With farm laws as inspiration, environment ministry takes an axe to the forest Act

Why read this story?

Editor's note: In early April this year, as most Indians were grappling with the second wave of COVID- 19, the environment ministry quietly announced on its website that it intends to amend the Indian Forest Act, 1927 by hiring the services of a private consulting agency or law firm.  Since most people were occupied with tackling the hellish consequences of the pandemic’s second wave at the time, the ministry’s announcement was not noticed widely. Whatever little criticism the announcement attracted in subsequent months was muted. But there continues to be a sense of unease among environmentalists about the government’s decision to hire a private firm for preparing the draft of a “comprehensive amendment” to the Indian Forest Act, or IFA. This sense of unease could escalate into a full-blown controversy in the near future if the draft amendment is prepared exactly in line with some problematic ideas outlined by top officials during internal discussions on amending the IFA, a colonial-era law which provides a procedure for identification and notification of different categories of forests as well as regulates transit of forest produce …