Amid criticism from certain quarters for proposing green cess and permitting private players to use and develop government forest land, the environment ministry on Saturday distanced itself from the draft national forest policy saying “the study report prepared by the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal was inadvertently uploaded as Draft Forest Policy on the website”.
Emphasising that the ministry has not taken any decision on draft forest policy, it said, “A draft forest policy will be put in public domain once due process is carried out and views of all stakeholders taken into account”.
The draft, which the ministry now called it a mere study of the IIFM Bhopal, has proposed levy of a green tax while calling for safeguarding forest land by exercising strict restraint on diversion for non-forestry purposes like mining and industrial projects and practising responsible eco-tourism in forest areas to ensure safety of wildlife. The proposal, the study claimed, was aimed at facilitating ecologically responsible behaviour among stakeholders.
Contravening the Forest Rights Act and the existing national forest policy of 1988, the study also suggested a new administrative and legal regime diluting rights of tribals on forest land while giving its control to forest bureaucracy.
All these points were, however, severely criticised by stakeholders including environmentalists and forest rights activists in the past one week, forcing the ministry to come out with a formal statement on Saturday distancing itself from the ‘study’ that was uploaded as ‘draft forest policy’ on website last week.
“The ministry has not issued any draft notification on National Forest Policy. What has been uploaded on the website was a study done by Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. The study has not been evaluated by the ministry. The ministry has not taken any decision on Draft Forest Policy. The study report prepared by IIFM Bhopal was inadvertently uploaded as Draft Forest Policy on the Website”, said director general, forest and special secretary of the ministry, S S Negi, in a statement.
He said, “As director general forest, I would like to clarify that this document is not the Draft Forest Policy. The ministry has an elaborate procedure for preparing draft policy document, which takes into account multiple inputs from all stakeholders, state governments, think tanks and public consultation.
“No process has been carried out on the document prepared by IIFM Bhopal, which is only one of the inputs. A draft Forest Policy will be put in public domain once due process is carried out and views of all stakeholders taken into Account.”
The study of the IIFM, aims to bring a minimum one-third of India’s total geographical area under forest or tree cover through scientific interventions and enforcing strict rules to protect the dense cover, was meant for replacing the existing one that has been guiding the government to manage forests since 1988.
The ministry had put out the study as a draft policy in public domain, seeking feedback from experts, civil societies, environmentalists and other stakeholders by June 30.
Referring to generate resources to manage the forest cover, the study said that the budget of the forestry sector should be appropriately enhanced so that the objectives enshrined in this policy can be achieved. “Environmental cess, green tax, carbon tax etc. may be levied on certain products and services”, it said while talking about garnering citizen’s contribution and supplementing financial resources.
On the contentious issue of diversion of forests for mining and industrial projects, the study said, “Forest land diversion projects related to mining, quarrying, construction of dams, roads and other linear infrastructure need to adopt special caution. Use of state-of-the-art technology which causes minimum pollution and damage should be promoted”.
Date: June 25, 2016