Consider the following statements:
- 1.As per recent amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, forest dwellers have the right to fell the bamboos grown on forest areas.
- 2.As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, bamboo is a minor forest produce.
- 3.The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 allows ownership of minor forest produce to forest dwellers.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 lists bamboo as minor forest produce and gives forest dwellers ownership of such produce. The 2017 amendment to the Indian Forest Act only freed bamboo grown on non-forest land; it gave forest dwellers no right to fell bamboo in forests.
- ✗ 1. The Indian Forest (Amendment) Act, 2017 removed 'bamboos' from the definition of 'tree' so that bamboo grown in non-forest areas needs no felling or transit permit. Bamboo in forest areas stays under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
- ✓ 2. Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 defines minor forest produce to include all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, naming bamboo among them.
- ✓ 3. Section 3(1)(c) recognises ownership of minor forest produce by forest dwellers, with rights to collect, use and dispose of it, wherever it has traditionally been gathered, inside or outside village boundaries.
Remember · FRA 2006: bamboo is minor forest produce and forest dwellers own it; the 2017 Forest Act amendment freed only bamboo grown outside forests.
Sources
- Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (PIB, 23 Nov 2017) ↗ “bamboo grown in the forest areas shall continue to be governed by the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927.”
- The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, section 2(i), Ministry of Tribal Affairs ↗ “includes all non-timber forest produce of plant origin including bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers and the like … right of ownership, access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·