Scientists have classified bamboo – commonly known as green gold and poor man’s timber – as “grass”, as a simple Google search will tell you. But the Government of India has taken 90 years to introduce an amendment to remove bamboo from the purview of the definition of a “tree” from the Indian Forests Act of 1927.
Last week, the Lok Sabha finally passed a government Bill amending the colonial-era law. The Centre had promulgated an ordinance on November 23, 2017, to the same effect, which the Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill 2017 seeks to approve.
