FOREST AND NATURAL RESOURCES

RESEARCH PAPER
ON
ALLOCATION OF FOREST LAND FOR MINING IN THE STATE OF
CHHATTISGARH: A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF HASDEO ARAND STRETCH.

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

SHAILESH KUMAR BHOYAR MR. RAM CHANDRA ORAON
ROLL NO.-651 FACULTY, LAW
SEMESTER -IX
SECTION-A

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH IN LAW

RANCHI

0|Page
 DECLARATION

I, Shailesh kumar Bhoyar, confirm that the work for the following term paper with the title:
“Allocation of forest land for mining in the state of Chhattisgarh: A brief analysis of Hasdeo
Arand stretch” was solely undertaken by myself and that no help was provided from other
sources as those allowed. All sections of the paper that use quotes or describe an argument or
concept developed by another author have been referenced, including all secondary literature
used, to show that this material has been adopted to support my Research paper.

Place / Date Signature

1|Page
 CERTIFICATE

I certify that the paper has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research
work and the preparation of the paper itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that
all information sources and literature used are indicated in the paper.

Signature of Candidate

2|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my very great appreciation to Mr. Ram Chandra Oraon Sir for his
valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning and development of this research
work. His willingness to give his time so generously has been very much appreciated.

3|Page
  Statement of the problem

The present study intends to examine the problem identified by the Researcher on the study of
the status of land allocations for mining and what are the issues, concerns and problems with
regard to the allocation of land where taken by the government and what are the preventive
measures were taken towards the environment and the health and basic needs of the peoples
and the policies by the government.

 Scope & objective of the study

The present study is mainly focused to analyze the process of human-induced deforestation
that took place in the area of Hasdeo Arand stretch of Chhattisgarh, The present study is
expected to go a long way in the restructuring the status.

 Objective

To Study, analysis and evaluation of the status of compliance of major approval conditionalities
of forest land diversion for coal mining projects land diversion for coal mining projects.

1. To analyze the Potential Impact of mining in Hasdeo Arand region.

2. To study the impact of coal mining in Hasdeo Arand region.
3. To know the Experience with existing coal mining in the region.
4. To examine the Peoples’ movement against coal mining in Hasdeo Arand.
 Research Questions
1. What are the Potential Impact of mining in Hasdeo Arand region?
2. What are the impact of coal mining in Hasdeo Arand region?
3. What measures have been taken to prevent towards environment form coal mining?
4. What steps has India taken to implement Articles of India’s Constitution, including
special provisions
 Literature Review
1. India is one of the largest producers of coal. Coal in India meets around 67% of the
total energy needs of the people. The energy which is derived from Coal is around twice
the energy which is derived from oil. The country’s domestic consumption is very large
and therefore it exploits large amount of coal to meet the needs of the people. Further
coal is also exploited to need the power and energy requirements of the nation. The
demand for coal in India is said to increase number of times in order to complete the

4|Page
 on-going power projects and demand for cement, metallurgical and other industries (Ag
metal miner, 2011).
2. Mining activity puts on huge pressure on the local flora and fauna particularly where
forests lands are cleared for mining purpose. Mining also results in the degradation of
ground water, silting of water bodies. No doubt that that coal mining contributes largely
towards economic development but it has a great impact upon the health of the people.
It also has its impact on socio-cultural aspect of the workers and people residing in and
around coal mining areas. Mining process generates SO2, CO, CO2 and higher
hydrocarbons. These gases when reach the atmosphere pollutes the surroundings.
(Sribas Goswami, 2013).
3. Coal plays a central role in global development but the associated challenges to it in the
sphere of environment cannot be ruled out. The sustainability of resources, life of the
people is at stake and is a challenge for the nation as a whole. A great on-going social
challenge for the coal mining industry is sustainable development and community
acceptance of its role in society.
4. According to the reports issued by the World Health Organization in 2008 and by
environmental groups in 2004, coal particulates pollution are so lethal that there are
approximately 1,000,000 lives annually worldwide who fall victim to the pollution
caused by mines, including nearly 24,000 lives a year in the United States. Additionally
coal mining also generates health related impacts.
5. Mining in India has led to the infrastructure growth but the reality that one cannot
supress is the fact that mining has led to impacting the environment and life of the
community which are located in adjacent to the mining areas. The implementation of
Corporate Social Responsibility programmes of the mining industries is far from
satisfactory. The biggest issue in the mining including the coal mining is the
Rehabilitation programme for the displaced persons. Displaced people are required to
be resettled and rehabilitated in a participative manner keeping in view their
requirements, customs and life style (G Kumar 2011).
6. (Martha, Keating 2011) advocated that coal mining affects land, and other water bodies.
Air in and around the locality gets toxicated which in turn damages the plants, animals
and human. Open cast mining completely changes the land usage pattern to a kind of
use that is not normal. The elements which are present in coal are a large group of
pollutants which on combustion affects the health of the local inhabitants. Those
elements found in the carbon are a huge matter of public health concern as because at

5|Page
 a certain exposure level they can traumatize the health status of the people. They also
have the propensity to cause cancer. Many are also respiratory irritants that can worsen
respiratory conditions such as asthma effects from coal mining may be the biggest
concern in the coal-field regions of the country, while inhalation exposure may be the
foremost risk in an urban setting and, in less populated rural state visibility impairment
and haze may be of special concern.
 Research Methodology

The research methodology is the life or heart of a research, specification of methods in

acquiring the information needed to structure in solving the research problem. Methodology
forms the crux of any scientific enquiry and helps to arrive at valid generalizations about the
problem under study.

Secondary Sources: The secondary data were those which have already been collected by
someone else and which have already passed through statistical processes. In case of secondary
data, the nature of data collection work is merely that of compilation. During this study the
researcher collected secondary sources of data through literature and research studies and the
published Journals, newspapers, other published, unpublished documents and internet sources.

6|Page
INTRODUCTION

For economic growth of a country mineral resource plays an important role. Minerals and
metals have played a crucial role in the development and continuation of human civilization.
After agriculture it is the second largest industry at all scales and regions and has played a vital
role in the development of civilization from ancient times. However Mining, like any other
industrial activity tends to leave a strong negative impact on the environment unless it is
meticulously planned and carefully executed. It is a well-established fact that mining is an
environmentally destructive activity.

The Hasdeo Arand Coalfield is spread over North Korba, south Surguja and Surajpur districts.
This is one of the largest intact forest areas in Central India outside of the protected area
system. This is one of the very few pristine natural forests in the country which cannot be
replicated through plantation forestation. The coalfield covers a total area of 1878 sq km. of
which 1502 sq km. has forest cover. Around 80% of this is covered by good quality forest
(approximately 1176 sq km has a canopy cover of over 40% while an additional 116 sq km has
a canopy cover of over 70%)1. The forest is extremely rich in bio-diversity reporting the
presence of several endangered species. It is also part of a large elephant corridor stretching
from supporting the migration of wild elephants from Gumla district in Jharkhand to Korba
district of Chhattisgarh. The entire Hasdeo Arand forest was declared as “no-go” for coal
mining by MoEF in 2010, the only one of 9 coalfields surveyed which was entirely declared as
“no-go”. Such “no-go” area represents only 8.11% of the total potential coal bearing area in
the country and 11.50% of the total explores coal bearing area of India.2

Description of the selected topic:

According to the report of Committee of Land Reforms and State Agrarian Relations (CLSR),
the total forest land diverted for non-forest use in Chhattisgarh between 1980 and 2003 was
1.71 lakh hectares, out of which 67 percent was for mining. ((CLSR), 2009)

The Union environment ministry has given environmental clearance for open cast coal mining
in Parsa in Chhattisgarh’s dense Hasdeo Arand forests, in a decision that could have far-
reaching consequences for forest cover conservation in India. Hasdeo Arand is one of the

1
GIS analysis conducted by the Ecoinformatics Lab at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment
(ATREE), Bangalore, Report by Greenpeace titled “How Coal Mining is Trashing Tigerland” released in July
2012
2
Comments of the Ministry of Environment and Forests on a Draft Note for Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure
regarding need for making more coal bearing areas for enhancing coal production.

7|Page
largest contiguous stretches of very dense forest in central India, spanning about 170,000
hectares. Parsa is one of the 30 coal blocks in Hasdeo Arand and is owned by the Rajasthan
Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RVUNL). The mine, which has a capacity of 5 metric
tonnes per annum, will be operated by Rajasthan Collieries Limited (RCL), a unit of Adani
Enterprises Limited. It received forest clearance in February 2019.3

This happened even though in 2009, the Hasdeo Arand forest area had been declared a no-go
zone for mining, following submission of the CLSR Report to the Government of India and the
Prime Minister’s Office. Its diversion for mining is perhaps the single largest diversion ever.
The government’s decision to approve open cast coal mining is alarming as this type of mining
involves digging for coal after removing all the vegetation and soil from the area, and it raises
serious concern for the future of country’s forests.

Status of land allocations for mining:

According to official statistics compiled by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
Change, a total of 1 million 500 thousand hectares of forests were diverted between 1980 and
2019: more than 500 thousand hectares for mining, the rest for thermal power, transmission
lines, dams and other projects.

(1) In between (2015-18) alone, the Indian Government has given ‘forest clearances’ of more
than 20,000 hectares

(2) Licensing destruction of mostly dense forests. While there are many triggers of
deforestation in India, mining, both legal and illegal, is perhaps the most significant one.

The committee, in its report, had expressed alarm over the trend of diversion of forest land for
non-forest use and the total amount of land which has been diverted thus far in the country as
a whole. The committee noted that the situation has only worsened since 1976, when the central
government issued new guidelines to states for consultation of the former before diversion of
more than 10 hectares of forest land for non-forest use.

As compared to the period between 1952 and 1976, when a total of 4.3 million hectares of land
was diverted from the corpus of forest land, total land diverted between 1976 and 2008 stood
at 7.76 million hectares. This is a 40 percent increase in the total forest land diverted per year,

3
Proceedings of the NGT case by Sudiep Shrivastava regarding the Parsa east and Kete Besan coal mining projects

8|Page
with an average of 0.18 million hectares diverted per year between 1952 and 1976, and 0.25
million hectares diverted per year between 1976 and 2008.

Along with legally sanctioned mining, large-scale illegal mining, often allowed under political
patronage, forms another major source of deforestation. A recent study of mining-driven
deforestation covering over 300 districts points out that states that account for about 35 per
cent of India’s forest cover -Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and
Jharkhand— also produce large amounts of coal and iron.

The Hasdeo Arand forest diversion is a typical case. Not only are existing laws disregarded
and tweaked, but pressing environmental concerns are casually ignored to benefit the private
corporations. The forest department of the Chhattisgarh state government objected to the
diversion because the area is an important wildlife corridor.

Up to 1994, the year till which the data was available to the CLSR committee, a total area of
2.53 lakh hectares had been degraded due to industrial and mining waste. A whopping 571.55
lakh hectares of land was degraded due to water erosion. The report notes that both these types
of land degradation happen due to “felling of trees and industrial establishments which do not
have any waste management.” It is concerning that the data after 1994 is not available for land
degradation, especially in light of the fact that the forest land diversion for mining and other
non-forest purpose has rapidly picked up pace since then.4

It further suggested that institutional mechanisms to reduce the impact of forest diversion such
as the rehabilitation and resettlement policy, the system of compensatory afforestation and the
concept of Net Present Value have been “less than satisfactory”. It highlights as a case in point
that only 7.38 percent of the target has been achieved for compensatory afforestation between
1980 and 2004. In this period, in a total of 10,807 cases, 9,54,839.026 hectares of forest land
were diverted and total area stipulated for compensatory afforestation was 96,452.48 hectares.
The actual target achieved was 71,224.85 hectares.

Issues, concerns and problems with regard to the allocation of land.

While Forest Rights Act gives sweeping powers to forest communities and their institutions to
take back effective control of forests, besides recognising a wide range of forest rights

4
Report of the Forest Advisory Committee looking into diversion of forest lands for mining in Tara, Parsa and
PEKB Coal Blocks submitted 22nd June 2011.

9|Page
arbitrarily and often illegally extinguished during the colonial forestry regime and also after,
the Indian state has been unwilling to implement the law.

The move by some villages under the banner of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan5 to claim
their forests has already embroiled two blocks - Parsa East and Kete Basan - in controversy
and legal complications. Under the previous coal regulatory regime, these blocks were
allocated to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Nigam in a joint venture with the Adani group.

In 2012, the villagers had complained the blocks had secured forest clearances from the Centre
without the mandatory consent resolutions from the villagers. They added their claims to their
traditional forestlands, under the Forest Rights Act, had been kept in abeyance. Based on their
pleas, the environment ministry asked the state government for a status report.

In March 2014, the National Green Tribunal had cancelled the forest clearances to these coal
blocks due to violation of environmental laws. It asked the ministry to look at the proposal
afresh. Other coal blocks, such as Mahan in Madhya Pradesh, had also been challenged on
environmental grounds, but the tribunal decided to close the cases once the Supreme Court
ordered cancellation of all coal block allotments.

In the last two decades, strong tribal and peasant movements against mining erupted in many
forest areas of India.

1. In Niyamgiri, Odisha, the Dongria Kondh forest community mobilized successfully

against a proposed bauxite mining project by the infamous Vedanta group.
2. In Mahan, in Madhya Pradesh, forest communities succeeded to stop a large coalmine
project jointly owned by Essar and Hindalco.
3. Forest communities, including the indigenous Madia Gonds in the Gadchiroli district
of Maharshtra, have long been opposing a string of proposed iron mines in dense
forests. In the neighbouring Korchi area, communities’ resistance accomplished the
withdrawal of an iron mining project. And also in the Sarguja and Raigarh districts of
Chhattisgarh, communities have mobilised against coal mining.

In the Pathalgadi (erection of stones) movement that took the tribal heartland of India by storm
in 2017-18, Gram Sabhas (community assemblies) in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha,
Madhya Pradesh and Telengana, erected stones to mark their territories and proclaim full
autonomy in all matters of governance, in accordance with provisions of Indian Constitution

5
Letter by Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan dated 10th April 2014

10 | P a g e
and legislations such as FRA. It is no coincidence that Pathalgadi happened where most of
India’s coal reserves are located.

The Indian Government counts such rampant diversions of forests among the “organised” and
“managed” drivers of deforestation, and apparently it does not list those emissions in its
greenhouse gas emissions inventory. However, it collects huge sums of money from the
companies using forested lands, such as mining companies, according to its controversial
Compensatory Afforestation protocol.

This money is supposed to be used for raising plantations and “gaining value” from ecosystem
services. After the enactment of the Compensatory Afforestation Act in 2016 (CAF Act), the
accumulated funds would now reach the state forest departments with greater ease, and as the
struggle groups apprehend, it would be increasingly used to undermine community control over
forests.

Mining hurts and destroys forests and forest communities in many ways. In India, one way is
also established via the CAF Fund. The Indian state is in fact using the money in this Fund to
harass, persecute and ultimately evict people from the so-called Protected Areas, such as the
Tiger Reserves, National Parks and Wild Life Sanctuaries. Mining and wild life conservation
are in many areas literally concomitant.6

Relocation of villages continues to secrete conflicts because the forest department keeps on
pressurizing the villagers to move away, while granting permission to large mining companies
to operate.

The pressures have taken many forms: restricting the forest villagers’ customary access to
forests (ban on grazing, fishing, and collection of firewood), not allowing the routine welfare
schemes to come to the village, threats of legal action and finally, harassment by forest officials
and police. The department, aided by several wildlife NGOs, is trying hard to evict the villages
that still refuse to be relocated. For instance, criminal cases have been filed against a number
of villagers and, to add to the inconvenience, the forest department is denying people all access
to forests as well as restricting their use of nearby roads to the villages.

After the rules for the Compensatory Afforestation Fund were notified, things became easier
for the Forest department and its allies. States were handed out bulk moneys according to their
forest sales proceeds. Not unexpectedly, the mining states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya

6
Report by Greenpeace titled “How Coal Mining is Trashing Tigerland” released in July 2012

11 | P a g e
Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand were among the largest beneficiaries. After all, this is
their reward for all the hard work that had gone into opening up dense forests for mining.

In August 2019, Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change,
officially released the accumulated Compensatory Afforestation Fund money to the state forest
departments. A mindboggling 47,436.18 Crore Rupees were distributed among the states for
“afforestation” purposes, which in reality this will very likely mean “relocation” and industrial
monoculture plantations.

Overview of policies, legislations and programmes to protect and conserve the forests.

The landmark 2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA) requires community consent on the completion
of the forest rights recognition process for granting any forest diversion permit. Thus, such
forest clearances are routinely issued on the basis of “consents” obtained largely by coercion
and fraud. (Ministry of Tribal Affairs)

But, if consent cannot be manufactured, the concerned administrative authorities resort to more
elaborate practices. For instance, in the coal mining area of Sarguja, the Chhattisgarh State
Government ‘took back’ entitlements for community forest resources it had issued earlier,
claiming that the villagers caused disturbances to mining operations in the area and that the
approval for mining preceded the entitlements.

Under existing laws, the villages could prevent mining from being started or restarted in parts
of the blocks that fall within their traditional, individual and community forests.

The dilution the environment ministry has been seeking in consent provisions under the Forest
Rights Act would still continue to provide such a veto power to village councils in tribal-
dominated Schedule-V areas, under which the 20 villages in Chhattisgarh also fall.

Under the earlier policy, the Hasdeo-Arand forest had been identified as a 'no-go' area - a forest
area too good to be mined. But the policy was put on hold and revised under the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. Several official reports highlighted the forest as one of the
densest of its kind in the country, rich in biodiversity. But the UPA government had given
clearances to some blocks in the region without the consent of the tribals and ignoring its 'no-
go' policy. Initially, the state government had planned a large part of these forests, under which

12 | P a g e
the coal blocks fall, would be declared an elephant reserve, which would have banned mining.
But the government decided not to do so, following representation from industry bodies.7

The government has drafted a much diluted no-go policy, though this hasn't been formally
accepted yet. Clearances to some blocks were also challenged in the National Green Tribunal
on environmental grounds (not under the Forest Rights Act) and, in case of two blocks, the
tribunal had rejected the clearances.

The government agencies responsible for carrying out the afforestation programmes do not
clarify where the huge amount of land required for raising new plantations would come from,
there is every reason to suspect that community lands—cultivable as well as pasture—would
be encroached upon. Besides, in the name of restoring degraded forests and raising
compensatory afforestation, community rights over forest commons would be violated.
Sporadic incidents of land-grabs for plantations have already been reported from Odisha,
Chattisgarh, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh.

‘Social Forestry’ and Eucalyptus:

The Eucalyptus colonization of India is closely related to the much-hyped social forestry
project, which was sponsored by the World Bank. It has been observed that the so-called ‘social
forestry’ project was, in its early days, largely a product of development aid. The ambitious
project led to large-scale afforestation mainly in the 1970s and 1980s when plantations were
established at a rate of 1.4 million hectares a year. In the states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and

West Bengal in particular, Eucalyptus trees spread like wildfire, evoking and leading not only
to a raging environmental controversy, but also social discontent and active resistance.

Eucalyptus plantations reportedly drained huge volumes of water from the plantation sites as
well as their neighbourhoods downstream, sucked the soil dry of nutrients so that other plants
could not come up. They also release toxic substances into the soil, suppressing growth of
native species. In Karnataka, the plantations have allegedly resulted in severe drought-like
situations, forcing the state government to ban the cultivation of all Eucalyptus species.

Though Eucalyptus plantations are usually short-rotation and known to bring quick monetary
returns, the benefits are limited mostly to the rural elite. Even in case of state projects like the

7
Times of India, January 16, 2011. Chhattisgarh govt scraps elephant reserve plan for coal mining
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Chhattisgarh-govt-scraps-elephant-reserve-plan-for-coal-
mining/articleshow/7294639.cms

13 | P a g e
social forestry, it is the landed and the upper-caste sections of the rural populace who benefitted
from the plantations. Moreover, communities have shown explicit concern over the diversion
of fertile food producing land as well as pasture to Eucalyptus plantations.

During the 1980s, the area under the traditional staple food, ragi, had declined significantly in
Karnataka. In the Kolar district, for instance, between 1977 and 1981, ragi cultivation dropped
from 142 thousand hectares to 48 thousand hectares, producing a marked reduction in yield
from 175 thousand tonnes to just 13 thousand and increasing its price by 200 per cent in the
market.

A rich legacy of resistance:

State-run plantation programmes have provoked intense resistance from forest communities
and peasants. People who had traditionally depended upon forests for food and livelihood
resisted the conversion of forests to monoculture plantations of exotic/introduced species such
as Eucalyptus and Teak. Peasants opposed Eucalyptus plantations in particular because these
often led to wholesale desertification of their agricultural landscapes, besides encroaching upon
village commons as well as good cultivable lands.

Major movements against plantations flared up across India in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
The now famous Chipko movement in the Garhwal Himalayas started as a people’s protest
against clear-felling of hill forests for commercial interest. The ‘Jangal Katai’ (cut forests)
Movement in the tribal areas (today’s Jharkhand) of erstwhile Bihar came up as a response
against the forest department’s efforts to raise commercially valuable Teak monocultures in
natural Sal forests.

Peasants of Karnataka opposed a project of Eucalyptus plantations in the village commons by

a forest department backed private company. And the adivasis (indigenous people) of Bastar
in the undivided village of Madhya Pradesh put up a strong resistance against a World Bank-
funded plantation of exotic blue pines.

Present and prospective role of social work in the conservation of the specific component

The decision on Parsa coal block raises more alarming question on further forestland diversion
in the area. As per latest information of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
Change, there are total 18 coal blocks in Hasdeo-Arand Coal fields. Out of these two are
operational and now Parsa is being opened up. Three more proposals are under consideration
at the State/Central government level for green clearance.

14 | P a g e
Will the expert bodies of the government decide on these matters taking into account thorough
assessment of environmental, ecological and social impacts of the proposed projects? Or will
their decision rely on a fait accompli situation, where one mine creates justification for opening
up of another mine.

According to the 2011 Census, the total population of these 20 villages is about 10,000. These
people are forest dwellers and their relocation will definitely disturb their lives and livelihood.
Below are the possible challenges they can face and where social workers can work proactively.

Food security

Food security envisages adequacy, stability as well as economic and physical access to food to
all people at all times. There may be enough food but if the poor don't have access to it, the
food security will not be complete.

In the Indian rural context where mixed farming is in vogue, cattle are important component
of the socio-economic set up.

Health cover

Forest have been source of invaluable medicinal plants since the time tribes realized the
preventive and curative properties of plants and started using them for human health cover.
Even when no synthetic medicines existed, tribal communities had been depending on herbs
and medicinal plants and their derivatives to cure common ailments.

The forest degradation process adversely affects the resources base of medicinal and herbal
plants both in terms of quantity as well as quality. Rural poor, whose dependence on these
products is very heavy, are the worst sufferer. The problem is compounded by market demand
driven harvesting without any concern for regeneration and conservation. In this process
essential regenerative component of a plant like bark, roots flowers and fruits are
indiscriminately collected leading to degradation and depletion and even demise of particular
species, if proper remedial measures are not taken.

Augmenting rural employment

Land and water are two most important natural endowments but they are finite. However, with
judicious mix of interventions like development of irrigation facilities, application of improved
and modern agricultural practices and creation of other income generation activities based on

15 | P a g e
non-destructive use of locally available natural resources, the possibilities of creating
dependable wage labour can be enhanced.

16 | P a g e
Conclusions:

Forests are a vital component in sustaining the life support system on Earth. Any programme
for development needs to evolve a systemic approach so as to balance economic development
and environmental protection. Regulating the indiscriminate diversion of forest land for non-
forest use is, therefore, critical. Accordingly, compensatory afforestation has been made one of
the most important conditions while approval is accorded in case of proposals for dereservation
or diversion of forest land for non-forest uses. It is envisaged that compensatory afforestation
will be done on equivalent area of non-forest land which of forest land diverted on degraded
forest land under certain circumstances. Mines particularly coal mines in India require huge
quantum of forest land diversion for meeting the needs of coal in the country. The audit of
Forest Clearance conditions help us identify the critical parameters, which in the quest of coal
production is being overlooked and needs to be taken care of so that both the conservation of
ecology and development can take place simultaneously and a balance is met. The audit of
Stage I Forest Clearance individual mines involving forest land diversion will help scrutiny
and compliance of Stage I conditions and hence compounding of problem is not likely to occur
and the stage I forest clearance audit will help improve the ultimate aim of protection of
environment while meeting the development needs of the country.

17 | P a g e
 List of Bibliography / References

Primary Sources
List of Statutes
 Forest Conservation Act,1980
 Compensatory Afforestation Act, 2016
 Forest rights act, 2006

Secondary Sources
Article and online sources

 (CLSR), C. o. (2009). CLSR Report . New Delhi: Govt. Of India.

 Jayashree Nandi. (2019, Feb). Centre’s nod for mining in 170,000 hectares of forest in
Chhattisgarh.
 Ministry of Tribal Affairs, G. o. (n.d.). Forest Rights Act 2006 - Act, Rules and
Guidelines. In G. o. India.
 GIS analysis conducted by the Ecoinformatics Lab at the Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore, Report by Greenpeace titled “How
Coal Mining is Trashing Tigerland” released in July 2012
 Comments of the Ministry of Environment and Forests on a Draft Note for Cabinet
Committee on Infrastructure regarding need for making more coal bearing areas for
enhancing coal production.
 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/mining/central-panel-opens-up-forest-for-
adani-mine-despite-chhattisgarh-s-reservation-63221
 https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/five-coal-blocks-in-
chhattisgarh-might-see-land-conflict-115011500019_1.html
 https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/the-green-invasion-
promoting-plantations-in-india/
 https://www.firstpost.com/india/allocating-forest-land-in-chhattisgarh-for-coal-
mining-is-cause-for-alarm-deforestation-has-risen-significantly-in-recent-decades-
6367581.html
 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/10/indias-ancient-tribes-battle-
to-save-their-forest-home-from-mining

18 | P a g e