NEW DELHI: The Central Government on Wednesday, March 29, will introduce the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha.
Bhupender Yadav, the Minister of Environment will introduce the Bill, which aims to amend the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
The bill aims to revise the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, whose main purpose was to save the nation's woods and prevent their conversion to agricultural or grazing grounds, or the construction of commercial or residential structures.
Under the Act, the Central government, through an advisory group headed by the Director General Forests, must approve any project involving the diversion of forest area measuring more than five hectares.
The new regulations mandate a two-stage approval procedure, with the Central government granting "in principle" and "final permission" for any application seeking to divert forest area for non-forestry uses, including any type of development or building.
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 will be introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha for discussion and approval.
In order to allow the Competition Commission of India to treat cartel facilitators (who actively participated) on par with the cartel participants, the bill seeks to amend the Competition Act of 2002 to broaden the scope of cartel prosecution by including hybrid anti-competitive agreements (such as hub and spoke cartels) within its ambit.
The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 will also be introduced by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for discussion and adoption in the Lok Sabha.
The Bill aims to amend the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
In an effort to support the regional economy based on traditional knowledge, the new amendment has exempted "codified traditional knowledge" practitioners from requesting permission in advance or notifying state diversity boards before using biological resources.
Centre to seek LS approval for passing Competition Amendment Bill
