Question

Distinguish between the reserved forests and protected forests.

Answer 1

Hint: Reserved and protected forests are large areas of land dominated by trees. In India, unlike the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, these are declared by the respective State Government but the land rights to forests are typically acquired and owned by the Government of India.

Complete answer:

Reserved Forest	Protected Forest
1. Reserve forest is the designated forest with many other natural areas that enjoy judicial protection based on the legal systems.	1. Protected forests are forests with some amount of legal and constitutional protection in certain countries. Here the habitat and resident species are given legal protection against any further depletion.
2. In reserve forest natural habitats have been given a high degree of protection against any kind of hunting and poaching.	2. In protected forests, sometimes the local community has got the rights for activities like hunting and grazing as they are living on the fringes of the forest because they sustain their livelihood wholly or partially from forest resources or products.
3. These forests come under government protection. Rights to all activities like hunting, grazing, etc. unreserved forests are banned unless specific orders are issued.	3. In India, the government has property rights in these forests. This was declared by a state government under the provisions of section 29 of the Indian forest act 1927.
4. These are permanent forest estates maintained to produce timber and other forest produce.	4. Almost 1/3 of the total forest area is declared as a protected forest by the forest department.
5. As the conservation of forest and wildlife is concerned more than 50% of the total forest land has been declared as reserved forest.	5. Protected forests are often upgraded to wildlife sanctuaries which may further upgrade to national parks.
6. In India, Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forest (75% of the total forest area) followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal	6. In India, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan have the bulk of their forest, under-protected forest.

Note:
1. The previous Indian Forest Acts as implemented under the British was the basis for the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The Indian Forest Act of 1878 is the most famous one.
2. After repealing the Indian Forest Act, 1878 The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was enacted to consolidate the law relating to forests.
3. This act also deals with the transit of forest produce, and on timber and other forest products, the duty is leviable.