Environment and Disaster Management › Environmental law and institutions
हिन्दी — Read in HindiForest laws and forest rights
The Indian Forest Act, the definition of forest, the gram sabha and minor forest produce. Prelims has asked who initiates the recognition of forest rights and which ministry is nodal for the Act.
Foundation note: Forest rights and forest clearance: the two tracks
All 6 articles shown; the 3 that changed from 1 to 31 July 2026 are marked.Show only these
Gram sabha consent for forest clearance
Copy link to Gram sabha consent for forest clearancePrelims and Mains
Gram sabha consent for forest clearance is the no objection certificate that each gram sabha concerned must give before forest land is diverted to non forest use.
- No forest clearance is issued in India until every gram sabha concerned has signed off, yet the law everyone credits that power to never mentions it.
- The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 requires the Centre's prior approval, in two stages, before forest land goes to non forest use.
- The Forest Rights Act does not use the language of consent.
- The consent comes from guidelines under the 1980 Act, first in the 2009 circular, which require a no objection certificate from each gram sabha.
- Whether that certificate is a veto or a formality is what the disputes on this page are about.
Forest Rights Act compliance inside forest clearance
Identify
Potential forest rights claimants on the land to be diverted
Recognise
Their rights, where they apply
Vest
The recognised rights in the holders
Gram sabha consent
No objection certificate from each gram sabha concerned
Stage II
Final approval to divert the forest land
What changed
29 Jul 2026
- Recognition of community forest resource rights stands at under 10 per cent of the roughly 1,70,000 eligible villages, because shrines, burial grounds and several titles over one patch are counted.
- The requirement that rights be settled and the gram sabha consent before forest land is diverted has been reversed, so approval now comes first.
- Of 395 diversion proposals for large mining projects between 2009 and 2024 only 20 were rejected, none over unsettled rights.
Frontline, 29 Jul 2026
Show history (1 other update)
6 Sep 2026
- The Ministry of Tribal Affairs said on 31 August that the Forest Rights Act carries no provision for gram sabha consent to Stage II clearance, and that the matter falls outside its purview.
- A parliamentary committee report called consent from every gram sabha the most critical bottleneck in forest clearance, which took 106 months on average for hydropower projects.
- It suggested a qualified super majority of 70 to 75 per cent, citing Teesta IV, where three of ten gram panchayats had not consented.
The Hindu, 6 Sep 2026: No provision in Forest Rights Act to obtain gram sabha consent for projects, Tribal Affairs Ministry says (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 7 Sep 2026: Why is MoTA distancing itself from Gram Sabha consent for forest clearance? | Explained (opens in a new tab)
The Agasthyamalai evictions
Copy link to The Agasthyamalai evictionsPrelims and Mains
The Agasthyamalai landscape of Tamil Nadu covers the Kalakad Mundanthurai and Srivilliputhur Megamalai tiger reserves and the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary, and lies within the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve.
- An encroacher and a recognised rights holder can be standing on the same patch of forest, and an order to clear one of them reaches the other.
- The Central Empowered Committee is the body the Supreme Court set up to examine forest and wildlife matters and report to it.
What changed
11 Aug 2026New
- The Supreme Court ordered time bound eviction of encroachments across the landscape on a Central Empowered Committee report, and barred fresh diversion of forest land there until they are cleared.
- Among the encroachers were 118 serving or retired government employees.
- Critics say the notices ignore the Forest Rights Act.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2019: which protected areas lie in the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve
Bamboo in forest law
Copy link to Bamboo in forest lawPrelims and Mains
Bamboo is botanically a grass, not a tree, and almost everything the law does about it turns on that fact.
- The Indian Forest Act, 1927 lets a State constitute reserved and protected forests and regulate what is cut from them and carried out.
- In 2017 bamboo was removed from the Act's definition of a tree, so bamboo grown on non forest land needs no permit to fell or transport.
- Bamboo standing in forest areas remains regulated.
- Under the Forest Rights Act bamboo is a minor forest produce, owned by the forest dwellers who collect it.
- Since the 2017 change, bamboo enterprises and livelihoods on farm grown bamboo have grown, with no further change in law.
What changed
12 Sep 2026
- A backgrounder set out where the 2017 change has led: bamboo enterprises and livelihoods on farm grown bamboo, with no further change in law.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2019: bamboo under the Indian Forest Act and the Forest Rights Act
Ecotourism in forests
Copy link to Ecotourism in forestsPrelims and Mains
Ecotourism facilities inside forests are governed by the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, under which an ecotourism facility inside a forest counted as a non forest use and needed diversion approval.
- The 2023 amendment placed ecotourism facilities among forestry and conservation activities, so the same construction no longer takes that route.
What changed
19 Aug 2026Newnewly added
- The sector has grown from a few crore rupees in two or three reserves in the early 2000s to an estimated $11 billion by 2025.
- Sharing of revenue with communities rests on convention and not law, and the share passed on differs from State to State.
- Carrying capacity is set administratively.
Mains: a change of definition in a statute, and not any project clearance, opened wilderness zones to construction.
Hasdeo Arand coal blocks
Copy link to Hasdeo Arand coal blocksPrelims and Mains
Hasdeo Arand in northern Chhattisgarh is one of central India's largest intact forests and overlies coal.
- A 2021 Wildlife Institute of India assessment recommended that no block beyond those already mined be opened.
What changed
3 Jul 2026New
- Environmental clearance was granted on 24 June 2026 for open cast mining in the Kente Extension block in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh, after in principle forest clearance on 9 June.
- It is the third major block cleared in Hasdeo, against a 2021 Wildlife Institute of India assessment that recommended no further mining there.
Fortress conservation
Copy link to Fortress conservationMains
Fortress conservation is the protection of wildlife by removing the communities that live in an area.
- The case against it rests on evidence that some traditional practices, such as mosaic burning, kept habitats in the condition wildlife needs.
What changed
29 Jul 2026BriefA study of the Soligas of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple sanctuary argues that their mosaic burning and small scale cultivation supported herbivores and tigers and held back Lantana camara. The Hindu, 29 Jul 2026: Study draws on Soligas in Karnataka to make case against 'fortress conservation approach' (opens in a new tab)