Subject: Environment

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has proposed several amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (FCA), which may enable infrastructure projects to come up in the forest areas more easily.

What are the amendments?

• They propose to grant exemptions to railways, roads, tree plantations, oil exploration, wildlife tourism and ‘strategic’ projects in forests.
• The proposal also aims to empower state governments to lease forest land to private individuals and corporations.
• If the proposed amendments come into force, they would dilute the provisions of the landmark 1996 decision of the Supreme Court in Godavarman

The amendments, however, propose two changes to strengthen the applicability of the FCA, according to the documents accessed:

1. To complete the process of forest identification in a time-bound manner
2. To enable the creation of ‘no-go’ areas, where specific projects would not be allowed

The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

The FCA is the principal legislation that regulates deforestation in the country.

• It prohibits the felling of forests for any “non-forestry” use without prior clearance by the central government.
• The clearance process includes seeking consent from local forest rights-holders and from wildlife authorities.
• The Centre is empowered to reject such requests or allow it with legally binding conditions.
• In a landmark decision in 1996, the Supreme Court had expanded the coverage of FCA to all areas that satisfied the dictionary definition of a forest; earlier, only lands specifically notified as forests were protected by the enforcement of the FCA.

The FCA is brief legislation with only five sections of which-

• Section 1 defines the extent of coverage of the law,
• Section 2 restrictions of activities in forest areas and the rest deals with the creation of advisory committees, powers of rule-making and penalties.

Key propositions of the Amendment

The proposed amendments seek to make additions and changes to Section 1 and 2.

(1) Concessions to survey and exploration

• In the proposed new section 1A, a provision has been added to exempt the application of FCA on forest land that is “used for underground exploration and production of oil and natural gas through Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) originating outside forest land.”
• The exemption is subject to terms and conditions laid down by the central government.
• A new explanation added to Section 2 says that “survey, reconnaissance, prospecting, exploration or investigation” for future activity in the forest will not be classified as a “non-forestry activity”.
• This means such survey works would not require any prior permission from the government.

The only exception is if the activity falls within a wildlife sanctuary, national park or tiger reserve.

(2) Exemptions to Railways and roads inside forests

• Land acquired by the railways for establishing a rail line or a road by a government agency before 25.10.1980 (the day the FCA was passed) would be exempted from seeking a forest clearance — if they put the land to the same use for which it was acquired.
• This is included in a provision in the proposed section 1A.
• The exemption is subject to terms and conditions that the central government will lay down through guidelines, which include planting trees to compensate for the loss of forests.

(3) Leases on forest land

• Section 2(iii) of the FCA requires the central government’s approval before assigning forest lands on lease to any private person/corporation/organisation not owned or controlled by the central government.
• This clause, however, has purportedly been deleted in the proposed amendment.
• This may mean that state governments can issue leases for the use of forest land without the Centre’s prior approval.

(4) Exemptions to plantations

• A new explanation to Section 2 proposes to exempt plantation of native species of palm and oil-bearing trees from the definition of “non-forest purpose”.
• Since the FCA applies to the conversion of forest land to “non-forest purpose”, this proposed amendment would effectively mean that anyone who wants to clear a natural forest to raise such plantations would not require any approval from the government.
• The government will only impose conditions for compensatory afforestation and payment of other levies and compensations.

(5) Exemptions to wildlife tourism, training infrastructure

• The FCA classifies activities related to wildlife conservation as “non-forestry” purposes, which means such activities — building checkpoints, communication infrastructure, fencing, boundary, etc — which include do not need a forest clearance.
• The proposed amendment claims to add to this list “forest and wildlife training infrastructure” and the “establishment of zoos and safaris” managed by the government or any authority under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• It may also add ecotourism facilities approved under the Forest Working Plan or Working Scheme approved by the central government.

(6) States may grant forest clearance for strategic / security projects

• The proposed Section 2A may empower the central government to provide for state government approval for projects on forest land for “strategic” or security projects of “national importance”, according to the documents accessed.
• There is no clarity on the scope of these terms, or on the determination of national importance, or illustrative examples of such projects.

Limiting the coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision

• The Supreme Court in Godavarman Case 1996 had held that the meaning of “forest” under the FCA would include not only statutorily recognised forests.
• It would include any area recorded as forest in government records, regardless of ownership.
• The restrictions in the FCA would, therefore, be applicable to both de jure and de facto

The proposed amendment purportedly seeks to reduce the scope of this judgment by limiting the applicability of the FCA to only such land that has been:

• Declared or notified as forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927
• Recorded as forest land in the government record prior to 25 October 1980, with the exception of such land if its use has been changed from forest to non-forest purpose prior to 12 December 1996
• Identified as “forest” by a state government expert committee up to one year from the date of the amendment.

The judgment interpreted the Act as it stood then. The addition of a specific definition thus limits the scope of the judgment. De facto forests are, therefore, excluded from the purview of the FCA.

Creation of ‘No-Go’ areas

• The proposed amendment inserts a new Section 2B, which will allow the central government to delineate forest areas where conversion to specific non-forest uses would not be permitted for a fixed period of time.
• The delineation would be based on the basis of pre-defined criteria.
• This could mean, for instance, that a certain dense forest would not be allowed to be converted to a coal mine for the next 30 years, but it could be allowed to be cleared for a thermal power plant.
• In the Godavarman case, the Supreme Court had directed states to set up expert committees to draw up a list of forests that were not notified under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA), but deserved to be protected by the FCA.
• Several states are yet to comply with this requirement.

Impact

• The proposed Section 1A(ii) excludes from the purview of the FCA those forests which were described as such in government records (but not notified under the IFA).
• The Karnataka High Court recently dealt with a matter wherein the state government had passed several orders to de-notify lands classified as “state forest” (but not notified under IFA), and to divert them for non-forest purposes.
• The lands were then allotted for the rehabilitation of displaced people. The state government completed this process of dereservation of reserved forests in 2017.
• On March 4, 2021, the high court struck down actions of the state government for not taking “prior approval of the central government” as required under Section 2 of the FCA.
• It recommended criminal action against any officers responsible for allowing non-forest use of forest land.

What lies ahead?

• If the proposed amendment is enacted, the insertion of Section 1A(ii) would exempt the application of the FCA to the land which was converted to non-forest use by the Karnataka government.
• The exemption of zoos and safaris from “non-forest purpose” comes a year after the government proposed to open a zoo in Mumbai’s Aarey forest and a tiger safari in Madhya Pradesh led to objections from biologists.
• While state governments may certainly continue to seek dilution of the FCA during enforcement, the removal of the requirement of central government approval is a step towards a dilution of restrictions on forest land use.

Sundari — a tigress shifted as part of India’s first inter-state translocation project in 2018 from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha has returned home.

What is the news?

• The five-year-old tigress Sundari spent 28 months in captivity in Satkosia Tiger Reserve, Odisha.
• The two states lingered on the process for her relocation despite the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) shelving off the much-vaunted inter-state tiger translocation drive.

What was the Tiger Relocation Project?

• The tiger relocation project was initiated in 2018 wherein two big cats, a male (Mahavir) from Kanha Tiger Reserve and a female (Sundari) from Bandhavgarh from MP were relocated to Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha.
• The relocation was meant to serve two purposes

1. to reduce the tiger population in areas with excess tigers to majorly reduce territorial disputes and
2. to reintroduce tigers in areas where the population has considerably reduced due to various reasons

How were Mahavir and Sundari chosen for the project?

• Both the big cats were selected for the translocation project as per the NTCA guidelines and in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India and the GoI.
• Two key factors were considered for choosing the animal — first, a dispersing young animal which is to find a new and second, an adult transient which was yet to establish any territory.

What is the Satkosia Tiger Reserve and why was it chosen?

• Encompassing an area of 963.87 sq km, the Satkosia Tiger Reserve spreads across four districts and has as its core area 523 sq km.
• According to NTCA, Satkosia falls under reserves where “there is a potential for increasing tiger populations”.
• Declared as a Tiger Reserve in 2007, Satkosia had a population of 12 tigers then. The numbers reduced to two in 2018.
• The purpose of the relocation was to repopulate tigers in the reserve areas.

Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:

Q.With reference to India’s Desert National Park, which of the following statements is correct?

1. It is spread over two districts.
2. There is no human habitation inside the Park.
3. It is one of the natural habitats of Great Indian Bustard.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1,2 and 3

Unexpected outcomes of the project

The project ran into trouble within weeks of initiation.

• The arrival of the tigers was followed by severe protests by villagers living on the fringes of the reserve and the matter eventually snowballing into a poll issue.
• Forest department officials were attacked and their offices burnt down by irate villagers most of whom were tribals.
• The villagers feared the big cats would endanger their livelihoods, lives and livestocks. They also alleged that they were not consulted or informed prior to the translocation.
• The major reason which contributed to the failure of the project was the lack of confidence and trust-building between the forest department and the villagers.
• Within months of the translocation, Mahavir was found dead and was killed in poaching.

In the presence of PM and Jal Shakti Minister, the CMs of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have signed an agreement to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project (KBLP).

Must read:

Interlinking of rivers: Significance & Challenges

What is the Ken Betwa Link Project?

• The Ken-Betwa Link Project is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for the interlinking of rivers.
• Under this project, water from the Ken River will be transferred to the Betwa river. Both these rivers are tributaries of the river Yamuna.
• The project is expected to provide annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh hectares, drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people and also generate 103 MW of hydropower.

The Project has two phases:

• Under Phase-I, one of the components — Daudhan dam complex and its appurtenances like Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa link canal and Power houses — will be completed.
• While in the Phase-II, three components — Lower Orr dam, Bina complex project and Kotha barrage — will be constructed.

Regions benefitting from KBLP

• The project lies in Bundelkhand, a drought-prone region, which spreads across 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• It will be of immense benefit to the water-starved region of Bundelkhand, especially in the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen of Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh.
• It will pave the way for more interlinking of river projects to ensure that scarcity of water does not become an inhibitor to development in the country.

What about the Panna tiger reserve?

• Out of the 6,017 ha of forest area coming under submergence of Daudhan dam of Ken Betwa Link Project, 4,206 ha of the area lies within the core tiger habitat of Panna Tiger Reserve.

Previous examples of river-linking

• In the past, several river linking projects have been taken up. For instance, under the Periyar Project, the transfer of water from the Periyar basin to the Vaigai basin was envisaged.
• It was commissioned in 1895.
• Similarly, other projects such as Parambikulam Aliyar, Kurnool Cudappah Canal, Telugu Ganga Project, and Ravi-Beas-Sutlej were undertaken.

Recent developments on the interlinking of rivers in India

• In the 1970s, the idea of transferring surplus water from a river to a water-deficit area was mooted by the then Union Irrigation Minister Dr K L Rao.
• Rao, who himself was an engineer, suggested the construction of a National Water Grid for transferring water from water-rich areas to water-deficit areas.
• Similarly, Captain Dinshaw J Dastur proposed the Garland Canal to redistribute water from one area to another.
• However, the government did not pursue these two ideas further.

The National Perspective Plan

• It was in August, 1980 that the Ministry of Irrigation prepared a National Perspective Plan (NNP) for water resources development envisaging inter-basin water transfer in the country.
• The NPP comprised two components: (i) Himalayan Rivers Development; and (ii) Peninsular Rivers Development.
• Based on the NPP, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) identified 30 river links—16 under the Peninsular component and 14 under the Himalayan Component.
• Later, the river linking idea was revived under the then Vajpayee Government.

Ken Betwa Link Project is one of the 16 river linking projects under the Peninsular component.

Clearances required for a river-linking project

• Generally, 4-5 types of clearances are required for the interlinking of river projects.
• These are Techno-economic (given by the Central Water Commission); Forest Clearance and Environmental clearance (Ministry of Environment & Forests); Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Plan of Tribal Population (Ministry of Tribal Affairs) and Wildlife clearance (Central Empowered Committee).