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

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. 

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. 

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. 

“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.