Himanta govt said about 20% of state's forest area has been encroached upon. SC stressed importance of constitutional safeguards, saying exercise must be carried out through lawful means.
The latest State of Forests Report highlighted that India's total forest and tree cover accounted for 25.17% of the country’s total geographical area—an increase of 3.41% since 2021.
Environmental concerns are often neglected, if not entirely absent, from the national agenda. They’re rarely a talking point in election campaigns, says conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra.
A group of 91 retired officers who served in govt has written to environment ministry urging it to withdraw a notification outlining green credit rules, calling them 'unscientific'.
Court order comes in response to petition challenging Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023. SC asks states, UTs to revert to 'dictionary definition' of forests while preparing records.
We don’t know how much of India’s real forests are officially documented. Now, we may never get to know it all—with the amendment, these forests can be chopped down without permit.
The success of forest restoration efforts cannot be measured by tree cover alone. Some of the best practices of communities such as Gadchiroli should be studied and scaled up.
Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha Wednesday. It aims to
‘remove ambiguities’ surrounding the applicability of the 1980 law.
Months after giving ‘in-principle approval’ for oil/gas drilling, govt’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has asked for further studies after Wildlife Institute’s recommendations.
In tactical terms, the shirtless protest was worse than a self-goal. Suddenly, the fiascos of the AI Summit were forgotten, and the Youth Congress’s disruption became the issue.
IAF is fine with accepting the aircraft with 'must-haves', even if some other steps remain pending, which may take at least another year, it is learnt.
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