FOREST (CONSERVATION) AMENDMENT BILL, 2023

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Context

• The government introduced The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha to make changes to The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

The motive behind the amendment

• The predominant idea of the proposed changes is to build forest carbon stock by raising plantations.
• The Bill also seeks to make land available for developers to meet their legal obligation towards compensatory afforestation in lieu of forest land diverted for development projects.
• The Bill adds and exempts certain types of land from the purview of the Act.  Further, it expands the list of activities permitted to be carried out on forest land.  

Salient features of the amendment bill

Restrictions on activities in forest

Provisions in the act

• The Act restricts the de-reservation of forest or use of forest land for non-forest purposes. 
• Such restrictions may be lifted with the prior approval of the central government.
• Non-forest purposes include use of land for cultivating horticultural crops or for any purpose other than reafforestation.  
• The Act specifies certain activities that will be excluded from non-forest purposes, i.e., the restrictions on de-reservation of forest or use of forest land for non-forest purposes will not apply.  
• These activities include works related to the conservation, management, and development of forest and wildlife such as establishing check posts, fire lines, fencing, and wireless communication.  

Provisions in the bill

• The Bill adds more activities to this list such as:
  1. zoos and safaris under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 owned by the government or any authority, in forest areas other than protected areas,
  2. eco-tourism facilities,
  3. silvicultural operations (enhancing forest growth), and
  4. any other purpose specified by the central government.
• Further, the central government may specify terms and conditions to exclude any survey (such as exploration activity, seismic survey) from being classified as non-forest purpose.

Land under the purview of the Act

Provisions in the bill

• The Bill provides that two types of land will be under the purview of the Act:
  1. land declared/notified as a forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or under any other law
  2. land not covered in the first category but notified as a forest on or after October 25, 1980 in a government record.  
• Further, the Act will not apply to land changed from forest use to non-forest use on or before December 12, 1996 by any authority authorised by a state/UT.

Exempted categories of land

Provisions in the bill

• The Bill also exempts certain types of land from the provisions of the Act such as forest land along a rail line or a public road maintained by the government providing access to a habitation, or to a rail, and roadside amenity up to a maximum size of 0.10 hectare.  
• Forest land that will also be exempted includes:
  1. land situated within 100 km along the international borders, Line of Control, or Line of Actual Control, proposed to be used for construction of strategic linear project for national importance or security.
  2. land up to 10 hectares, proposed to be used for constructing security related infrastructure.
  3. land proposed to be used for constructing defence related project, camp for paramilitary forces, or public utility projects as specified by central government (not exceeding five hectares in a left wing extremism affected area).  

Assigning of land through a lease

Provisions in the act

• Under the Act, state government or any authority requires prior approval of the central government to direct the assigning of forest land through a lease or otherwise to any organisation (such as private person, agency, authority, corporation) not owned by the government.

Provisions in the bill

• The Bill provides that such assigning may be done to any organisation (such as private person, agency, authority, corporation) subject to terms and conditions prescribed by central government.

Power to issue directions

Provisions in the bill

• The Bill adds that the central government may issue directions for the implementation of the Act to any other authority/ organisation under or recognised by the centre, state, or union territory.  

Criticism of the amendment

• The proposed amendments weaken the very purpose of the legislation, which is to protect and conserve India's forests.
• The Bill restricts the applicability of the FC Act by freeing up land that is currently locked up as unrecorded forests.
• The amendment Bill, instead of completing the demarcation process on the ground, seeks to limit the applicability of the FC Act only to land recorded as ‘forest’.
  • This will have the effect of removing the protection of the Act from millions of hectares of land that have the characteristics of forests, but are not notified as such.
  • Nearly 28% or 197,159 sq km — roughly the size of Gujarat — is not recorded as ‘forest’.
• Forest clearance:
  • If the scope of the FC Act is restricted, fewer projects will be required to obtain forest clearance.
  • A key condition for forest clearance is that a developer must carry out compensatory afforestation on equivalent non-forest land or, if non-forest land is not available, on degraded forest land twice the extent of the forest area diverted.
  • In June 2022, the government amended the Forest Conservation Rules to propose a mechanism to allow developers to raise plantations over land on which the Act is not applicable, and to swap such plots against subsequent requirements of compensatory afforestation.
  • The proposed amendments are key to the working of this scheme.
  • Once the FC Act is no longer applicable on a land, it can be used to raise plantations and compensate for an equivalent area of diverted forest land.
  • This is a double whammy: losing unrecorded forests to plantations, which will subsequently help to divert recorded forests for projects.
• The proposed exemptions, sweeping in themselves, leave a lot to the Centre to decide retrospectively.
• The scope of the amendments boils down to pushing plantations to achieve carbon neutrality by limiting the scope of the Act.
  • The Bill’s focus on raising tradeable vertical repositories of carbon can jeopardise the very purpose of the Act, which is to protect and conserve India’s forests.

About Forest Conservation in India

History

• The first legal draft on this issue was the Indian Forest Act, 1865.
• Later, it was replaced by the Indian Forest Act, 1927 during the colonial period.
• After independence, the need to conserve the forests became more strong and therefore, the President of India enforced the Forest (Conservation) Ordinance, 1980.
• The ordinance was later repealed by virtue of Section 5 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 which came into force on October 25, 1980.

Constitutional mandate

• As per Article 48A, the state shall make laws to protect and improve the environment to safeguard the forests of our country.
• According to Article 51A(g), it is the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including the forests of our country.

About The Forest (Conservation) Act 1980

• An Act to provide for the conservation of forests and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto.
• It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
• It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 25th day of October 1980.

Restriction on the de-reservation of forests or use of forest land for non-forest purpose

• No State Government or other authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing-
  • that any reserved forest (within the meaning of the expression “reserved forest” in any law for the time being in force in that State) or any portion thereof, shall cease to be reserved;
  • that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purposes;
  • that any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease of otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other Organisation not owned, managed or controlled by Government.
  • that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for afforestation.

Constitution of Advisory Committee

• The Central Government may constitute a Committee consisting of such number of persons as it in may deem fit to advise that Government with regard to the grant of approval and any other matter connected with the conservation of forests which may be referred to it by the Central Government.

Penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Act

• Whenever contravenes or abets the contravention of any of the provisions of section 2, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a period which may extend to fifteen days.

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