Karnataka’s crumbling coastline shows climate battles are political

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Karnataka’s crumbling coastline shows climate battles are political

By Aditya Valiathan Pillai

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March 30, 2022

“The IPCC’s latest report on climate impacts tells us that India is already experiencing damaging climatic change; it calls for urgent and widespread adaptation. But, as this report shows, protection is a political act that rarely follows the clean logic of planning documents. It redefines communities, imposing costs on some and benefiting others.

This longform piece for Scroll’s ‘Common Ground’ Series follows erosion along Karnataka’s coast to capture adaptation decisions taken under political duress, seawalls built because they are powerful political symbols, and measures left incomplete by a state with drained coffers, simultaneously fending off Covid-19, widespread flooding and cyclones off its coast. It is a disquieting preview of the climate crisis, defined not by large, stand-alone disasters but by the compounded effects of many.”

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STATEMENT

January 17th, 2024

On 10th January 2024, CPR received a notice from the Ministry of Home Affairs cancelling its FCRA status. The basis of this decision is incomprehensible and disproportionate, and some of the reasons given challenge the very basis of the functioning of a research institution. This includes the publication on our website of policy reports emanating from our research being equated with current affairs programming.

During the tenure of our suspension, we sought and obtained interim redress from the honourable Delhi High Court and will continue to seek recourse in all avenues possible.

This cancellation comes after a decision to suspend the FCRA status in February 2023. These actions followed an Income Tax “survey” that took place in September 2022. The actions have had a debilitating impact on the institution’s ability to function by choking all sources of funding. This has undermined the institution’s ability to pursue its well established objective of producing high quality, globally recognised research on policy matters, which it has been recognised for over its 50 years’ existence. During this time the institution has been home to some of the country’s most distinguished academics, diplomats and policymakers.

CPR firmly reiterates that it is in complete compliance with the law, and has been cooperating fully and exhaustively at every step of the process. We remain steadfast in our belief that this matter will be resolved in line with constitutional values and guarantees.

From the President, CPR

Opinion and commentary

Karnataka’s crumbling coastline shows climate battles are political

By Aditya Valiathan Pillai