India, July 7 -- India's lush forests have often been a source of greed for politicians and industrialists who see them, not as biodiversity hotspots, but as a revenue source.

From pristine forest land in mineral-rich Odisha and Chhattisgarh to the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, forests have been diverted for environmentally hazardous mining activities with impunity.

Last week, the Chhattisgarh forest department felled trees in 200 acres of forest between Mudagaon and Saritola villages in the Tamnar tehsil of Raigarh district to operate a coal mine in the Gare Palma Sector II coal block, the latest example of trees being felled for mining despite protest by locals.

The mine has been allotted to Maharashtra State Power Generation C...