National Forest Policy in India

The Government of India accounted for a severe and persistent depletion of the forest resources for a prolonged duration of time. The constant demand for the procurement of fuel, wood, timber, and fodder for crops and animals had been imposing great pressure on the forest lands. Moreover, the insufficient measures of protection, conversion of forest areas into non-forest lands without implementing the provisions of afforestation and necessary protection measures, and consideration of such areas as a huge source of revenue have led to the imbalanced presence of the greens. To counterfeit such illegal measures, the Government implemented the regulatory strategies under the National Forest Policy, 1988 in India.

The Government of India introduced its very first national forest policy in India in 1952 with the key highlights:

• A comprehensive, yet functional approach to the effective management of forests in India, contributing to the growth and enhancing the independent functionality of the country.
• It represented a top-down approach to the administration of the forests.
• It highlighted the proposal to expand the forest cover to 1/3rd of the entire Indian subcontinent landmass.
• It emphasized the guiding principles of the forest management document both at the state and the local levels.

The National Forest Policy of 1952 sought to contribute either directly or indirectly to the economy which exploited the forests and deprived them of their conservation practices and protection which brought the policy to an ineffective end. The earlier practices were aimed at extracting the maximum use of forest land.

Thus, the National Forest Policy, 1988 came into existence.

Objectives of the National Forest Policy, 1988:

• Effective maintenance of ecological and environmental stability of the forest lands through preservation.
• Restoring the ecological balance of the environment that has been disrupted due to the depletion of resources.
• Conservation of the natural heritage of our country by maintaining the flora and fauna.
• Checking, controlling and initiating preventive steps for soil erosion caused due to artificial and natural hazards in the catchment area of the rivers, reservoirs, and lakes, to prevent droughts and deceleration of siltation in the reservoirs.
• Increasing the forest population through reforestation, afforestation, and related social forestry initiatives.
• Efficient utilization of forest resources to avoid wastage.

Strategies under the scheme:

• One-third of the total land area should be under forest cover. Two-thirds of the area is to be maintained under forest cover in the mountainous and hilly regions to avoid land and soil erosion, degradation, and slides.

• Initiatives such as Afforestation and Reforestation should be prioritized. Development of wood, fuel, and fodder development particularly in all the deprived unproductive lands in the country.

• The unproductive land area of the village areas should be transformed into areas for growing crops and the Government should encourage such initiatives financially to provide funds to the people carrying out the jobs. It helps in generating revenues that should be distributed within the local communities consisting of the weaker sections of people.
• Projects that are related to areas of steep slopes, uneven terrains, catchments of lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, moist rain forests, and other sensitive areas should be entirely guarded properly.
• Government approval for conducting an operation in such areas should be made mandatory. The Central Government must provide certain guidelines to the State Government and the latter should ensure compliance with the said rules.
• The cutting of the practice of shifting agriculture should be substituted by social forestry and energy plantations.
• Forestry education and research should be conducted to make one aware of the conservation, protection, and efficient utilization of the resources
• Proper legislation and execution of the policy should be made for the effective functioning of the strategies undertaken under the scheme.
• The motives/aims of the forest policy should be attained without a considerable scale of investment in forest resources and finances.
• Controlling the activities that lead to forest fires by adopting special management practices.
• Controlling agricultural activities such as grazing and browsing.
• Ex-situ and In-situ conservation measures are actively practiced.
• Lead towards an effective mass movement with women supporters for achieving the policy objectives and minimize the pressures that were prevalent during the recent years.

With the introduction of the Forest Policy of 1988, the tree cover and the forest area have increased from 20% to 25% of the geographical area and thus, the policy is moderately helping India achieve its environmental stability and balance its ecology.

Conclusion:

 Forests are essential for regulating and maintaining the natural ecosystem which in turn helps in preserving the living diversity. They are not to be considered a source of revenue. They are natural renewable sources and hence they need to be properly maintained and protected. In recent times there has been no proposal for reviewing the National Forest Policy, 1988 as per the reports of 2006 there is no necessity to amend the recent policy.