The following is the text of the statement by Director General, Forest and Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, today:
“The Ministry has not issued any draft Notification on National Forest Policy. What has been uploaded on the website was a study done by Indian Institute of Forest Management Bhopal. The study has not been evaluated by the Ministry. The Ministry has not taken any decision on Draft Forest Policy. The study report prepared by IIFM Bhopal was inadvertently uploaded as Draft Forest Policy on the Website.
As Director General Forest, I would like to clarify that this document is not the Draft Forest Policy. The Ministry has an elaborate procedure for preparing draft policy document, which takes into account multiple inputs from all stakeholders, State governments, think tanks and public consultation. No process has been carried out on the document prepared by IIFM Bhopal, which is only one of the inputs. A draft Forest Policy will be put in Public Domain once due process is carried out and views of all stakeholders taken into Account.”