Rising KashmirRising KashmirRising Kashmir
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • Kashmir
    • City
    • Jammu
    • Politics
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Search

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022

Categories

  • Anchor
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • City
  • Developing Story
  • Editorial
  • Education
  • Features
  • Health
  • Interview
  • Jammu
  • Jammu and Kashmir News
  • Kashmir
  • Kashmir Tourism
  • Kath Bath
  • National
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top Stories
  • Trending
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Viewpoint
  • World
© 2022 Foxiz News Network. Ruby Design Company. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Liberalization of Forest Conservation Act and Regulations for Agro-forestry Revolution
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Rising KashmirRising Kashmir
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Search
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • Kashmir
    • City
    • Jammu
    • Politics
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Follow US
© 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Rising Kashmir > Blog > Opinion > Liberalization of Forest Conservation Act and Regulations for Agro-forestry Revolution
Opinion

Liberalization of Forest Conservation Act and Regulations for Agro-forestry Revolution

RK News
Last updated: April 1, 2023 11:38 pm
RK News
Published: April 1, 2023
Share
7 Min Read
SHARE

Dr. RAMESH CHAND

 

Forestry is part of agriculture and allied sectors which comprise four segments namely, crops, livestock, fishery and forestry. Out of these, first three segments have witnessed sort of revolution like green revolution, white revolution, and blue revolution etc. This resulted in more than 3.05 per cent annual growth in their output during in the last 50 years. However, output of forestry increased by mere 0.54% per year which is not even one third of growth rate in population. This has very serious economic and ecological implications. Per capita availability of wood and wood products produced in the country followed a steep decline and India had to meet large part of domestic demand for wood and products from imports. Insignificant growth in forestry also means little growth in environment and ecology friendly production. This has far reaching implications for carbon sequestration, water balance and health of natural eco system.

 

Output of forestry comes from three sources viz. public forest, privately owned land and other land types owned by Centre and states, panchayats, communities etc. Due to various reasons extraction of wood and wood based products and setting up of wood based industry is strictly regulated by Forest Conservation Acts and various regulations. The total land area under forest in India is 23.4 million hectare. There is rationale to ban or check commercial extraction of forest produce especially wood and wood products in such areas. However, there is huge possibility of raising forestry and trees outside this forest area to meet goals related to economic growth, environment, ecology and sustainability. The biggest scope is on agricultural land by adopting agro forestry.

 

Out of total cultivable land, 26 million hectare remains fallow. This is more than total area under forests in the country. India also has 12 million hectare of culturable waste lands. There are huge possibilities of raising trees on fallow land, culturable waste and on field boundaries. At present, forestry plantations on private non forest land covers very small area and most of tree species grow only naturally. They are not sufficient to meet domestic demand for wood. As a result India has been importing large quantity of wood and wood products which has shown rising trend till 2018-19 when imports reached $ 6126 million or Rs. 42841 crore.

 

The reasons for very low interest in tree plantations and agroforestry needs closer examination. There is no demand side constraint as the prices and import of wood and wood based products follow rising trend in the country. Till a few years back there were strict restrictions on felling of trees grown on non forest private land and their interstate movement required Transit permit. This even discouraged naturally growing trees on private lands as landowners had to follow cumbersome procedures to get permission for selling such trees. In the meantime country came with National Forest Policy 1988 and National Agroforestry Policy 2014 to encourage tree plantation in the country. In the wake of all this, MoEFCC issued fresh guidelines to States and UTs for “Felling and Transit Regulations for Tree Species Grown on Non Forest Private Lands” on 18 Nov. 2014. These guidelines clearly specified list of tree species exempted from any restrictions for felling and liberalised transit rules for tree species grown on private land. Subsequently, this matter was taken up by the NITI Aayog with States/UTs as a part of Reforms related to Agriculture and Allied Sectors. Some states issued their own notifications to comply with the guidelines issued by the central government. However, the matter was not very actively followed in most of the states.

 

Even the limited follow up of liberalization of restrictions on felling and transit of trees raised on private land showed large impact on growth of output of forestry and reduction in import of wood and wood based products. A year after the notification on relaxation of restrictions on felling of Tree Species grown on Private Land, output of forestry sector show more than 5 per cent annual growth for three consecutive years. This never happened before (since 1950-51). Similarly, import of wood and wood based products declined by 5% in two years after 2014-15 and fluctuated thereafter rather than moving on rising trend.

 

Field reports indicate that area under agroforestry species, like poplar, has seen large increase in some pockets in the country. However, the information about removal of restrictions on felling of trees has not percolated down in large parts of the country. There is a need to take this information to village level. There is also a need for complete liberalization of felling and free transport of tree material in the country to encourage greening of India. In the present day of technology there are ways to ascertain source of supply i.e. whether the produce is from forest land or private land.

 

Technological options are now available for faster and better quality production of various tree species. However, due to various kinds of regulatory restrictions markets for tree species remain highly underdeveloped. If these constraints are removed, forestry sector has the potential for “brown revolution” like other three sub sectors of agriculture and allied sectors.

 

 

(The Author is Member, NITI Aayog)

 

World Day Against Child Labour: Restoring Shattered Hopes
Promoting Mental Health
Modern-day stress and risk of diabetes
Landmark Verdict: Supreme Court Affirms Prime Minister Modi’s Vision for Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370 Abrogation
Role of rural women

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Copy Link Print
Previous Article Advanced treatment methods may enhance survival rate of patients with brain metastasis
Next Article MC removes illegal hoardings, banners in Bijbehara
Leave a Comment Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected

1MFollowersLike
262kFollowersFollow
InstagramFollow
234kSubscribersSubscribe
Google NewsFollow

Latest News

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Dy NSA Pavan Kapoor meet US Under Secretary of Defence Elbridge Colby
Breaking National
May 30, 2025
Security stepped up in Poonch ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit
Breaking Jammu and Kashmir News
May 30, 2025
“Excellent discussions”: All-Party delegation wraps up Saudi visit with focus on terrorism and strategic ties
Breaking National
May 30, 2025
Counter Intelligence wing of J-K Police conduct raids across Kashmir valley in terror link case
Breaking Kashmir
May 30, 2025

Recent Posts

  • Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Dy NSA Pavan Kapoor meet US Under Secretary of Defence Elbridge Colby
  • Security stepped up in Poonch ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit
  • “Excellent discussions”: All-Party delegation wraps up Saudi visit with focus on terrorism and strategic ties
  • Counter Intelligence wing of J-K Police conduct raids across Kashmir valley in terror link case
  • India’s Purple Revolution to take centre stage at Bhaderwah festival

Recent Comments

  1. BASHIR AHMAD BHAT on Poor hotel accommodation, lack of medical facilities irk Kashmiri pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, video goes viral
  2. sree vishnu movies on Pahalgam attack shatters Kashmir’s film tourism revival
  3. SavePlus on AI and Behavioural Analytics in Gaming: Making the World of Gaming Better
  4. Parul on Govt acknowledges faulty streetlights on Narbal-Tangmarg road
  5. dr gora on Women Veterinarians and the Goal of Viksit Bharat

Contact Us

Flat No 7,Press Enclave, Srinagar, 190001
0194 2477887
9971795706
[email protected]
[email protected]

Quick Link

  • E-Paper
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Top Categories

Stay Connected

1.06MLike
262.5kFollow
InstagramFollow
234.3kSubscribe
WhatsAppFollow
Rising KashmirRising Kashmir
Follow US
© 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?