Forest Types in India — Environmental Laws

Entry	Year	Description	Impact
42nd Amendment Act	1976	Inserted Article 48A (Directive Principle of State Policy) and Article 51A(g) (Fundamental Duty) into the Constitution. Article 48A mandates the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife. Article 51A(g) makes it a fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests.	Elevated environmental protection and forest conservation to a constitutional mandate, providing a strong legal and ethical basis for subsequent forest legislation and policies in India. It shifted forests and wildlife from the State List to the Concurrent List, allowing both Central and State governments to legislate on these matters.
Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act	2023	Amended the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, to exempt certain categories of land from its purview, such as forest land along railway lines and public roads for strategic linear projects, and forest land up to 0.10 hectares for construction of security-related infrastructure. It also introduced a 'Preamble' and changed the Act's name to 'Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980'.	Aimed at streamlining infrastructure development and national security projects, but raised concerns among environmentalists about potential dilution of forest protection, particularly regarding the broad definition of 'forest' established by the T.N. Godavarman judgment. It has significant implications for forest diversion and the future of various forest types, especially those near linear infrastructure.

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