Over the last two years, the union environment ministry amended the Forest Conservation Rules and the Forest Conservation Act, the former in June 2022 and the latter in December 2023. Both moves were widely criticised for making it easier to give away forest land to corporate interests, thereby undermining the rights of forest-dwelling communities.
But when the head of a constitutional tribal affairs body flagged issues with the amended rules, his concerns were dismissed without discussion – and he later resigned.
