Decoded: Amendments to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980

What is the Forest Conservation Act, 1980?

The said Act promulgated in October, 1980 and applicable since then for conservation of forests. The Act gave powers to the Central government to approve use of any forest for non-forest activities such as infrastructure creation. Centre's approval was also needed to de-reserve the reserved forests. The Act mandated a committee to be formed for giving such approvals. 

What amendments is the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) proposing in the Act now in 2021?

There are three broad changes that the Centre has suggested to the Act. On one hand, more plantation and forestation is being proposed with more private participation, on the other, the Centre is giving itself more powers.

Kanchi Kohli, senior researcher with Centre for Policy Research explained, the amendments proposed to unlock government and private lands from the purview of the forest conservation act. 

"Protected forest and plantations along linear projects like highways and railways that currently require prior central government permission can be used by NHAI or ministry of railways without forest clearance," said Kohli. 

Secondly, the amendments also seem to encourage plantations on revenue and private lands admittedly to expand area under tree cover and carbon sinks. 

Kohli however adds, it does not restrict these lands being converted to any other infrastructure or industrial use, including by way of land acquisition. 

Thirdly, through these amendments, the Central government has the powers to initiate criminal proceedings against violations. This includes even the state governments which the Centre can penalise, Kohli clarified.

Why have these amendments been introduced now? 

One major reason for changes in the Act is a 1996 Supreme Court judgement. The apex court said all the areas that conformed to the dictionary meaning of 'forest' were ordered to be forests. Earlier, forests were defined as notified in the Indian Forest Act, 1927. 

This led to several infrastructure projects keeping forested land as barren to avoid clearances and compensation. 

MoEFCC in its notification has also pointed out, there is a "strong resentment in the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways, etc."  for interpretation of the scope of applicability of the Act over the right of way (RoW) of railways, highways, etc.

The ministry said several parcels of land acquired by these departments long before 1980 were left unattended and became plantation areas. This made them protected forests and these departments had to re-apply for several approvals and also pay compensation for forestation. 

At the same time, in an effort to meet India's INDC targets for climate mitigation, more carbon sink is needed which translates into more forestation. The government plans to include private land parcels as well for this.  

Why are these amendments hailed as problematic by environment experts?

One of the primary issues that emerged when these amendments were made public this week was that they came out only in English. Also, the MoEFCC has given stakeholders 15 days to comment on it. A day after its release, the ministry also changed the email ID to which comments are to be submitted. 

Several environment experts and organisations pointed out that the amendments do not seek to get comments from the ones who'd be most affected - the forest dwellers and remote area citizenry. 

The same controversy had emerged when MoEFCC had come out with amendments to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) which was issued in English. The ministry, after the intervention of the Court, then agreed to issue it in several languages. 

While the amendments do encourage plantations but it also does not restrict forest areas to be converted for use of infrastructure creation and other such projects, thus leaving a big gap in perception which could lead to case by case troubles. 

The most prominent issue in the amendments is the overarching powers of the Centre, under which it can penalise the state governments too, if they do noy follow the same tenets of Forest Act. Several states design their own forests rules, at times in violation of the Central Act, other times to preserve their forest areas. In both the cases however, Centre can penalise states, which experts said is against the federal structure.