 bill no 160 of  2017 the wild life (protection) amendment bill, 2017 by shri kalikesh narayan singh deo, mp a billfurther to amend the wild life (protection) act, 1972be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of  india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the wild life (protection) amendment act, 2017short title and commencement5(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint53 of 1972insertion of new section 8a2 after section 8 of the wild life (protection) act, 1972 (herein referred to as the principal act), the following section shall be inserted, namely:—10"8a (1) the state government shall, in each sanctuary, constitute a local advisory committee to assist the state board for wild life constituted under section 6constitution of local advisory committee(2) the local advisory committee shall consist of:—(a) the chief wildlife warden not below the rank of divisional forest officer— chairperson;(b) member of legislative assembly within whose constituency the sanctuary is situated— member;(c) two representatives of the panchayati raj institutions— members;(d) one representative of non-governmental organisations— member;5(e) one person having expertise in the field of wildlife conservation—member;(f) one representative each from departments of the state government dealing with home and veterinary matters—members; and(g) the officer in-charge of the sanctuary as member-secretary,10to be appointed by the state government in such manner as may be prescribed(3) the committee shall meet quarterly to deliberate and render advice on the measures to be taken for better conservation and management of the sanctuary including participation of the people living within and around the sanctuary(4) the committee shall regulate its own procedure including quorum15(5) the minutes of the meeting of the committee shall be submitted to the chief wildlife warden within a period of ten days"3 in section 38-o of the principal act, in sub-section (1),—amendment of section 38-o(i) for sub-clauses (c), (d), (e) and (f), the following sub-clauses shall be substituted, namely:—20"(c) lay down normative standards for eco-tourism activities, tourism activities and guidelines, from time to time, for tiger conservation in the buffer and core areas of tiger reserves;25(d) assist tiger conservation foundation by laying down normative measures for addressing conflicts of men, wild trees and wild animals and emphasize on co-existence in the forest areas outside the national parks, sanctuaries or tiger reserves, as the case may be, in the working plan code;(e) provide information on protection measures through future conservation plan based on the report of the steering committees constituted under sub-section (2) of section 38u;30(f) co-ordinate research and monitoring on tiger, co-predators, prey, habitat, related ecological and socio-economic parameters and their evaluation;" (ii) after sub-clause (j), the following sub-clauses shall be inserted, namely:—(ja) facilitate and coordinate the functioning of several tiger conservation authorities in different states constituted under the act; and35"(jb) decide, in consultation with the national board for wild life, the state boards for wild life and the appropriate union ministry, the quantum of compensation payable in the event of wild life-human conflict, in addition to the immediate payment of ex-gratia compensation;" (iii) in sub-clause (k), for the word "functions", the words, "residuary functions"shall be substituted404 after section 38p, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 38pa45"38pa (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a regulatory authority to regulate the activities of the national tiger conservation authority and shall submit an annual report to the central government in this behalfconstitution of r e g u l a t o r y authority and procedure to regulate tiger conservation authority(2) the regulatory authority shall consist of,—(a) the secretary, union minister of environment, forest and climate change- chairperson;(b) ten chief wild life wardens- member;5(c) five experts or professionals having prescribed qualifications andexperience in conservation of wild life and welfare of people living in tiger reservewho are not already appointed members of the national tiger conservation authority—member; and(d) one member from the national green tribunal, member,to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed:10provided that every member appointed under clauses (b), (c) and (d) shall be appointed for annual non-consecutive terms15(3) the regulatory authority shall address any grievance or dispute filed by a statelevel or local body or authority related to the administration of tiger reserves, the conservation of the tiger and the performance of the national tiger conservation authority(4) every grievance or dispute filed under sub-section (2) shall be addressed on a majority of the votes of the member of the regulatory authority present and voting20(5) every member of the regulatory authority shall be empowered to highlight a specific issue in the functioning of the national tiger conservation authority and the tiger conservation authority fund:provided that no such issue shall be tabled and resolved unless counter filed by a majority vote from the members of the regulatory authority:provided further that in the case of a grievance against the decisions of the national tiger conservation authority, the regulation authority shall act as the harmonising, resolution and deciding forum25(6) the central government shall remove a member referred to in clause (b) of subsection (1) of section 38pa, from office if he—(a) is, or at any time has been, adjudicated as insolvent;30(b) has been convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of the centralgovernment, involves moral turpitude;(c) is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court; (d) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting; (e) is, without, obtaining leave of absence from the regulatory authority, absentfrom three consecutive meetings of the said authority; or35(f) has, in the opinion of the central government, so abused his position as torender his continuation in office detrimental to the public interest:provided that no member shall be removed from office under this sub-section unless he has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter40(7) any vacancy in the office of a member shall be filled by fresh appointmentand such member shall continue for the remainder of the term of the member in whose place he is appointed(8) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of appointment of the members of the regulatory authority shall be such as may be prescribedamendment of section 38u5 in section 38u of the principal act, after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be added, namely:—5"(3) without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section  (1), the steering committee shall undertake the estimation of population  of tiger and its natural prey species, status of habitats, disease surveillance, mortality survey, patrolling, reports on untoward happenings and such other management aspects as it may deem fit including future plan conservation, and report to the tiger conservation authority for the preparation of future conservation plan"amendment of section 38x106 in section 38x of the principal act, after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—15"(3) without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the tiger conservation foundation shall ensure the implementation of eco-tourism and tourism policy in accordance with the normative standards for eco-tourism activities, tourism activities and guidelines laid down under sub-clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 38-o and section 38xa"establishment of tigerconservationfoundation and its functions7 after section 38x of the principal act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new sections 38xa and 38xb20"38xa (1) the state government shall formulate a comprehensive policy to promote and incentivize tourism and eco-tourism over conventional wildlife tourism under its jurisdictionformulation of policy to promote and i n c e n t i v i z e tourism and eco-tourism(2) while formulating the policy under sub-section (1), the state government shall take into account,—(a) maintenance of the integrity of the forest reserve; (b) participation of the local communities in eco-tourism; (c) rights and benefit sharing with the local communities;25(d) sustainable use of indigenous material; (e) education, training and capacity building in conservation,—eco-tourism andancillary techniques;30(f) adequate assessment mechanism to assess the impact of eco-tourism activitieson the wild life reserve and local communities; and(g) developmental activities in tune with the ecological integrity of the forestreserve35(3) no new infrastructure shall be set up within the core zone of the wild life reserves, except for the purposes of the principal act or with the special permission of the authority(s) empowered thereunder in this regard(4) the state government shall constitute a community development fund from the revenue received from the visitor registration in each wild life reserve(5) the community development fund shall be utilized for the development of local community livelihood in that region40explanation— for the purposes of this sub-section, the term 'local' shall comprise of the field staff and the residents of and in close vicinity of the forest reserve area(6) the state government shall levy a minimal conservation fees from the wild life tourism industry taking into consideration capacity, economic segment or such basis as it may deem fit to fund eco-tourism development and community upliftment projects the forest reservation45(7) notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, fifty per cent of the total number of persons to be engaged in infrastructural development shall be reserved in favour of local persons in such manner as may be prescribed:provided that the reservation in favour of local persons may be increased on unavailability of requisite work force in the local community5(8) the tiger conservation foundation shall, in consultation with the local advisory committee, direct the officer-in-charge of every tiger reserve to prepare a comprehensive tourism plan in pursuance of tiger conservation plan and the national tiger conservation authority10(9) the tourism plan under sub-section (7) shall be prepared in tune with the state tourism and eco-tourism strategy and submitted to the tiger conservation foundation and steering committee for approval(10) the tourism plan prepared under sub-section (7) shall take into account:—15(a) identification and monitoring of ecologically sensitive areas in and aroundforest reserves to protect the ecological integrity;(b) assessment of capacity of tiger reserve at three levels namely physical, realand permissible in terms of visitors, vehicles, residential as well as commercial infrastructure;(c) fixation of ceiling on the number of visitors to a forest reserve at any pointin time and annually based on the capacity assessment;20(d) designation of area for eco-tourism development; (e) limiting tourism activities to the delineated tourism zone; (f) registration of tourism vehicles with the forest reserve management; (g) mandating the presence of authorised guide in every vehicle;25(h) local community participation to generate a mutually beneficial relationshipbetween wild life conservation and local community development;(i) development of codes for standardization of private sector tourism industryin the vicinity of the forest reserves;( j) mechanism for the assessment of impact of tourism on wild life;30(k) development of appropriate infrastructure development codes for the forestreserves;(l) preparation of an effective list of restrictions for the visitors;and35(m) inculcation of subsidized registration for educational, survey and academicresearch purposes69 of 1980 29 of 198638xb (1) the religious sites located within the forest reserve area shall be subject to the provisions of the forest conservation act, 1980, the principal act and the environment protection act, 1986jurisdiction over sacred and religious sites located within the reserve areas40(2) the tiger conservation foundation established under section 38x shall be responsible for periodical review of developments of religious sites located within the forest reserve area(3) the religious sites located within the forest reserve area shall comply with the rules and regulations prescribed for the tourism industry with regard to building codes, pollution control, alternate energy usage, conservation fees and free passage of wild lifeexplanation— the conservation fee shall be uniform across all religions in the entire indian territory(4) any set up, temporary or permanent, for the purpose of stay shall be restricted to the dates nominated for the appropriate authorities in this regard, with prior approval of the respective forest reserve officer-in-charge"5 statement of objects and reasonsindia is home to seventy per cent of the world's total tiger population despite the consistent increase in funding for conservation and persistent government efforts, the continuous decline in the tiger population has been relentless thus, a sustainable solution to ensure the protection of tigers needs to emerge from within an inclusive frameworkthe current model of tiger conservation is governed by the wild life (protection)amendment act, 2006, which led to the constitution of the national tiger conservation authority and project tiger eleven years hence, the statistics prove that this system has not only failed to protect tigers, but also failed to prevent a loss in their habitatthe foundation of any conservation strategy is the pattern of ownership that it advocatesa careful and calculated transition from state ownership to a public-private ownership, along with a strong emphasis on community control, should be considered this transition can be facilitated by putting into effect new eco-tourism rules that will simultaneously increase the state governments' revenue for conservation and reduce their dependence on central subsidiesinitializing the processes of decentralization, privatization and an inclusion of local communities can create the framework necessary for sustainable and long-term conservation of india's national animal it is the duty of the government to build deeper relationships with respective state governments, the local communities and most importantly, the conservation bureaucracy and wildlife research community this amendment has been proposed to address the above-mentioned issueshence this billnew delhi;kalikesh narayan singh deojune 29, 2017 financial  memorandumclause 2 of the bill seeks to constitute a local advisory committee for each sanctuaryclause 4 provides that the central government shall constitute a regulatory authority to oversee the functioning of the national tiger conservation authority the bill, therefore, if enacted would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees hundred crore would involve per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees two hundred crore is also likely to be involves annexure extract from the wild life (protection) act, 197238-o (1) the tiger conservation authority shall have the following powers and perform the following functions, namely:—(a)   powers and function of tiger conservation authority(b)   (c) lay down normative standards for tourism activities and guidelines for project tiger from time to time for tiger conservation in the buffer and core area of tiger reserves and ensure their due compliance;(d) provide for management focus and measures for addressing conflicts of men and wild animals and to emphasis on co-existence in forest areas outside the national parks, sanctuaries or tiger reserve, in the working plan code;(e) provide information on protection measures including future conservation plan, estimation of population of tiger and its natural prey species, status of habitats, disease surveillance, mortality survey, patrolling, reports on untoward happenings and such other management aspects as it may deem fit including future plan conservation;   (k) perform such other functions as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this act with regard to conservation of tigers and their habitat38u(1)   (2) the steering committee shall consists of—constitution of s t e e r i n g committee(a) the chief minister - chairperson; (b) the minister in-charge of wild life - vice-chairperson; (c) such number of official members not exceeding five including at least two field directors of tiger reserve or director of national park and one from the state government's departments dealing with tribal affairs;(d) three experts or professionals having qualifications and experience in conservation of wild life of which at least one shall be from the field of tribal development;(e) two members from the state's tribal advisory council;(f) one representative each from state government's departments dealing with panchayati raj and social justice and empowerment;(g) chief wild life warden of the state shall be the member-secretary, ex officio, to be notified by the state government, in the official gazette38x(1)   (2) the tiger conservation foundation shall, inter alia, have the following objectives:—establishment of tiger conservation foundation(a) to facilitate ecological, economic, social and cultural development in the tiger reserves;(b) to promote eco-tourism with the involvement of local stakeholder communities and provide support to safeguard the natural environment in the tiger  reserves;(c) to facilitate the creation of, and or maintenance of, such assets as may be necessary for fulfilling the above said objectives;(d) to solicit technical, financial, social, legal and other support required for the activities of the foundation for achieving the above said objectives;(e) to augment and mobilise financial resources including recycling of entry and such other fees received in a tiger reserve, to foster stakeholder development and ecotourism;(f) to support research, environmental education and training in the above related fields    lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the wild life (protection) act, 1972————(shri kalikesh narayan singh deo, mp)gmgipmrnd—986ls(s3)—27-07-2017