Lok Sabha Passes Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill

Amidst the protest against Manipur violence from the opposition today, the Lok Sabha passed the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 with oral voting.

The Bill aims to amend certain provisions under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, to extend and exempt specific types of land from the Act's applicability.

Statement Of Object And Reasons Of Bill:

In its statement of Object and Reasons Of Bill, it states that it is necessary to broaden the horizon of the Act in order to achieve the objective of the country to increase the forest cover for creation of carbon sink of additional 2.5 to 3.0 billion tons of CO equivalent by 2030.

It further states that before the 1996 Supreme Court judgement in T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs. Union of India and others, the Forest (Conservation) Act only applied to notified forest lands, not revenue forest areas and non-forestry use in the revenue forest areas was allowed through government's permissions. After the judgment, the Act was applied to recorded forest areas, including those already used for non-forestry purposes. This caused confusion about the Act's applicability to plantations on private and government non-forest lands. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the Act's applicability to different types of lands.

“Since, there is change in the ecological, social and environmental regimes and policies relating to conservation and development of forests during the last four decades since the enactment of the Act, to keep its provisions in tandem with the dynamic changes in the ecological, strategic and economic aspirations of country, it is proposed to introduce the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in Parliament,” it adds.

Salient Features:

1. The Bill amends the short title of the Act to be called the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.

2. It clarifies the scope of applicability of the Act upon various lands.

3. The Bill extends the applicability of the Act to certain types of land. These include land notified as a forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or in government records after the 1980 Act came into effect.

4. It exempt certain categories of lands from the purview of the Act which includes the following:

4.1 Such forest land situated alongside a rail line or a public road maintained by the Government, which provides access to a habitation, or to a rail, and roadside amenity up to a maximum size of 0.10 hectare.

4.2 The forest land which is situated within a distance of one hundred kilometers along international borders or Line of Control or Line of Actual Control, as the case may be, proposed to be used for construction of strategic linear project of national importance and concerning national security.

4.3 Land up to ten hectares, proposed to be used for construction of security related infrastructure.

4.4 Land as is proposed to be used for construction of defence related project or a camp for paramilitary forces or public utility projects, as may be specified by the Central Government, the extent of which does not exceed five hectares in a Left Wing Extremism affected area as may be notified by the Central Government.

4.5 Such tree, tree plantation or reafforestation raised on lands that are not declared or notified as a forest in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or under any other law for the time being in force or has been recorded in Government record as forest, as on or after the 25th October, 1980.

5. The bill explains that the exemption provided shall be subject to such terms and conditions, including the conditions of planting trees to compensate for felling of trees undertaken on the lands, as the Central Government may, by guidelines, specify.

6. The Central Government can specify the terms and conditions under which certain surveys, including seismic surveys, are not considered non-forest purposes.

7. Under the Bill, the Central Government is authorized to give directions to any relevant authority within the Central or State Government, or Union Territory Administration, as well as any recognized organization, entity, or body under the State or Central Government, “as deemed necessary for the effective implementation of this Act.”

Key Challenges

Concerns are raised that the exemption of land from the purview of the Act near border areas for national security projects may adversely impact the forest cover and wildlife in the border area regions like Jammu & Kashmir and north-eastern states.

According to PRS, the Bill also excludes two categories of lands: Firstly, land recorded as a forest before October 25, 1980, but not notified as a forest, and secondly, land that changed from forest-use to non-forest-use before December 12, 1996. This provision may go against a Supreme Court judgment in T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs. Union of India and others, 1996, on the prevention of deforestation.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in March, 2023 and thereafter it was referred to a 31 member Joint Parliamentary Committee that has recently submitted its report. The Committee did not propose any changes to the Bill. However, six MPs from opposition have filed the dissent note. The objections were raised by them on exemption of forest land at border areas from the purview of the Act, that might turn detrimental to Biodiversity and forest coverage of border areas especially at Himalayan region. Concerns were also raised that it may lead to exploitation of forest land by using them for non-forest purposes.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh raised an objection on sending the Bill to the select committee of Parliament. He said that the Bill should ideally be sent to the parliamentary standing committee on science, technology, environment and forest which is chaired by Ramesh.

He wrote in a tweet:

“There’s a most sinister move in LS today to refer the Bill to drastically amend Forest Conservation Act, 1980 to Select Committee. It should have gone to Standing Committee on Environment & Forests. Problem for PM is I chair it, while Select Comm (Committee) will be chaired by his chosen MP.”

Another concern raised by the opposition parties is that it will enable private developers to cut down forests without getting the consent of forest-dwellers,which will consequently violate the provisions of the Forest Rights Act.

On changing the short title of the Act as “Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980,”objections were raised that it ignores the non-Hindi speaking population of the country.

Click Here To Read The Bill

Click Here To Read Joint Committee Report