Aravalli hills: Environmentalists demand scrapping Forest Conservation Bill as Parliament session begins
According to environmentalists, if the new amendment Bill is passed the bulk of Aravallis can potentially be sold, diverted, cleared, and exploited without any regulatory oversight.
The Monsoon session of Parliament began today. (File Photo) Environmentalists and local people have reiterated their demand to scrap the Forest Conservation Act Amendment Bill 2023 in its current form even as the joint parliamentary committee examining the Bill is expected to submit its report during the monsoon session of Parliament that began Thursday.
According to protesters under the banner of Aravalli Bachao Andolan, if the new amendment bill is passed the bulk of Aravallis can potentially be sold, diverted, cleared, and exploited without any regulatory oversight.
“We urge our parliamentarians not to go against the wishes of the people and save the future of youth by scrapping the FCA Amendment Bill,” said Mahi, a Students 4 Aravalli team member.
Citizens across states have been holding peaceful demonstrations in the Aravallis in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Jawai in Rajasthan and at the site of the ongoing ‘Jan Haq Dharna’ at Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur against desertification of the ranges.
“It is estimated that around 39,063 hectares of forests across India are sacred groves that are protected and managed as forests by local communities even though they are not currently notified as forests. The sacred forest of Mangar Bani in Haryana is recorded as ‘gair mumkin pahad’ and is awaiting recognition as a forest by Haryana,” said Neelam Ahluwalia, founder member of the Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement.
She said that the FCA Amendment Bill will decimate such land across the 690 km Aravalli mountain range spread over four states and the rest of India. Also, hugely at risk are 50,000 acres of the range in Haryana since these forests have not yet been notified as ‘deemed forests’, Ahluwalia added.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly directed Haryana to identify forests “as per dictionary meaning” in Godavarman (1996) judgment but the government has failed to carry out this exercise, Ahluwalia pointed out.
According to a recent study by Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, 7.6 percent (5,772.7 sqkm) of forest cover in the Aravallis has already gone during a 44-year period from 1975 to 2019, Ahluwalia said.
“The desert is advancing towards eastern Rajasthan, Haryana and India’s National Capital Region. Experts attribute desertification to destruction of the Aravalli hills and loss of forests and green cover. The FCA Amendment Bill 2023, if enacted in its current avatar, will increase the rate of desertification and be disastrous for the forests, the air quality, the water security, the people and the wildlife of the entire Aravalli belt,” said Mahi.
Dalit thinker and writer Bhanwar Meghvanshi said that tribals and Dalit families dependent on the Aravallis have been campaigning against the ongoing mining by companies in the Aravalli hills. “It is high time the governments realised that forests are best conserved and protected by local communities that depend on them for their life, livelihood and identity,” he said.
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