Joint Parliamentary Committee accepted all proposed amendments to Act, including name change, on July 20
One of the changes proposed in the Forest Conservation Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023, expected to be tabled in the monsoon session of the Parliament, is to change the name of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
The central government has submitted the Act be renamed as Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, translating to Forest (Conservation and Augmentation) Act.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, approved all proposed amendments to the principal Act, including the addition of a preamble and renaming it to Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam on July 20, 2023.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) reasoned that change in the name is necessary to keep the provisions of the Act in accordance with the changing ecological and strategic dynamics and economic aspirations of the country.
Changing the name would have scope to include “emerging ecological challenges for forest conservation, restoration, compensatory mechanism, mitigation measures, etc,” MoEFCC had submitted.
The JPC said it accepted the reasons for achieving carbon neutrality, Nationally Determined Contributions and other dynamic changes in policies and programmes for better management of forest resources.
The Chandra Prakash Goyal, director general of forests and special secretary to MoEFCC, supported the change of name during the clause-by-clause examination.
The existing name Forest Conservation Act is used in general parlance and is treated as Forest Clearance Act, said Goyal.
“User agencies approaching the Government of India, even senior officers, do not know that it is a diversion,” he stated, adding the user agencies perceive the Act as a No Objection Certificate or clearance.
Goyal asserted the use of term “augmentation” in tandem with conservation would remove the misnomer and send a message to all user agencies and the state governments that the Act is not merely to approve developmental works.
The DG stressed that along with the developmental work, conservation and augmentation of forest is equally important. Otherwise, the effects of the climate change will worsen in severity and intensity, he warned.
However, the suggestion has seen widespread opposition from environmentalists citing that the change in name does not add any value to the statute or serve any significant purpose.
Stakeholders from southern and northeastern parts of India have claimed the title of the Bill or Act is non-inclusive, contesting that the Hindi name will exclude vast tracts of population in these areas.
The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 29 and referred to a 31-member joint committee of both Houses on the same day.
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An elephant in Dalma National Park, Madhya Pradesh. File Photo: CSE.png)
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