Understanding the Use of Challakere Grasslands by the Local Communities and Their Livestock

Challakere grasslands have been in news since the allotment of Amruth Mahal Kavals to the prestigious institutions like the BARC, DRDO, ISRO and IISC in 2008. There was lot of anger and demonstration being held from Challakere to the national capital New Delhi. The supreme court formed a Central Inquiry Committee and heard the queries of both the contestant parties. Finally there is access to only few things in the allocated kavals like the temple, drinking water and few important roads. The lifestyle of the people who are staying around these kavals have changed since last ten years. The people who always grew some crops during the rainy season and then grazed their livestock in the vast kavals have lost hopes on both, thanks to the diminished rains and shrinking of kaval. The livestock number is fast decreasing due to the scarcity of fodder which is shown both in secondary data and also from the socio-economic survey we conducted. Wildlife has dwindled with number and the imbalance in predator- prey population may pose a threat to the future remaining agricultural lands.