According to official data reviewed by Mint, 4,103 proposals were received by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) between 1 January 2013 and 29 November 2016 for forest clearances.

Of those, only 29 (0.7%) proposals were either rejected/returned or withdrawn—it effectively means that over 99% of the projects were either sanctioned, approved in-principle or were pending (at various levels).

Projects which got forest clearance or were approved in-principle added up to 3,235—78.84% of the total proposals received in the same period.

“Even the proposals that are pending are mostly with state governments or other levels and not with the ministry … There is a huge push for clearing projects for development whether it is the previous UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government or the present dispensation,” said a senior official of the forest division at the MoEFCC, who wished to remain anonymous.

Another senior official of the environment ministry, who also requested anonymity, defended the high rate of clearances on grounds that development cannot be allowed to stall for environmental reasons.

“Instead, we have opted for tough conditions for clearing proposals and strict monitoring of the conditions once a project is cleared. Environment cannot be a roadblock for development,” the second official said.

As per the Forest Conservation (FC) Act, 1980, forest land can be diverted for non-forestry purposes, but requires prior approval under Section 2 of the FC Act.

Prior to assuming power in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to ease the green clearance process. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has come to power, MoEFCC has taken a series of initiatives to streamline, simplify and ease the green clearances process.

Among the states, Haryana led the list with 1,093 proposals (about 26.63% of the total), and was followed closely by Punjab with 738 proposals (17.98%) and Uttarakhand with 527 (about 12.84%).