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