India, April 18 -- As 300 million forest dwellers across India heaved a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court stayed its own order to evict encroachers on February 28 this year, the Union government was sharpening its axe with a new amendment to the Indian Forest Act (IFA), 1927 . On March 7, a document marked "secret" landed on the desks of forest chiefs in all states. It was sent by Noyal Thomas, India's Inspector General of Forests (forest policy), and it contained a proposal to replace IFA, the colonial Act. For the first time, a calculated move was being made to dismantle the community-driven forest governance and strengthen the hands of the forest bureaucracy.
The preamble of the present IFA is centered purely on economic interests-...