The Ministry said the study done by Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal was “inadvertently” uploaded on its website as draft forest policy.
“The Ministry has not issued any draft notification on National Forest Policy. What has been uploaded on the website was a study done by Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. The study has not been evaluated by the Ministry.
“The Ministry has not taken any decision on draft forest policy. The study report prepared by IIFM, Bhopal was inadvertently uploaded as draft forest policy on the website,” said SS Negi, Director General, Forest, and Special Secretary, Environment Ministry.
The Ministry had uploaded the draft national forest policy on its website which, once ratified, would have replaced the 1988 policy.
The document said, “the draft of the National Forest Policy, 2016, has been prepared by the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal (IIFM) based on village level focus group discussions...regional and national level consultations, inputs from various stakeholders and analysis of primary and secondary datasets carried out during the years 2015 and 2016.”
There were also reports in a section of media that the Ministry, after uploading the document, had given very little time for stakeholders to comment on it.Negi said the Ministry has an elaborate procedure of preparing a draft policy and no such process has been undertaken by it.
“As Director General Forest, I would like to clarify that this document is not the draft forest policy. The Ministry has an elaborate procedure for preparing draft policy document, which takes into account multiple inputs from all stakeholders, state governments, think tanks and public consultation.