The National Forest Policy 1988

In one line

The National Forest Policy 1988 declares that the principal aim of forest policy must be environmental stability and the maintenance of ecological balance, and that the derivation of direct economic benefit must be subordinated to that aim.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: the National Forest Policy 1988 was issued as Resolution No. 3-1/86-FP of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, dated 7 December 1988, replacing the policy of 1952. It reverses the object of Indian forest policy from production to conservation, sets a national goal of a minimum of one third of the total land area under forest or tree cover and two thirds in the hills, makes the domestic requirements of tribals and the poor living in and near forests the first charge on forest produce, and requires a forest-based industry to raise its own raw material.

The sentence that matters

Paragraph 2.2. The principal aim of Forest Policy must be to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance including atmospheric equilibrium which are vital for sustenance of all lifeforms, human, animal and plant. The derivation of direct economic benefit must be subordinated to this principal aim.

That is the reversal, stated in a single sentence, and it is the sentence to quote. Everything the 1894 and 1952 policies made the object, the 1988 Policy subordinates.

The eight basic objectives

Paragraph 2.1 lists them, and a candidate should be able to give at least five.

1. Maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and, where necessary, restoration of the ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by serious depletion of the forests.
2. Conserving the natural heritage by preserving the remaining natural forests with their vast variety of flora and fauna, representing the country's biological diversity and genetic resources.
3. Checking soil erosion and denudation in the catchment areas of rivers, lakes and reservoirs, for soil and water conservation, for mitigating floods and droughts and for retarding siltation of reservoirs.
4. Checking the extension of sand dunes in the desert areas of Rajasthan and along the coastal tracts.
5. Increasing the forest and tree cover substantially through massive afforestation and social forestry programmes, especially on denuded, degraded and unproductive lands.
6. Meeting the requirements of fuel-wood, fodder, minor forest produce and small timber of the rural and tribal populations.
7. Increasing the productivity of forests to meet essential national needs.
8. Encouraging efficient utilisation of forest produce and maximising the substitution of wood, and creating a massive people's movement with the involvement of women.

Notice the shape. Four objectives about the ecological function of the forest, one about extent, one about the rural and tribal population, and two about production, with production last. That ordering is the policy's argument.