How green are the green bills?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021, and Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 —will be tabled during the monsoon session of Parliament. Both have been criticised for the harmful impacts they could have on the country’s rich but fragile ecosystems and biodiversity. Both have been scrutinised by joint parliamentary committees (JPCs), which asked for public inputs on the amendments.

Though the JPCs have cleared the amendments, serious concerns persist. Climate change and biodiversity loss create new challenges for safeguarding the environment and building the energy infrastructure required to transition to a net-zero economy. The challenge is stiff because a developing country must develop its economy, build critical infrastructure and bridge development deficits.

A large population adds to the challenge. There are also security concerns. Many regulatory frameworks drawn up in the last 4 decades are not equipped to respond to these challenges.

GoI argues that the proposed amendments to these Bills are required to meet these challenges. The reclassification of forests, it argues, is to increase the green cover and exemptions introduced in the biological diversity amendment Bill would ease the compliance burden for traditional medicine practitioners. However, many have pointed out to the JPCs and during public debates that these amendments can potentially undermine the goal of environmental protection and development.