The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 was sent to a select committee, amid strong protest from the Opposition, especially senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who heads the Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forest. He called it “yet another subversion of Parliament”, accusing the government of deliberately bypassing the parliamentary panel on the subject.
Mr. Ramesh also wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar against the decision. In the Rajya Sabha, during the afternoon session, Union Minister for Environment Bhupender Yadav moved a motion to nominate the members to the joint select committee instituted to look at the Bill. Opposition members were heard protesting asking the Chairman who demanded constitution of such a panel.
Mr. Ramesh told The Hindu, “If the Bill falls fairly and squarely in the subjects covered by the standing committee concerned and yet the Bill gets referred to a select committee for a blatantly political purpose why continue as Chairman of the standing committee. It is yet another subversion of Parliament.”
‘Hopelessly one-sided’
In his letter to the Chairman, that Mr. Ramesh shared on Twitter, he said that there were also serious problems with the list of members from the Rajya Sabha proposed by the government for the joint committee. “No member of the opposition figures in the list which is hopelessly one-sided,” he wrote. Though, Trinamool Congress’s Jawhar Sircar is part of the committee. “The fundamental issue is the devaluation and denigration of the status and functions of the standing committee concerned,” he added in the letter. He also urged the Chairman to ensure that the Bill is redirected to the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests instead of the joint select committee.
Under the original Act, any proposal involving diversion of forest land of more than five hectares must be given by the Central government, through an advisory committee led by Director General, Forests.
The new rules stipulate a two-stage approval process — “in principle” and “final approval” to be granted by the Central government for any application seeking diversion of the forest land for non-forestry uses, including any kind of development or construction.
