Preservation of Forest

Environmental Laws
The Indian Forest Act, 1927

The Indian Forest Act,1927 aimed to regulate the movement of forest produce, and
duty leviable forest produce. It also explains the procedure to be followed for declaring an
area as Reserved Forest, Protected Forest or a Village Forest.
This act has details of what a forest offence is, what are the acts prohibited inside
a Reserved Forest, and penalties leviable on violation of the provisions of the Act. After
the Forest Act was enacted in 1865, it was amended twice (1878 and 1927).
Indian Forest Act of 1927: This Act impacted the life of forest-dependent
communities. The penalties and procedures given in this Act aimed to extend the state’s
control over forests as well as diminishing the status of people’s rights to forest use.
o The village communities were alienated from their age-old symbiotic association
with forests. Further amendments were also made to restrain the local use of forests
mainly by forest-dependent communities.
o It was enacted to make forest laws more effective and to improve the previous forest
laws.
Objective
▪ To consolidate all the previous laws regarding forests.

▪ To give the Government the power to create different classes of forests for their
effective usage for the colonial purpose.
▪ To regulate movement and transit of forest produce, and duty leviable on timber and
other forest produce.
▪ To define the procedure to be followed for declaring an area as Reserved Forest,
Protected Forest or Village Forest.
▪ To define forest offences acts prohibited inside the Reserved Forest, and penalties
leviable on the violation.
▪ To make conservation of forests and wildlife more accountable.
Types of Forests
▪ Reserved Forests: Reserve forests are the most restricted forests and are
constituted by the State Government on any forest land or wasteland which is the
property of the Government.
o In reserved forests, local people are prohibited, unless specifically allowed by a
Forest Officer in the course of the settlement.
o Land rights to forests declared to be Reserved forests or Protected
forests are typically acquired (if not already owned) and owned by the
Government of India. Unlike national parks of India or wildlife sanctuaries of
India, reserved forests and protected forests are declared by the
respective state governments.
Land rights to forests declared to be Reserved forests or Protected forests are

typically acquired (if not already owned) and owned by the Government of India.
Unlike national parks of India or wildlife sanctuaries of India, reserved forests and
protected forests are declared by the respective state governments. At present,
reserved forests and protected forests differ in one important way: Rights to all
activities like hunting, grazing, etc. in reserved forests are banned unless specific
orders are issued otherwise. In protected areas, rights to activities like hunting and
grazing are sometimes given to communities living on the fringes of the forest, who
sustain their livelihood partially or wholly from forest resources or products.
▪ Protected Forests: The State Government is empowered to constitute any land

other than reserved forests as protected forests over which the Government has
proprietary rights and the power to issue rules regarding the use of such forests.
o This power has been used to establish State control over trees, whose timber,
fruit or other non-wood products have revenue-raising potential.
▪ Typically, protected forests are often upgraded to the status of wildlife sanctuaries,
which in turn may be upgraded to the status of national parks, with each category
receiving a higher degree of protection and government funding. For
example, Sariska National Park was declared a reserved forest in 1955, upgraded
to the status of a wildlife sanctuary in 1958, becoming a Tiger Reserve in 1978.
Sariska became a national park in 1992, though primary notification to declare it
as a national park was issued as early as 1982.
▪ Protected forest is an area or mass of land notified under the provisions of Indian
forest act or the state forests act having limited degree of protection. In protected
forests, all activities are permitted unless it is prohibited. Protected forest is an
area or mass of land which is a reserved forests, and over which the government
has property rights, declared to be so by a state government under the provisions
of section 29 of the Indian forest act 1927.
▪ Village forest: Village forests are the one in which the State Government may
assign to ‘any village community the rights of Government to or over any land which
has been constituted a reserved forest’.
Forest Settlement Officer
o The Forest Settlement Office is appointed, by the State government, to inquire into
and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour
of any person in or over any land comprising a Reserved forest.
o He/she is empowered even to acquire land over which right is claimed.
Under section 4, the Forest Settlement-officer shall publish in the local
vernacular in every town and village. Section 11 in The Indian Forest Act, 1927 [Complete
Act] pasture, or a right to forest-produce or a water-course, the Forest Settlement-
officer shall pass an order admitting the aspects regarding Forest-produce and forest-
pastures, etc.
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The Indian Forest Policy, 1952:

The Indian Forest Policy, 1952 was a simple extension of colonial forest policy.
However, it became conscious about the need to increase the forest cover to one-third
of the total land area.
o At that time maximum annual revenue from forests is the vital national need.
The two World Wars, need for defence, developmental projects such as river
valley projects, industries like pulp, paper and plywood, and communication
heavily depended on forest produce on national interest, as a result, huge areas
of forests were cleared to raise revenue for the State.
The Forest Conservation Act, 1980:

The Forest Conservation Act, 1980 stipulated that the central permission is
necessary to practice sustainable agro-forestry in forest areas. Violation or lack of permit
was treated as a criminal offence.
o It targeted to limit deforestation, conserve biodiversity and save wildlife.

Though this Act provides greater hope towards forest conservation it was not
successful in its target.
National Forest Policy, 1988:

The ultimate objective of the National Forest policy was to maintain environmental
stability and ecological balance through conservation of forests as a natural heritage.
o The National Forest Policy in 1988 made a very significant and categorical shift
from commercial concerns to focus on the ecological role of the forests and
participatory management.
▪ Some of the other Acts related to forest conservation are :
o The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, The Environment Protection Act of

1986, and The Biodiversity Protection Act of 2003.
o Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006: It has been enacted to
recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation of forest land in forest-
dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been
residing in such forests for generations.

Preservation of Forest

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Preservation of Forest

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Environmental Laws

The Indian Forest Act, 1927

▪ To consolidate all the previous laws regarding forests.

Land rights to forests declared to be Reserved forests or Protected forests are

▪ Protected Forests: The State Government is empowered to constitute any land

The Indian Forest Policy, 1952:

The Forest Conservation Act, 1980:

o It targeted to limit deforestation, conserve biodiversity and save wildlife.

National Forest Policy, 1988:

o The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, The Environment Protection Act of

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