As Parliament prepares to table amendments to the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) of 1980, large sections of the Aravalis in Haryana find themselves in a state of uncertainty.

Apparently, the FCA will only apply proposed changes to areas specifically notified as "forest" according to the Indian Forest Act of 1927 and those recorded as such in government records after October 25, 1980.

This narrow definition differs significantly from the broader scope set by the Supreme Court in its landmark 1996 judgement while hearing a petition for the conservation of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu.

The Court ruled that the FCA should apply to all forests, regardless of ownership or classification, with the term "forest" understood according to its dictionary meaning. To achieve this, states were directed to identify "forests" through committees, regardless of their current legal status.

In 2015, Haryana designated approximately 18,000 acres of the Aravalis in Gurgaon and Faridabad as "yet to be decided," failing to meet the criteria for protection under the amended FCA or the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), the legislation that safeguards the Aravalis.

Concerns abound among experts and environmentalists. They fear the amendments may benefit the farmhouse lobby by allowing illegal encroachers to claim forest land as a public utility and potentially harming the delicate Aravali ecosystem.

Furthermore, the bill's silence on whether the "yet to be decided" category may gain FCA protection in the future raises uncertainties about the region's conservation efforts.

A confusion regarding the scope of the FCA after the Godavarman judgement in 1996 was acknowledged. To address this, the proposed amendments now clarify that records from the forest departments or any other councils will be treated as forest, thereby encompassing lands not included in revenue records.

As the monsoon session progresses, the fate of the Aravalis and its ecosystem hangs in the balance. The need of the hour is to ensure that any amendments to the FCA truly uphold the essence of protecting our precious forests for generations to come.