FUELLING PROTESTS
On February 10, Tamil Nadu chief minister E.K. Palaniswami announced that the Cauvery delta would be declared a Protected Special Agricultural Zone (PSAZ) to accord primacy to the state’s food security and to protect farmers’ livelihoods. Over the past four decades, the delta’s share of the state’s food production has fallen from 65 per cent to 40 per cent. A major cause of this decline is hydrocarbon exploration. In recent years, there have been
