 bill no 25 of  2017 the indian forest (amendment) bill, 2017 by shri ap jithender reddy, mp a billfurther to amend the indian forest act, 1927be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the indian forest (amendment) act, 2017with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both", the words "shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend upto two years, or with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend upto fifty thousand rupees, or with both" shall be substituted5amendment of section 33103 in section 33 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), in the long line, for the words"shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both", the words "shall be punishable with imprisonment for  a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend upto two years, or with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend upto fifty thousand rupees, or with both" shall be substituted4 after chapter v of the principal act, the following chapter and sections thereunder shall be inserted, namely:—| insertion    ||--------------|| new chapter  || va          | "chapter va15 fire danger rating system| fire           ||----------------|| rating system |38a (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette,  establish and maintain, from time to time, a fire danger rating system for prevention of fire in the reserved and protected forests in such manner as may be prescribed20(2) for  the purpose of sub-section (1), the central government shall classify the reserved and protected forests in separate regions after taking into account the possibilities and frequency of occurrence of fire in those forests(3) the fire danger rating system established under sub-section (1) shall take into account the following attributes of each region classified under sub-section (2),—(i) the topography; (ii) the type of vegetation in the area;25(iii) the seasonal climatic cycle; (iv) recent weather conditions;(v) forecasted weather conditions; and30(vi) any other relevant factor which is necessary for an effective fire dangerrating system38b the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the fire danger rating system fund for carrying out the purposes of this chapter"constitution of fire danger rating system fund amendment of section 79355 in section 79 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), in the long line, for the words"shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both", the words "shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend upto two years, or with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend upto fifty thousand rupees, or with both" shall be substituted statement of objects and reasonsmore than ninety-five percent of forest fires are caused either by negligence or unknowingly by the human being the rest of the fires are caused by natural reasons like lightning, extreme rise in the temperature etc, which are very rare uncontrolled forest fire engulfs and destroys healthy thick forest cover within no time besides direct loss to forest cover, forest fire also kills wildlife, damages environment, degrade soil quality and retrogrades forest regeneration the main adverse impact of the uncontrollable forest fire includes damage to growing stock of forests, loss of biodiversity, increase in soil erosion, scorching of soil and reduction in its permeability and water retaining capacity not only for forest vegetation and environment, the forest fire causes direct loss to human being also in the form of damage to life and property extreme forest fire burns thousands of houses and kills many human beings and cattle throughout the worldthe proposed bill seeks to establish a fire danger rating system in the reserved and protected forests to prevent fire in those forests in order to provide information to support fire management and to act as a guide to predict fire behaviour, with the objective to help stakeholders make informed decisions on fire mitigationhence this billnew delhi;ap  jithender  reddyjanuary 30, 2017 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides that the central government shall establish and maintain a fire danger rating system for prevention of fire in the reserved and protected forests in such manner as may be prescribed it also provides for constitution of a fire danger rating system fund for the reserved and protected forest areas the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crores would involve from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees two hundred crores is also likely to be involved annexure extract from the indian forest act, 1927 (16 of 1927)    26 (1)     acts prohibited in such forests(a)     (b) sets fire to a reserved forest, or, in contravention of any rules made by the state government in this behalf, kindles any fire, or leaves any fire burning, in such manner as to endanger such a forest;or who, in a reserved forest— (c)     (d)     (e)     (f)     (g) quarries stone, bums lime or charcoal, or collects, subjects to any manufacturing process, or removes, any forest-produce;(h)     (i)     (j)     shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both, in addition to such compensation for damage done to the forest as the convicting court may direct to be paid    33 (1)     (a)     (b)     (c)     penalties for acts in contravention of notification under section 30 or of rules under section 32(d) sets fire to such forest, or kindles a fire without taking all reasonable precautions to prevent its spreading to any tree reserved under section 30, whether standing fallen or felled, or to say closed portion of such forest;(e)     (f)     (g)     (h)     shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both    79 (1)     (a)     (b)     persons bound to assist forestofficers and policeofficers(c)     (d)     (2) any person who, being bound so to do, without lawful excuse (the burden of proving which shall lie upon such person) fails—(a)     (b) to take steps, as required by sub-section (1), to extinguish any forest fire in reserved or protected forest;(c) to prevent, as required by sub-section (1), any fire in the vicinity of such fore 4 from spreading to such forest; or(d) to assist any forest-officer or police-officer demanding his aid in preventing the commission in such forest of any forest-offence, or, when there is reason believe that any such offence has been committed in such forest, in discover' and arresting the offender;shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both     lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the indian forest act, 1927————(shri ap jithender reddy, mp)gmgipmrnd—4486ls(s3)—15-02-2017