‘Amendments to Forest Conservation Act led to privatisation of forest mgmt’

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the amendments made to the Forest (Conservation) Act in 2023 have opened the door for the privatisation of forest management.

Congress general secretary and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh shared on X a screenshot of a circular issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change on January 2 related to amendment of the guidelines specifying the terms and conditions for the assignment of forest land on lease.

“In August 2023, the Modi Government had bulldozed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 through Parliament. Apart from renaming this law as the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, these amendments had introduced far-reaching changes in the legal regime for the governance of forests in the country,” Ramesh said in his post on X.

“It had been pointed out at that time itself that the amendments opened the door for privatisation of forest management. This is exactly what has happened as evidenced from the circular issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change on January 2, 2026,” hesaid.

The circular shared by Ramesh stated that “based on recommendation of Advisory Committee and approval of the said recommendations by competent authority, the Central Government with a view to align with the evolving framework for restoration of forest land and utilization of silvicultural available sustainable harvest from forests and in accordance with provision of section 2(1)(i), and section 3C of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, hereby amend the sub para 14 of para 7.2 of the guidelines notified on 29.11.2023 and incorporated at para 7.2 of the Consolidated Guidelines, by inserting the following provison.” agencies