LS okays Forest bill amid Manipur row

The forest conservation bill is part of two key bills dealing with forests and biodiversity making their way through the Parliament in the monsoon session. The Lok Sabha already cleared the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday.

The forest conservation bill seeks to exclude land within 100 km of India’s borders from forest conservation laws, expediting strategic and security-related projects of national importance and facilitating the development of vital security infrastructure, especially at places such as the Line of Actual Control, Line of Control and Left-Wing Extremism affected areas.

The bill also allows for establishing zoos, safaris, and eco-tourism facilities in forest areas, providing encumbrance-free clearance for connectivity projects related to small establishments, habitations on the side of public roads and railway infrastructure construction.

According to the government, environmental challenges and new policy priorities warranted amendments to this law. Union minister Bhupender Yadav stated in the objectives of the bill when it was introduced in Lok Sabha earlier this year that these priorities included achieving the net-zero emission target by 2070.

The government has a heavy legislative agenda during the monsoon session, with 31 bills awaiting passage. On Wednesday, it introduced five other bills in the lower house, including the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) bill seeks to make Aadhaar compulsory for the registration of birth certificates by amending the 1969 Act, further easing norms for birth and death registration, respectively. For birth registration, the bill proposes to collect the Aadhaar numbers of parents and informants if available.

In the proposed bill, the government has made provisions for digital registration and electronic delivery of the certificate of births and deaths for the benefit of the public at large. The bill was tabled by Union home minister Amit Shah.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks larger private sector participation in mineral exploration and production. It provides for the grant of exploration licences to private sector players for deep-seated and critical minerals, particularly lithium.

The bill also empowers the central government to exclusively auction mining leases and composite exploration licences for certain critical high-value minerals such as gold, silver, platinum, and copper.

Union minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi introduced the bill by voice vote in Lok Sabha amid continuous slogan-shouting by opposition members over the Manipur issue.

Among other bills, the government also introduced The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The government has set a heavy legislative agenda for the monsoon session where all 31 old and new bills have to be introduced and passed. But the going so far has been difficult, with the Opposition cornering the government over Manipur violence and seeking a reply from it. Due to constant sloganeering in the house, most of the Bills were introduced and passed by voice vote without any debate or discussion.

In between the introduction of the Bills, the Lok Sabha also admitted a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi Government. Discussion on this is slated for later during the week.

Priyanka Sharma, Puja Das, and Gireesh Chandra Prasad contributed to the story.

Updated: 27 Jul 2023, 12:41 AM IST