Background:
- India has a target of having 33 % of its geographical area under the forest cover. Acc. to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2015 the total forest is 24.16 %.
- Under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, the government collects money for carrying out Compensatory Afforestation (CA) across the country.
- This is funded from industrial projects like mining or dams which leads to diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.
- This fund has accumulated to be over Rs. 66,000 crores over the past four decades.
Rules:
- To ensure proper utilisation of this Rs. 66,000 crores, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act 2016 was enacted by Parliament in 2016.
- In August 2018, the Government of India notified the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Rules, 2018 to implement the act.
- Salient features of Rules:
- At least 80% of the fund shall be used for activities like natural/artificial regeneration and protection of plantations and forests
- The remaining 20% of the fund will be used for strengthening of the forest and wildlife-related infrastructure and capacity building of the personnel.
- These activities will be taken up in consultation with the Gram Sabha or the Village Forest Management Committee (VFMC), as the case may be.
- The money will not be used for travelling allowances, undertaking foreign visits, purchase of furniture, office equipment etc.
- After notifying the rules, the Union Ministry of Environment notified that the provisions of the CAF Act 2016 will come into force from September 30.
Criticism of rules by Opposition Parties and Environmentalists:
- The new rules undermine the authority of the Gram Sabha as they have been equated with the joint forest management committee (JFMC). Gram Sabha is a statutory authority established under the FRA and PESA, whereas JFMC has got no legal status.
- The new rules undermine the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 and PESA (Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas), 1996 which established the primacy of a Gram Sabha in protecting, managing and conserving their forests.
- They violate the assurances given in parliament in 2016 by the then environment minister Anil Madhav Dave that the rules will ensure the primacy of Gram Sabhas.
- The proposal for the creation of land banks for CA from revenue forests and degraded forests further allows for illegal takeover of community land at a large scale.
- Formal recognition of rights is limited to only 2-3% of the minimum potential in the last 10 years.
