Home › PYQs › Environment › All questions › 1980 · Silent Valley
UPSC Prelims 1980 · Environment · Wild Places
Silent Valley Project in Kerala was dropped because
- (a) Ecologists pointed out that the project will set up an environmental imbalance
- (b) India will have to spend a huge amount of foreign exchange to complete the project
- (c) Skilled labour and cheap power were not available
- (d) Some political controversy arose regarding the project
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (a) Ecologists pointed out that the project will set up an environmental imbalance
Scientists and the Save Silent Valley campaign showed the dam would destroy an ancient rainforest; the project was dropped in 1983.
The idea
This was India’s first big public campaign against a dam on ecological grounds. The dam on the Kunthipuzha would have drowned one of the last untouched rainforests of the Western Ghats. Scientists, teachers and writers of Kerala argued that the loss could never be made good.
Hydroelectric dam approved in the 1970s → “Save Silent Valley” campaign led by a people’s science movement → Expert committee studies the forest → Project dropped in 1983 → National park declared in 1984
Why the others are wrong
(d) There was debate, but the reason for dropping it was ecological.
The trap
Asked again in 1984.
Also know
Other environmental movements: Bishnoi sacrifice at Khejarli (1730, Rajasthan), Chipko (1973, Uttarakhand), Appiko (1983, Karnataka), Narmada Bachao Andolan (from 1985). The lion-tailed macaque became the symbol of the Silent Valley campaign.
🔒 Silent Valley project dropped (1983) → NP (1984).
Solve this chapter interactively →All Environment questions