor people; they have a high ca- ‘claim’ that there has been no de- (PASA); the Lakshadweep Pan- A paradise set in the Arabian cerned, the residents of the is- lorific consumption from plentiful velopment in Lakshadweep for the chayat Regulation, 2021 and Sea, the archipelago of Lakshad- lands. foods harvested from the lagoons past 70 years, Mr. Praful Patel has Lakshadweep Development Auth- weep also gives India a vast and ex- and islands. proposed a cow slaughter ban in a ority Regulation 2021. Addressing clusive economic zone with three A ‘no’ to the Maldives model The office of the Administrator, territory where there are no cows the media in the face of wides- distinct ecosystems: land, lagoon Deliberations of the IDA wanted Lakshadweep was also among the (except in government-owned dai- pread criticism of these measures, and ocean. Fishery is a primary that Lakshadweep, with its land first in India to be computerised ry farms), a preventive detention Mr. Patel says he intends to deve- occupation here. The language, ownership constitutionally pro- with a mainframe and fax ma- law where there is no crime, and lop Lakshadweep like neighbour- except in Minicoy, is Malayalam; in tected, be opened to international chine; every island in Lakshad- also steps to undermine tribal land ing Maldives, “a renowned inter- Minicoy, Mahl is spoken, a lan- tourism not as a means of generat- weep had a computer by 1990. En- ownership, with judicial remedy national tourist destination”. guage akin to the 17th century Di- ing wealth for investors from the dorsed with outlays by the Eighth, denied, with also plans for road Adding to this, the Collector of vehi of the Maldives. mainland but to bring prosperity Ninth and Tenth Finance Commis- widening on the islands where the Lakshadweep, S. Asker Ali (a The society in all islands is ma- to the islanders. Specifically reject- sions (1984-2005), this esta- maximum road length is 11 km. young IAS officer from Manipur) triarchal. The religion is Islam of ing the Maldives model, the plan blished, in the words of the last of More insidious is the provision to says, “It was only in 2017 that the the pristine Shafi school of law. for Lakshadweep required that the these Commissions “speedy and allow the mining and exploitation Centre constituted the Island De- When Islam came to the islands is industry had to be people-centric accurate generation of accounting of mineral resources which could velopment Agency under the debated. According to Prof. Lotika and enrich the fragile coral ecolo- information that might be needed convert the islands into a hub for Home Minister for the develop- Varadarajan, “The thesis... that Is- gy. Lakshadweep today has rain- for purposes of better planning, cement manufacture. ment of the islands. Since then, we lam was introduced not from Ma- water harvesting facilities, first in- budgeting and monitoring”. Other initiatives by Mr. Praful have been working on developing labar but from Yemen and Hadra- troduced in government buildings Admittedly, there is much room Patel include panchayat rules de- town and country planning maut may be accepted in relation on every island and now accessi- for improvement. Today, long signed to restrict the population norms.” to the Maldives but not Lakshad- ble in every home. Solar power, lines and refrigeration have aided growth in a territory where, ac- weep... On the other hand, social which covers 10% of lighting the expansion of the fishing sector cording to the National Health and The IDA framework conventions, dress and the posi- needs, makes Lakshadweep a pio- but income disparities have Family Survey-5 (2019-20), the to- Mr. Ali should be aware that a spe- tion accorded to Thangals within neer in India’s present flagship in- grown. Indiscriminate trawling en- tal fertility rate is 1.4 (which is far cially constituted Island Develop- the community all point to the itiative. All islands have been con- dangers the coral, as experienced behind the national average of 2.2) ment Authority (IDA) for the island Mappilas of Malabar as progeni- nected by helicopter service since in the Maldives and now banned and relaxing prohibition, extant in territories of India, chaired by no tors of present-day Islam in Laksh- 1986, and high-speed passenger there. The Government recognises the Union Territory because of pu- less than the former Prime Minis- adweep.” boats were purchased in the 1990s the need to develop policies for blic demand. Worse still is the re- ter, Rajiv Gandhi, had, in Kavaratti Vatteluttu was the earliest script by an international tender. A study enhancing employment oppor- laxation of quarantine restrictions in 1988, approved a framework for used with its heavy Sanskrit com- by the National Institute of Ocea- tunities, environment-friendly for travel which have introduced the development of India’s island ponent and this system of autogra- nography found practical applica- management of fisheries, sanita- the novel coronavirus into a pan- territories. It held the view that phy is in evidence in the sailing tions, helping a redesign of the tri- tion, waste disposal and widening demic-free archipelago. The deve- “an environmentally sound strate- manuals of local pilots (malmis), pods reinforcing the beaches access to drinking water, with the lopments only lead one to suspect gy for both island groups hinges on inscriptions on tombstones and against sea erosion, and ensuring youth, having acquired a modern that there is something sinister be- on better exploitation of marine those in some mosques/pallis. piped water supply especially de- education, preferring salaried jobs ing planned. Is the game plan to al- resources coupled with much With the introduction of Islam, signed to draw from the fresh wa- over pursuing traditional occupa- together supplant Lakshadweep’s greater care in the use of land re- Arabi-Malayalam, with Malayalam ter lens that, in every coral island, tions. None of this requires any of human habitation with cement sources”. Published in 1989, the in Arabic script and associated floats on the saline underground the measures announced by Admi- factories? report carried six recommenda- with the literature of the Mappilas seawater at the core of every coral nistrator Patel. tions for Lakshadweep (Cecil J. Sal- that developed on the mainland, island, so as not to disturb the slim Revenue from tourism has de- Wajahat Habibullah, a former IAS officer, danha, Andaman, Nicobar and also came into use on the islands. lens. clined with the closure of resorts was India’s first Chief Information Lakshadweep: An Environmental I was a part of the team accom- The islands boast total literacy. (including at Bangaram) from liti- Commissioner, and thereafter Chair, Impact Assessment) . At this point, I panying Rajiv Gandhi while on his Minicoy had among the country’s gation. A clear policy must include National Commission for Minorities.

Load more