Centre disowns draft forest policy

The ministry of environment and forests on Saturday distanced itself from the recently released draft National Forest Policy. The said policy, among other things, calls for private companies being encouraged to grow artificial forests for timber business in the future.

The official clarification came after criticism that the proposed policy could run foul of the Forest Rights Act. The Director General, Forest and Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said, “The Ministry has not issued any draft notification on National Forest Policy. What has been uploaded on the website was a study done by Indian Institute of Forest Management Bhopal (IIFM). The study has not been evaluated by the Ministry."

"The study report prepared by IIFM Bhopal was inadvertently uploaded as draft forest policy on the Website,” he said.

On June 16, the office memorandum of the ministry had said, “The ministry is in the process of revising the present National Forest Policy, 1988. A draft National Forest Policy in this regard has been prepared and is enclosed. All stakeholders are requested to send their comments, if any, by email ...by June 20, 2016.”