Consider the following statements : I. As per law, the compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority exists at both National and State levels. II. People’s participation is mandatory in the compensatory afforestation programmes carried out under the Compensatory Afforestation fund Act, 2016. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

The correct answer is A, that is, only statement 1 is correct.

Statement 1 is correct. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 provides for a National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA at the national level) and a corresponding State-level authority in every state and Union Territory. The Act was passed to give statutory backing to the funds collected for diverting forest land, which the Supreme Court had earlier directed be managed properly.

Statement 2 is wrong. The Act does provide for involving local communities, gram sabhas and forest-dependent people in the planning and execution of works. But it does not make people's participation a mandatory condition for every compensatory afforestation programme. Participation is framed as a provision to be ensured through the authorities, not an absolute legal requirement, and the word 'mandatory' is the trap here.

This sits within the environment and ecology syllabus, and at Mains it links to the debate on forest rights, the Forest Rights Act 2006 and the balance between development projects and forest conservation.

Trap: aspirants see 'people's participation' in a welfare-sounding statement and assume it must be mandatory. Check whether the Act uses the word 'mandatory' or merely provides for involvement.