Insidious Infringement of Forest Rights

The draft Indian Forest Act(IFA), 2019, proposes the introduction of a repressive policing regime by bestowing more powers on the forest bureaucracy for the governance of about 7,08,273 square kilometres of India’s forests, while also incorporating provisions for commercialising forestry in accordance with the tenets of neo-liberal policy.

It introduces coercive measures that would undermine some of the provisions in the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, and proposes amendments that override the legislative and executive powers of the state governments. The 2019 draft has now been circulated to the states for their feedback and comments. It is noteworthy that this draft law has come in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s controversial order of 13 February after the central government failed to defend theFRA. It is also ironic that the National Democratic Alliance government, in the run-up to the general elections, has the impudence to circulate a proposed law that would completely deny and severely curtail the rights of socially marginalised groups.