India, April 15 -- Incomplete and vague information means deemed forests to lose "forest" status

As many as 27 states and Union Territories (UT) have furnished details about their records concerning forests, according to the interim judgment passed by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2024.

However, the information submitted is not uniform and helps little in understanding the status of Indian forests.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court issued an interim directive to the Centre to refer to its understanding of 'forest' as "broad and all-encompassing" in order to classify India's forests as per the order given in the T N Godavarman judgement of December 1996.

The order came in the backdrop of a Public Interest Litigation - Ashok Kumar...