Environment › Environmental law and institutions

Forest laws and forest rights

Forest law and the rights of forest dwellers: the Indian Forest Act, forest clearance and the definition of forest, the Forest Rights Act and 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.

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2021: moringa and tamarind: family, origin and minor forest produce

Showing 1 of 9 subjects, those that changed from 1 to 15 July 2026.Show all

Hasdeo Arand coal blocks

Prelims and Mains

Hasdeo Arand in northern Chhattisgarh is one of central India's largest intact forests and overlies coal, and a 2021 Wildlife Institute of India assessment recommended that no block beyond those already mined be opened.

What changed

3 Jul 2026New subject
- Environmental clearance was granted on 24 June 2026 for open cast mining in the Kente Extension block, about 1,760 hectares 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.
The Indian Express, 3 Jul 2026: A third coal block cleared in the Hasdeo forests, against the recommendation of the Wildlife Institute of India (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere

Limestone mining at Jafrabad · on Big cats
The Jafrabad lions live on the coast, well away from Gir, and what keeps them part of the same population is the strip of forest in between.