The Kasturirangan Committee Report is a concept/report officially known as the report of the High-Level Working Group (HLWG) on the Western Ghats, chaired by Dr. K. Kasturirangan. It was constituted in August 2012 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to review the earlier, highly restrictive Madhav Gadgil Committee Report (2011). The committee submitted its report on April 15, 2013, aiming to strike a balance between environmental conservation and sustainable development in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats.
The report's core mechanism is the proposal to declare approximately 60,000 sq km, or 37% of the Western Ghats, as an Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA). This ESA is to be notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Key provisions include a complete ban on environmentally destructive activities such as mining, quarrying, the establishment of thermal power plants, and red category (highly polluting) industries within the ESA. Crucially, the report sought to minimize conflict by excluding most cultural landscapes, including human settlements, agricultural land, and plantations, from the ESA's purview.
The report connects directly to the conservation of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site spanning six states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The recommendations have not been fully implemented; the first draft notification was issued in March 2014, and due to ongoing disagreements with the states, the Union Government has repeatedly re-issued it, with the seventh draft notification being published in mid-2026. The core proposal of 37% ESA coverage remains the central, yet contested, element of the policy.