India, Oct. 12 -- The Union government's seventh draft notification to declare 56,825.7 square kilometres of the Western Ghats across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) has reopened a contentious battle over conservation, land use and livelihoods.

Issued on July 27, 2026, under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the notification proposes restrictions on mining, quarrying, sand mining, new thermal power projects, red-category industries and specified large construction and township projects.

It does not order the acquisition of private land, the eviction of residents or a blanket ban on farming. Yet, after six earlier drafts failed to produce a final notification, opposit...