FOREST CONSERVATION RULE 2022

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022.

It is conferred by Section 4 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and in supersession of the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2003.

Provision of forest (conservation) rule 2022

Formation of Committees:

It set up an Advisory Committee, a regional empowered committee at each of the integrated regional offices, and a project screening committee at the State/Union Territory (UT) government level.

• Advisory Committee:

The function of the Advisory Committee is restricted to advise or recommending with regards to grants of approval under relevant sections in respect of proposals referred to it and any matter related to the conservation of forests referred to it by the Central government.

• Project Screening Committee:

The environment ministry has directed the constitution of a project screening committee in each State/UT for an initial review of proposals involving the diversion of the forest land.

The five-member committee has to meet at least twice every month and will advise the state governments on projects in a time-bound manner.

All non-mining projects between 5-40 hectares must be reviewed within 60 days and all such mining projects must be reviewed within the time limit of 75 days.

• Regional Empowered Committees:

All linear projects such as roads, highways, etc involving forest land up to 40 hectares and those that have projected use of forest land having a canopy density up to 0.7 — irrespective of their extent for a survey — shall be scrutinized in the Integrated Regional Office.

• Compensatory Afforestation:

The applicants for diverting forest land in a hilly or mountainous state with green cover covering more than two-thirds of its geographical area, or in a state and UT with forest cover covering more than one-third of its geographical area, will be able to take up compensatory afforestation in other states and UTs where the cover is less than 20%.

India forest policy 1952

• It was an extension of colonial forest policy. It became important to enhance the forest cover to one-third of the total land area, as at that time maximum annual revenue from the forests was needed for funding defence, developmental projects such as river valley projects, industries like pulp, paper, and plywood, and communication highly depended on forest produce for national interest, as a result, vital areas of forests were cleared to raise revenue for the State.

Forest conservation act 1980

• It highlighted that Central permission is necessary to practice sustainable agro-forestry in forest areas. Violation of any law or lack of permit was treated as a criminal offence.
• It is targeted mainly to limit deforestation, conserve biodiversity and save wildlife. Though this Act provides greater hope for forest conservation, it was not successful in its target and implementation.

National Forest Policy 1988

• The main objective of this policy was to maintain environmental stability and ecological balance through the conservation of forests as a natural heritage.
• It made a very important and categorical shift from commercial concerns to focus on the ecological role of the forests and participatory management.
• It frames a goal of achieving 33% of the geographical area of the country under forest and tree cover.

National Afforestation Programme

• This has been implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change since 2000 for the afforestation of degraded forest lands which could increase the green cover.

Forest in India

• According to the Indian State of Forest Report 2021, the total Forest and Tree cover is now 7,13,789 square km which is 21.71% of the country’s geographical area, an increase from 21.67% in 2019.

Forest Cover state-wise: Madhya Pradesh> Arunachal Pradesh> Chhattisgarh> Odisha> Maharashtra

JAGANNATH RATH YATRA

• The Greatest festival of the Supreme Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra is celebrated every year but for the last 2 years, the devotee's participation was barred due to the pandemic.
• The annual Lord Jagannath rath yatra begins from the Jagannath temple, Puri. The festival is celebrated on the second day of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh which is the third month, according to the traditional Oriya calendar.
• The Rath Yatra is 9 day-long event during which the three holy chariots carrying idols of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balaram and sister Subhadra are pulled by thousands of devotees from India and abroad.
• The festival shows respect to Lord Jagannath’s visit along with his siblings to the temple of Queen Gundicha, the place of their aunt’s house where they have a nine-day stay.
• Jagannath Puri temple is also called ‘Yamanika Tirtha’ where, according to Hindu beliefs, the power of ‘Yama’, the god of death has been nullified in Puri due to the presence of Lord Jagannath.

LEPROSY

There has been an acute shortage of the essential drug named Clofazimine in the private market which is used for the treatment of leprosy.

• Clofazimine along with Rifampicin and Dapsone is one of the three essential drugs in the multi-drug treatment of Multibacillary Leprosy

About leprosy

• It is a chronic, progressive bacterial infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae.
• It mainly affects the nerves of the extremities, the skin, the lining of the nose, and the upper respiratory tract.
• Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s disease.
• It is one of the oldest diseases recorded in history.
• It damages the nerve, and weakens the muscle and if it’s not treated then it could lead to significant disability.
• It is common in many countries, especially those with tropical and subtropical climates including India

Prevalence of diseases

• World health organization reports that leprosy is endemic in several Indian states and union territories, with an annual case detection rate of 4.56 per 10,000 population.
• Every year India reports more than 1,25,000 new patients with leprosy.

Government step to tackle leprosy

National Leprosy Eradication Programme :

• This program is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the umbrella of the National Health Mission (NHM).
• India has achieved the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem i.e., defined as less than 1 case per 10,000 populations at the National level.
• The program aims at eliminating leprosy in each of the districts by 2030.

In the year 2017, SPARSH Leprosy Awareness Campaign was launched to promote awareness and address the issues of stigma and discrimination.