The day on which the Consultative Committee on Environment, Forest and Climate Change had an early morning meeting — August 2, happened to be the same day the Union government completed its process of passing the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The previous day, the government completed the legislative formalities regarding the Biodiversity (Amendment) Bill, 2023 too. At the Consultative Committee meeting, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav spoke of the importance of the conservation of wetlands in the country. He told the members about the Ramsar Convention of 1971, considered to be a landmark initiative for biodiversity conservation and environmental protection.
The same afternoon, Mr. Yadav proposed a Bill which is set to become a disaster for the country’s forests and the forest-dependent people. And, a government that has dealt fatal blows to each and every aspect of the environment, forest and biodiversity, will be put to trial by the coming generations.
