Centre drafts stricter alternative to Colonial-era Indian Forest Act, 1927

Forest bureaucracy to get more policing powers, including higher immunity to use firearms and override Forest Rights Act

The Union government has proposed an overhaul of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 which the British rulers imposed to take over Indian forests, use them to produce timber, while curtailing and extinguishing rights of millions. But, in the draft law to replace the colonial-era act, the Union government has proposed to not only retain but enhance policing and quasi-judicial powers that the forest officials enjoyed under the original act and provide them yet more. This includes powers to use firearms with exceptional levels of immunity from prosecution.

The draft Indian Forest Act, 2019 prepared by the Union government providing these