The 25-year test: Amrit Kaal and the importance of ‘green growth’

The year 2023 marks 75 years of the Indian nation and the beginning of the 25-year Amrit Kaal period. The vision for Amrit Kaal includes a thriving natural environment and economy with the opportunity for self-actualisation for all. Present-day India has emerged on the back of a stable political system, adequate food production, and nuclear and space capabilities.

During the past decades, governance in India has witnessed a transition from poverty alleviation to a focus on digital and hard infrastructure development, giving rise to competitive politics around economic development. India is now the fifth-largest global economy. Private sector participation in the economy is increasing, with a market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio above 80% and private investment at 20% of the GDP.

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India is riding the wave of internet-based technologies that enable financial inclusion, seamless communication, access to health services, universal franchise and disaster response. Population growth, once considered a hindrance to development, has turned advantageous, with the declining age dependency ratio at 48%.

A self-assured India has entered Amrit Kaal on the heft of a buoyant economy, human resources, soft power, growing global influence and with the Vedantic spirit of one earth, one family, one future. However, the aggravating environmental crises pose the single most formidable challenge to economic growth during Amrit Kaal.

Centrality of Environment

Our proximate natural environment, consisting of the tropospheric air, land surface, water areas, and biodiversity and its unique assemblages, is reeling under the impact of the environmentally-incompatible economic development process. The depletion and degradation of natural resources have put limits on economic development.

Aggravating environmental crises — changing climate, loss of biodiversity, and the warming of oceans — are causing widespread disruption of human and natural systems. Consequently, environmental and social risks have become mainstream risks for businesses over the past two decades. India is projected to suffer a GDP loss of up to 4.5% from heatwave exposure alone by the end of this decade.

Moreover, failure to promote the economy on a sound environmental base is believed to render the planet unliveable. Recognising this, environmental restoration has gained centrality in the economic growth discourse and left the national and local governments in a huddle to meet the challenge.

The urgency for environmental action has led to the adoption of several global conventions and agreements such as the Convention on Combating Desertification, the Paris Agreement, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and Agenda 2030 on SDGs. Essentially, environmental restoration is the first challenge for humanity to address before the narrow window available for action shuts.

Under the circumstances, is the Indian Forest Service (IFS) the only readily available structured service in India to achieve environmental restoration? Do the state forest departments (SFDs) have the necessary bulk (men and machine) and core (knowledge, training and technology)? Can SFDs led by the IFS save the
day? Yes, they can, but need strengthening and rebooting.

Rebooting IFS

The IFS cadres — an All-India Service constituted under Article 312 of the Constitution of India — lead SDFs with the mandate of forest conservation, enhancement and protection.

Forest personnel undertake forestry, wildlife and other developmental works, maintain records and accounts of forest lands, and protect forest lands and resources from land mafias and smugglers.

They carry out administrative, policing, and even judicial functions in respect of forest lands and resources. Personnel up to the Range Forest Officer (RFO) level wear service uniform and are delegated powers to search, seize and arrest. Senior forest officials are vested with the quasi-judicial powers to confiscate vehicles and property involved in forest offences.

Forests are the single largest use of public lands in India. The extent of recorded forest area is 73.46 million hectares, constituting 23.46% of the country’s geographical area. Agriculture takes up the largest amount of land (51%) under the private lands category. Built-up areas, wastelands and other land uses constitute the remaining one-fourth of the geographical area. Thus, SFDs are the biggest custodians of public lands in the country.

SFDs managed by the IFS cadres have been successful to a great extent in protecting the natural resources on the forest lands as a public resource. It is noteworthy that a majority of lands in the country including agricultural lands have undergone severe capacity loss to autonomously maintain productivity, but such capacity is only marginally compromised in the case of forest lands.

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The satellite-monitored forest and tree cover in the country has increased from 77.8 million hectares (Mha) in 2003 to 80.9 Mha in 2021.

Wildlife habitats continue to thrive in India hosting more than 60% of the total global wild populations of each — Asiatic lion, tiger, Asian elephant and Indian rhinoceros. The reversal of long-term decreasing trends of forest and tree cover and megafaunal populations is an example of the extraordinary success of the forest sector management in India.

However, such success is not without a cost. Scores of foresters have lost their lives in the line of duty fighting forest fires, driving wild animals back to forests, and protecting forest lands (48 in Karnataka alone including two IFS officers since the mid-1960s).

The long list of forest martyrs demonstrates their utmost dedication to duty, as the supreme sacrifice is made ignoring the softer options. Despite challenges, the ‘karmayogi’ foresters in SFDs remain in tight embracement with mother earth and strive to protect it against all injuries.

In conclusion, well-preserved and productive natural ecosystems are necessary for economic growth. Strengthened SFDs led by the IFS are the best bet in the country for tasking environmental restoration for a sustainable economy. However, this demands ‘gyanyog’ (pursuit of knowledge) of a ‘gyanyogi’, karma-shakti (power of deed) of a ‘karmayogi’, ‘saiyam’ (patience) of a ‘sanyasi’ (monk), and ‘chaturya’ (intelligence) of a ‘rana-nitigya’. IFS, as a service, has to reboot for this in the
Amrit Kaal.

(The writer is director-general, Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute.)