New Delhi: The Lok Sabha today passed the contentious Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023, which was introduced to amend the existing Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav today moved the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023 as reported by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to be taken into consideration in Lok Sabha and subsequently requested the House to get the Bill passed.
The Bill was first introduced on March 29, 2023, but following objections that a JPC was constituted to study it thoroughly and make recommendations, which finally dismissed the objections.
One of the objections raised was that the amendments “diluted” the Supreme Court’s 1996 judgement in the Godavarman case that extended protection to wide tracts of forests, even if they were not recorded as forests. After the judgement of December 12, 1996, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, was made applicable to revenue forest land or in lands which were recorded as forests in government records and to areas which look like forests in their dictionary meaning. Many of such lands were already put to non-forestry use such as habitations, institutions, and roads, with the required approval of the competent authority. This situation resulted in different interpretations of the provisions of the Act with respect to their applicability especially in recorded forest lands, private forest lands, and plantations.
Another objection was that large tracts of forest land near the borders would no longer be protected. There were objections even to the Hindi name of the Bill — Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, translated as Forest (Conservation and Augmentation) Act, instead of the existing Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, is an important Central statute for the conservation of forests in the country. It provides that the de-reservation of reserved forests, use of forest land for non-forest purposes, assigning forest land by way of lease or otherwise to a private entity and clearing of naturally grown trees for the purpose of reafforestation requires prior permission of the Central Government. The applicability of the 1980 Act in various types of lands was dynamic and initially, the provisions of the Act were being applied to the notified forest land only.
The 2023 Bill now includes exemption of strategic projects concerning national security located within 100 km of distance from the International Borders, Line of Actual Control, Line of Control, 0.10 ha of forest land proposed to provide connectivity to habitation and establishments located on the side of roads and railways, up to 10 hectares of land proposed for security related infrastructure and up to 5 ha of forest land in Left Wing Extremism Affected Districts for public utility projects.
Moreover, the Bill will facilitate the decisions making process on the proposals involving non-forestry use of forest land by the authorities. Exemption of such recorded forest land which has already been put to non-forestry use before December 12, 1996, by the orders of the competent authority can be used for various developmental schemes of the State as well as Central Government. All these exemptions considered in the Bill will be subject to such terms and conditions, including compensatory afforestation, and mitigation plans, as will be specified by the Central Government.
To bring uniformity, existing provisions of the Principal Act relating to the assignment of forest land on lease to private entities have been extended to Government companies as well. The Bill also added new activities such as infrastructure for frontline forest staff, ecotourism, zoo and safari into the array of forestry activities for the cause of conservation of forests. Surveys and investigations in the forest areas will not be considered non-forestry activities in view of the fact that such activities are temporary in nature and involve no perceptible change in land use. Section 6 of the Bill empowering the Central Government to issue directions for the proper implementation of the Act, was also passed by the Lok Sabha.
Yadav stated that the amendments put to rest apprehensions such as plantations on the lands of individuals and organisations can attract the FCA. Because of such apprehensions, it claimed, the afforestation and plantation of trees outside forests was not getting desired impetus, which in turn was becoming a hindrance in enhancing green cover to fulfil the Nationally Determined Contribution targets of creating additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tons of CO2equivalent.
Besides this, the amendments would fast-track the strategic and security-related projects of national importance need to ensure the development of vital security infrastructures, especially along the international border areas such as Line of Actual Control (LAC), Line of Control (LoC), as also in the notified LWE areas. Similarly, small establishments and habitations on the side of roads/railways would also be facilitated by providing them access and connectivity to main arterial roads and other public utilities, he added.
The Minister said that since 1980, new challenges relating to ecological, social and environmental developments have emerged at national as well as international levels. For example, mitigating the impact of climate change, achieving the national targets of Net Zero Emission by 2070, and maintaining or enhancing the forest carbon stock. Therefore, to carry forward the country’s rich tradition of preserving forests and their bio-diversity and to tackle the climate change challenges, it was necessary to encompass such issues in the ambit of the Act.
– global bihari bureau
