- In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court ordered the Rajasthan government to conduct a mapping exercise of sacred groves and notify them as deemed forests.
- Since 2018, the Rajasthan government has only notified around 5,000 out of 25,000 orans as deemed forests.
- The Court also recommended the central government identify sacred groves across the country and formulate a policy for their protection.
For years, the sacred groves of Rajasthan – the orans – have been caught between conservation and conversion for development. After much uncertainty about their status, the orans are likely to gain protection following an order by the Supreme Court, which called for the recognition of sacred groves as forests in Rajasthan and across the country.
The orans are a diverse set of land and forest parcels believed to be inhabited by local deities, and have therefore been conserved by communities or left untouched. Despite being sites of rich biodiversity, the conservation of orans has fallen to the wayside over time because of encroachment, environmental degradation, or ambiguous land tenures opening them up for conversion. Renewable energy projects are an emerging threat to some orans which are found in open savannas and grassland ecosystems.
On 18 December, the Supreme Court said protecting orans as forests under the Forest (Conservation) Act “is imperative for upholding both ecological sustainability and cultural heritage.” The court called the conservation of sacred groves like the orans “pivotal for in situ biodiversity preservation,” adding that they also “mitigate soil erosion, recharge aquifers, and serve as genetic repositories critical for ecological balance.”
“This is a great statement by the court,” said Aman Singh, a petitioner in the case and founder of the Krishi Avam Paristhitiki Vikas Sansthana (KRAPAVIS), an Alwar-based organisation dedicated to the protection of orans. “We’ve been struggling for more than three decades to get some kind of concrete policy or rule to protect orans. This judgement will help save these sacred lands.”
The Court ordered the Rajasthan government to conduct an on-ground and satellite mapping exercise of each sacred grove in the state, and appointed a committee to oversee the process.
The Court also recommended the Union Environment Ministry conduct a nation-wide survey of sacred groves and formulate a policy for their governance and management. This, the court said, will “promote the sustainable conservation of sacred groves and empower the communities associated with their protection.”
Classifying orans in Rajasthan
The debate around whether orans should be included under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act (FCA) dates back to 1996, when the definition of a forest was decided by the Supreme Court as that which resembles its dictionary meaning. In what is since known as the landmark T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad case, the Court directed states to submit reports documenting these “deemed” forests – forests that were not officially notified, but which met the Court’s definition and therefore afforded protection under the FCA.
In Rajasthan, the government set up the Kapoor Committee in 2004 to carry out the Supreme Court’s instructions. When it came to classifying orans, the Kapoor Committee stipulated that only those sacred groves that were a minimum of five hectares in area and had at least 200 naturally growing trees per hectare, would count as deemed forests worthy of protection under the FCA.
Since then, the issue has seen a lot of back and forth. In 2005, after the Rajasthan government submitted its report, the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee found the Kapoor Committee’s classification to be inconsistent with the Court’s orders, and recommended classifying all sacred groves and orans as forests, except for “small fragmented areas, which are difficult to manage.”
The CEC also recommended the Rajasthan government identify areas like grasslands, rocky outcrops, and stony deserts, which represent desert ecosystems that could “also be included in the category of ‘deemed forest’ irrespective of the vegetation supported by such areas.”
The Rajasthan government did not act on the CEC’s instructions till 2018, but the 2010 state forest policy strengthened support for the conservation of orans. The 2010 policy specified that the state would identify orans in each district with the help of local communities and NGOs and make efforts “to provide necessary financial and legal support in consonance with local religious ethos of the local community.”
Since 2018, however, the state government has only planned to notify around 5,000 orans as deemed forests – one fifth of the state’s 25,000 orans spanning a total of 600,000 hectares. “There have been a lot of problems in oran allotment and with their encroachment in Rajasthan over the years,” said Singh. In 2023, the Rajasthan government updated its forest policy and generalised its commitment to protect orans by saying the state would “actively take up protection, conservation and plantation on community lands like gochar, oran, charagah, etc.”
In its order on 18 December, the Supreme Court called the updated forest policy an erosion of the “focused conservation mechanisms” previously afforded to orans, and instructed the Rajasthan government to fully comply with the CEC’s instructions. This includes forming a committee to identify arid areas with grasslands, rocky outcrops, and stony deserts and to consider them as deemed forests.
In addition to recognising them as deemed forests, orans could be protected as community reserves under the Wildlife Protection Act, or as community forest resources under the Forest Rights Act, the Court further said. “These communities have shown a strong cultural and ecological commitment to conservation, and their role as custodians should be formally recognized…Granting them the authority to regulate access and prevent harmful activities would preserve their legacy of stewardship and promote sustainable conservation for future generations,” the court said.
Sacred groves in India
In addition to its judgement on Rajasthan, the Supreme Court recommended the Union Environment Ministry survey the areas, locations, and extent of sacred groves and develop a policy for their protection. While the Supreme Court’s recommendations to the Union government are not binding, they are significant, said Ritwick Dutta, founder of the Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE). “The central government is not legally bound to comply, but because these recommendations have come from the Supreme Court it has a persuasive value,” he said.
According to Dutta, while the Court’s acknowledgement of community conservation is welcome, the instruction to recognise sacred groves as community reserves under the Wildlife Protection Act could be problematic. “Community reserves under the Wildlife Protection Act shift the management of these areas to the forest department and away from communities,” Dutta explained, adding, “The aims and objectives of the Wildlife Protection Act are different from the aims and objectives communities have in protecting sacred groves, and that difference needs to be recognised.”
India is estimated to have over 100,000 sacred groves, according to a 2007 paper, but not all of them are subject to legal protections.
In 2020, the central government endeavoured to recognise ‘Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures’ (OECMs) – geographic areas which are not within protected areas, but still deliver long-term biodiversity conservation. It recognised 14 such sites, but none of them were sacred groves or orans, “leaving their potential for the conservation of biological and cultural diversity under-recognised,” researchers from the Central Arid Zone Research Institute had stated in a journal article.
Banner image: Forest surrounding the Bhangarh fort in Alwar district, Rajasthan. Locals believe the complex to be haunted by spirits, and tresspassing between sunset and sunrise is legally prohibited. Image by Apurvasonal1999 via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0].
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