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Amid the growing concerns among environmentalists and scientists over the future of forests in India following the passage of the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act 2023, which makes it easier for the diversion of protected land, the Union Government has said that in the past 15 years, over three lakh hectares of forest land has been diverted for non-forestry purposes.

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Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told Lok Sabha on Monday that the forest land was diverted under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

According to government data, mining has been the single-largest cause of the diversion of forest land during this period.

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A total of 58,282 hectares of forest land was diverted for mining, followed by road construction (45,326 hectares).

Other major reasons for forest land diversion are irrigation (36,620 hectares), transmission lines (26,124 hectares), defence (24,337 hectares), hydel projects (13,136 hectares), railways (9,307 hectares), thermal power (4,101 hectares) and wind power infrastructure (2,181 hectares).

2009-10 saw the highest diversion of forest land in the past 15 years - 76,743 hectares.

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17,381 hectares of forest land was diverted in 2022-23, 16,785 hectares in 2021-22, 18,314 hectares in 2020-21, 17,392 hectares in 2019-20, 19,359 hectares in 2018-19 and 19,592 hectares in 2017-18.

7,467 hectares of forest land was diverted in 2016-17, 15,241 hectares in 2015-16, 13,045 hectares in 2014-15, 20,045 hectares in 2013-14, 13,978 hectares in 2012-13, 14,841 hectares in 2011-12, 23,117 hectares in 2010-11, and 12,701 hectares in 2008-09.

Among states, Punjab saw the maximum diversion of forest land in the past 15 years -- 61,318 hectares.

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Punjab was followed by Madhya Pradesh (40,627 hectares), Odisha (28,320 hectares), Telangana (19,419 hectares) and Gujarat (16,070 hectares)

Jharkhand (15,691 hectares), Chhattisgarh (15,082 hectares), Uttarakhand (14,141 hectares), Maharashtra (13,297 hectares), Rajasthan (12,877 hectares), Arunachal Pradesh (12,778 hectares) and Andhra Pradesh (11,093 hectares) also saw a significant amount of forest land being diverted.

Notably, the government also told the Parliament that 514 hectares of land were encroached on during this period.

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For the over three lakh hectares of diverted forest land, compensatory afforestation was conducted on over 9,34,380 hectares of land in the country in 15 years.

According to government data, India's total forest cover stands at 7,13,789 square kilometres, which is 21.71 pc of the country's total geographic area.

While the diversion of the three lakh hectares of forest land for non-forestry purposes was done with prior approval from the central government as per the Forest (Conservation) Act (FCA) 1980, the recently passed Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act 2023 makes it much easier.

In 1996, theSupreme Court, in a landmark judgment, had interpreted the 'forest' as any land which is recorded as 'forest' in any government record will also require 'forest clearance'. SC had held that the FC Act must apply to all forests irrespective of the nature of ownership or classification thereof.

However, according to the Forest Conservation Amendment, 2023, only those forest lands that are notified as forests under the law and those recorded as forests in any government record as of or after 25 October 1980 will be regulated under the principal Act.

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Over 3 Lakh Hectares Of Forest Diverted In 15 Years For Non-Forestry Purposes, 58,282 Hectares For Mining - Indiatimes.com