what is the rule of State Government and Central Government conservation of forest and wildlife ?
Answers
Answer:
State Government Institutions
State governments exercise complete administrative control over all statutorily recognized forests and other government-owned lands in the country. The state government’s power to constitute reserved forests, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries is absolute but it has to seek prior approval of the Central Government for de-reservation, de-notification, diversion, logging, or leasing of forests for non-forestry activities.
The Forest Minister of the State is in charge of all matters concerning forests and wildlife and is assisted by a Principal Secretary belonging to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) along with a full-fledged forest secretariat which is in charge of all statutory and policy matters.
The State Forest Department is vested with the task of administration and management of forests, including wildlife reserves. State Forest Departments are headed by Principal Chief Conservators of Forests (PCCF) who are officers of the Indian Forest Service (IFS).
The Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) is the statutory authority, under the Wildlife Protection Act, who heads the Wildlife Wing of the department and exercises complete administrative control over Protected Areas (PAs) within a state. Every PA is typically classified as a Wildlife Division and is headed by a Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF).
The Forest Department is charged with the tasks of protection and law enforcement within forest areas through the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of all forest and wildlife offences. Officers over a certain rank are also vested with quasi-judicial powers to deal with cases of encroachment, seizures of illegal wildlife produce, and other notified forest offences.
In addition to the Forest Department, various other government departments that make up the broader administrative structure of the state government play significant roles in the administration of land. These include:
The Revenue Department, which controls public lands not statutorily designated or defined as forests;
The Police Department, whose primary responsibilities include prevention of crime and maintenance of law and order, which is critical to enforcing forest laws, including tracking of illegal trade in forest and wildlife products.
The Irrigation/Water Resources Department, which plans and manages dams, reservoirs, barrages, and canals.
And lastly, the Public Works Department which maintains all state highways and roads.
There are major conflicts of interest between central and state governments as forests represent a major source of non-tax revenue for the latter. Thus, while recent forest policy is gradually moving away from commercial forestry to conservation, state governments are often faced with competing demands on forests from various powerful interest groups, including the state treasury and forest-based industries.
Further, conservation and management objectives of the Forest Departments are not clearly formulated; projects are often poorly funded, equipped and staffed; and ongoing efforts rarely monitored. Consequently, there are no significant efforts made towards:
Consolidation of forests through acquisition of enclosures.
Resettlement programs for people living within PAs
Identification of wildlife corridors.
Lack of transparency and accountability, in combination with the lack of sufficient financial resources, are significant constraints to effective implementation of conservation. A radical restructuring of the forest sector through a clear separation of protective and productive functions is proposed under the National Forestry Action Programme (prepared with funding from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Other Democratic Institutions like the Panchayati Raj institutions, comprising the Gram Panchayats at village level, the Taluk Panchayats at Taluk level, and the Zilla Panchayats at the district level, form a three-tier system of decentralized, democratic local self-governance. State legislatures can legislate and devolve certain powers to the Panchayats under the Panchyat Raj Act on matters concerning agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, rural housing, electrification, roads and water management, social welfare etc.