Rights of forest dwellers: Recent SC verdict exacerbates injustice done

The National Forest Policy (1988) embodies the social, economic and ecological elements of sustainable forest management. Playing a pivotal role in the policy, the social element of the policy was implemented via notifications in 1990. These notifications address regularisation of eligible encroachments, and the involvement of forest-dependent communities for management, conservation and protection of forest resources, through the institution of Joint Forest Management.