Context: Recently, Karnataka has announced that it would declassify 6.64 lakh hectares (nearly 67%) of the 9.94 lakh hectares of deemed forests in the state and hand it over to Revenue authorities.

• The issue of deemed forests is a contentious one, with different stakeholders alleging that large amounts of agriculture and non-forest land are not scientifically classified as deemed forest.

About deemed forests

• The concept of deemed forests has not been clearly defined in any law including the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.
• T N Godavarman Thirumalpad case (1996): The Supreme Court in the case accepted a wide definition of forests under the Act. 
• This description covers all statutorily recognised forests, whether designated as reserved, protected or otherwise for the purpose of Section 2 (1) of the Forest Conservation Act.
• The provisions enacted under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 must apply clearly to all forests so understood irrespective of the ownership or classification.
• An expert committee constituted by the Karnataka government identified deemed forests as land having the characteristic of forests irrespective of the ownership. 

Why are there demands to reclassify?

• Classified without taking into account needs of the people: According to different stakeholders, the move has adversely affected farmers, as well as barred large tracts from mining.
• Wrong classification: As some of the ‘statutory forests’ had been wrongly classified as ‘deemed forest’ by the expert committee constituted after the Supreme Court order as claimed by certain political parties. 
• Subjective classification: A well-defined scientific, verifiable criteria was not used, resulting in a subjective classification of areas as deemed forests.

Karnataka Forest Cover Status

• Total Forest cover: 20.11%, according to the India State of Forest Report 2019, the 16th biennial assessment of India’s forests by Forest Survey of India (FSI).
• FSI is an organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• It undertakes National Forest Inventory to assess the growing stock in forests and Tree Outside Forest (TOF), bamboo resource, carbon stock and to assess the dependence of the people living in Forest Fringe Villages for fuelwood, fodder, small timber and bamboo.
• The evergreen forests of the Western Ghats cover about 60% of the forest area of the State and are recognised as one of the four Biodiversity Hotspots of India.
• Other three biodiversity hotspots are the Himalayas, Areas under Indo-Burma and Sundalands.
• Protected Area Network of the State: 5 National Parks (Anshi, Bandipur, Bannerghatta, Kudremukh, Nagarahole) 30 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 15 Conservation Reserves.
• Karnataka supports about 10% of the total tiger population and 25% of the elephant population of the country.

Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980

• Background: Alarmed at India’s rapid deforestation and resulting environmental degradation, the Centre Government enacted the Forest (Conservation) Act in1980.
• Purpose: It was enacted to consolidate the law related to forest, the transit of forest produces and the duty leviable on timber and other forest produce.
• Administered by: The provisions under the act are administered by the forest officers and their staff.
• Approval for diversion of the land: Under the act, prior approval of the Central Government is required for diversion of forestlands for non-forest purposes.
• An Advisory Committee constituted under the act advises the Centre on this.
• Four categories of the forests: The Act deals with the forests, namely reserved forests, village forests, protected forests and private forests.

Reserved forest

• A state may declare forestlands or waste lands as reserved forest and may sell the produce from these forests.
• Any unauthorized felling of trees quarrying, grazing and hunting in reserved forests is punishable with a fine or imprisonment, or both

Village forests

• Reserved forests assigned to a village community are called village forests.

Protected forests

• The state governments are empowered to designate protected forests and may prohibit the felling of trees, quarrying and the removal of forest produce from these forests.
• The preservation of protected forests is enforced through rules, licenses and criminal prosecutions.