New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming Monsoon Session of parliament, where the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 is slated to be tabled, citizens and climate action groups across India held peaceful demonstrations in Delhi and 16 states to protest against the passage of the Bill.
The Monsoon Session will begin on July 20.
The protesters used online campaigns with hashtags such as #SaveIndianForests and #ScrapForestConservationAmendmentBill2023, and launched an email campaign addressed to political leaders and members of parliament in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
All the rural and urban citizens from several states, including Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, rural Punjab, among others, have demanded that the government scraps the Bill in its current form.
Other regions such as Lucknow, Hasdeo in Chhattisgarh, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, the Western Ghats states of Maharashtra, among others, have made the same demand.
Protest against the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Photo: By special arrangement
Protest against the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill in Uttarakhand. Photo: By special arrangement
The Bill, which dilutes the definition of ‘forests’, will sound “the death knell for India and its people” if passed, Joseph Hoover, president of the United Conservation Movement and a former member of the State Wildlife Board, told South First.
“This is one of the most destructive Bills in terms of the environment. Our prime minister has said on record that he is interested in protecting our biodiversity and forests, but his very own people are set to destroy the forests by passing this Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha,” he said.
Neelam Ahluwalia, founder member and trustee of the Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement, said that the forests, which are protected and managed by local communities, but not notified as forests, will be decimated if the Bill is passed.
“It is estimated that around 39,063 hectares of forests are under the sacred groves across India protected and managed as forests by local communities even though they are not currently notified as forests. The Forest Conservation Amendment Bill will decimate such lands across the 690 kilometre Aravalli range spread over four states and the rest of the country. Also, hugely at risk are 50,000 acres of Haryana Aravallis since these forests have not yet been notified as ‘deemed forests’.”
Protest against the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill in Karjat, Maharashtra. Photo: By special arrangement
“While courts and reports keep pointing out the value of our forests, it’s a fact that we are still too far from knowing exactly how much these ecosystems serve us. Still, the government goes on treating our forests as dispensable. Be it the Aravallis, the mangroves all along our coast, Western and Eastern Ghats, biodiversity hotspots of the North-East, our rich Central Indian forests – a great part of these could no longer be considered ‘forest’ and can potentially be sold, diverted, cleared, exploited without any regulatory oversight, if the new amendment Bill is passed,” said Yash Marwah, co-creator of Let India Breathe, a volunteer-run environment collective.
He added that the proposed amendments severely compromise the constitutional mandate of the State (Article 48A) to safeguard forests, Article 51A (g), which places a duty on the citizens of India to protect and improve the natural environment, and jeopardises access to information, public participation and access to justice, which are essential components of the Rio Declaration 1992 and fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the constitution.
Protest against the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill in Kolkata. Photo: By special arrangement
Samiksha Acharya from Warrior Moms, who staged a demonstration in Kolkata, said, “Kolkata is dealing with unprecedented heat waves and extreme weather conditions. As mothers, we are extremely concerned about the change in clauses of the Forest Conservation Act 1980 as this would mean a total degradation of climatic conditions in our city. Mangrove forests act like a barrier to cyclones coming from the Bay of Bengal. With this new amendment bill, mangrove forests are in danger of getting wiped out and there will be nothing left to counter the high-speed winds exposing the coastal areas of West Bengal to the mercy of storms. Widespread devastation will follow threatening the future of our young ones.”
Farai Divan Patel, ecologist and environment activist with the Save Mollem Team, said, “The youth from Raia village in Salcete, Goa, protested at the site of a forest in their village [because of] a large perennial spring which will lose protection if this new amendment Bill is passed.”
He said there are many forested slopes in the villages of Goa that are not yet notified. These are at a risk of exploitation by real estate and construction companies, he added.
Protest against the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill in Goa. Photo: By special arrangement
Experts also said that many of the proposed amendments adversely affect the protection accorded to the Scheduled Tribe community and other traditional forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act. This is because if the land falls outside the scope of the Forest Conservation Act, it effectively eliminates the requirement of obtaining consent from the Gram Sabha for diversion of that land.