New Delhi, July 26 (UNI) The Lok Sabha on Wednesday Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023, which seeks to amend the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

The Bill was passed after a brief debate in the lower house of the parliament before the session was adjourned for the day amid continued protests by opposition members over violence in Manipur.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has moved the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023, as reported by the Joint Committee of Parliament to be taken into consideration in Lok Sabha.

The Bill was passed in the House even as environmentalists, recently wrote to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, expressing concerns about the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, and seeking more time to submit objections to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Bill.

According to the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, an area of land can be exempted from the legal framework for a quick accomplishment of any political- and security-related projects that are of national interest.

The Bill amends the Forest (Conservation) Act, of 1980 to make it applicable to certain types of land. These include land notified as a forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, or in government records after the 1980 Act came into effect.

The Act will not be applicable for land converted to non-forest use before December 12, 1996.

It also exempts certain types of land from the purview of the Act. These include land within 100 km of India’s border needed for national security projects, small roadside amenities, and public roads leading to a habitation.

This year during the Budget Session, the Forest Conservation (Amendment Bill), 2023 was introduced in Parliament.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) approved the report on the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 on July 11 and had circulated the proposal note on the Bill in October 2021 for public comments, it garnered around 5,000 responses.

Recently, around 400 ecologists have written to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and urged him to not table the bill in Parliament without additional consultations with domain experts.

In the letter, they have sought more time to submit objections to the joint committee of Parliament. Public feedback on the proposed legislation ended on May 18.

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