Centre seeks expression of interest for draft amendment to Indian Forest Act

The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was largely based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the British.
The first and most famous was the Indian Forest Act of 1878.
The preamble to the Indian Forest Act, 1927 states that the Act seeks to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest produce and the duty that can be levied on timber and other forest produce.
It also defines the procedure to be followed for declaring an area to be a Reserved Forest, a Protected Forest or a Village Forest. The Act gave the Government and Forest Department the power to create Reserved Forests, and the right to use Reserved Forests for Government use alone.
It defines what is a forest offence, what are the acts prohibited inside a Reserved Forest, and penalties leviable on violation of the provisions of the Act.
It has 86 Sections and it has been divided into 13 chapters.
In the Indian Forest Act, 1927, a striking feature is the absence of any definition of forest or forest land. The attempt of the Supreme Court to assign a meaning to the term ‘forest’ as per the dictionary meaning has seen a spate of interventions in the Court due to its wide ambit.
Forest as per the above definition, may include private, common pasture, or cultivable land.

The Environment Ministry has called for expressions of interest from consulting agencies, firms, joint venture consortiums to prepare a new draft amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
The government considers the 1927 law is very old and rudimentary. It is important to draft a new law addressing current challenges.
In 2019 a draft of amendment to 1927 act was put up by the government, but it withdrew it after protests from the tribal groups.
Another attempt is being made by the government with multisectorial consultation. Experts say that any attempt to amend this law should be democratic, inclusive and should not be rushed through.

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