 bill no  85 of  2009 the forest (conservation) amendment bill, 2009 by shri satpal maharaj, mp a billfurther to amend the forest (conservation) act, 1980be it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the forest (conservation) amendment act, 2009short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint52   after section 3b of the forest (conservation) act, 1980, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new  sections 3c and 3d10protection of rights ofinhabitants of hill areas over forests"3c (1) nothing in this act or in any other law, for the time being in force, in any part or whole of the territory of india shall be deemed to prohibit the inhabitants of hill areas, living in the vicinity of reserved forests or protected forests or in the vicinity of any other forest land, by whatever name called, from felling, cutting, sawing off or removing trees including green trees or from taking timber and fodder or  fetching water or using any other forest produce or from grazing rights or from stripping the bark or leaves from any tree or from quarrying of stones or from any other right or concession which they had been traditionally enjoying or which is recognised and settled as a right by the state government, in such forest or forest land for their own bonafide use for the purpose of collecting fuel or for agriculture or for other domestic and non-commercial purposes5(2) for the purposes of sub-section (1), the state government shall grant licenses to the bonafide users in such form and manner as it may, by notification in the official gazette, specify10(3) nothing in this section shall prohibit the state from imposing such conditions or making such regulations, including quantities of forest produce which the bonafide users may be entitled to, as are necessary, for conservation and development of  forests for public good(4) the provisions of this section shall have effect notwithstanding any judgment or order or decree of any court or tribunal or any authority contrary to the provisions of this section153d (1)  notwithstanding anything contained in sections 2 and 3, the approval of the central government shall not be required for deforestation in the following cases, namely:—(i) any work relating to building new houses for tribal and non-tribal families living in the vicinity of forest land;approval of central government not required for deforestation in certain cases20(ii) construction of,—(a) roads or helipads or ropeways to give connectivity to importantplaces;(b) primary health centres; (c) anganwadis; and (d) water tanks;25(iii) laying of,—(a) pipelines for sewer/drinking water connections; and (b) telecommunication lines;30(iv) erection of electric poles for transmission and distribution of electricity for exclusive benefits to tribal and non-tribal settlements in the vicinity of forests;(v) any work relating or ancillary to mining; and (vi) any other development work to be carried out under any developmental scheme launched by the central government or state government, as the case may be35(2) every state government shall forward a list of all cases of deforestation under sub-section (1) to the union ministry of environment and forests40(3) if the central government, on the basis of information received under subsection (2) or otherwise, is satisfied that due to development works specified in subsection (1), the forest cover in a state has depleted more than ten per cent during any previous year and that the state government has not undertaken any effective steps to maintain the forest cover, it may, by notification, suspend the application of the provisions of this act, in relation to that state till such time as it may deem necessary" statement of objects and reasonsthe forest (conservation) act, 1980 was enacted with a view to checking increasing deforestation and consequent degradation of environment the act made prior approval of the central government obligatory for de-reservation of reserved forests and also for use of forest lands for non-forest purposes though no one disputes the purpose for which the act was enacted yet, it cannot be denied that the forests are inseparably linked with day to day life of the hill people people of the hill regions of uttarakhand enjoyed the right to graze cattle, take fuel wood, grass, stones, etc from the reserved forests for their bonafide use repeated attempts were made to curtail the rights of hills people from time to time in the past, there was a forest grievance committee appointed by the british government which submitted its report in 1921 thereafter, a report submitted by mr va stowell, ics on land management system, which is accepted as law, recognised all the aforesaid traditional rights of the hill people however, by an order dated 12 december 1996, the supreme court directed that in hill areas, felling of trees will not be permitted in any forest, whether  public or private however, this ban was not to apply to permits granted to right holders for their bonafide personal use in himachal pradeshin the hill regions of uttarakhand, approximately 40 thousand cu mt of  timber per year was granted to the people as rights and concessions of forest produce at the time of settlement under the indian forests act depriving people  of hill regions of their customary rights as recognised by the government has created hardships and discontent amongst them there is no fuel wood available in cremation grounds and for other bona fide customary uses of the people of hill regions of uttarakhandsimilarly, tribal and non-tribal people living in the vicinity of the forest land are facing problems in construction of their new houses, anganwadi centres, public health centres in and around their settlements there is no provision in the act to provide relaxation for utility services like construction of public roads, laying sewer lines, building water tanks, erecting electric poles for transmission and distribution of electricity supply and laying telephone lines, etcthe scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest rights) act, 2006 recently enacted by parliament, recognizes and confers certain rights on scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers however, these rights can be enjoyed only by those other traditional forest dwellers who have at least for three generations (ie seventy-five years in all) prior to 13 december 2005 primarily resided in and who depend on the forest lands for their bonafide livelihood needs this act, therefore, does not adequately address the problems of the people of hill regions of uttarakhand even after the enactment of this act, the people of hill regions are not able to enjoy their customary rights for their bonafide usefurther, development works like building new houses, roads, helipads, ropeways primary health centres, water tanks, etc still require approval of the central government this results in avoidable delay in the delivery of services to the people living in these areas this act, therefore, does not adequately address the problems of the people living in the vicinity of forest lands and especially of hilly regions of uttarakhandpeople living in the vicinity of forest lands have not seen any developmental work in their area as the existing forest (conservation) act, 1980 provides for a cumbersome procedure to be followed for approval of any project for development of basic amenities in the area it is necessary to serve the interests of the tribals and other non-tribal people living in the vicinity of forest lands by amending the existing forest (conservation) act, 1980 with a view to facilitate carrying out of necessary construction and other development related works to meet the demands of their growing population for housing, health centres, etc in the vicinity of their existing settlementsthe proposed bill is, therefore, an attempt towards restoring such customary rights as are enjoyed by the people of hill regions with forests, while, at the same time, allowing the state government to regulate such rights for the conservation of forests and also to enable them to implement the schemes aimed at the overall development of hilly regionsnew delhi;satpal maharajjuly 30, 2009 lok   sabha———— a billfurther to amend the forest (conservation) act, 1980————(shri satpal maharaj, mp)gmgipmrnd—3995ls(s-5)—04112009