India has many laws regulating bamboo cultivation and harvesting due to bamboo traditionally being found in forests. The main laws are the Indian Forest Act of 1927, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, and the Traditional Forest Dwellers Act of 2006. These laws mean bamboo is considered a forest produce and its cultivation and movement are regulated, though some states exempt bamboo grown on private plantations. The forest acts classify forests and restrict bamboo harvesting from reserved forests to the forest department.

1. Regulatory Constraints on
Bamboo Sector in India
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2. India is well endowed with
resources of bamboo, the second
largest in the world. Bamboo
grows on millions of hectares of
forest land, in homesteads and
on private plantations. There
are almost 130 species in India,
spread across 18 genera.
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3. Technically speaking Bamboo
is a grass but provisions of
Indian Forest Act, 1927
Section 2 (7) defines bamboo
as a “tree” .
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4. Bamboo were primarily
found in forests and
therefore got categorized
under forest produce.
Consequently, forest laws
regulated its harvest, trade
& transportation.
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5. Both center and state have
enacted laws on forests as
forests are listed in the
concurrent list of the
constitution and automatically
bamboo falls under
concurrent list of the
constitution.
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6. 1) Indian Forest Act 1927,
2) The Forest Conservation Act 1980,
3) The Scheduled Tribes and other
Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act
2006.
govern forest & forest produce and
bamboo falls within the purview of all
the three acts.
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7. Indian Forest Act 1927 is the
single largest & most important
piece of legislation on forests.
This act has only minor
differences with the 1878 Forest
Act with the philosophy
remaining the same.
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8. Forest Act 1927,classifies forests
into three categories,
Reserved Forests,
Protected Forest
Village Forests
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9. The Forest Conservation Act,
1980, deals with restriction on
allotment of “Forest Lands” for
non forest purposes and de-
reservation of reserved forests.
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10. Objective of “Forest
Conservation Act 1980” was to
empower the central
government in directly
managing country's forest's
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11. Forest’s were transferred to the
concurrent list of the
constitution by the 42nd
Amendment Act of 1976 and
Ministry of Environment &
Forests was set up in 1980 and
central government could
intervene.
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12. Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights)
Act 2006, gives forest dwellers
access to minor forest produce,
including rights to sell, and a
stake in the preservation of
open spaces.
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13. Forest Act 1927 section 26,
prohibits harvesting of bamboo
in reserved forest except by
forest department.
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14. Harvesting of bamboo from
protected forest is done with
written permission of the forest
department as per the
guidelines.
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15. Forest Act 1927, section 41 & 42
of chapter VII under clause (1)
of section 41, spells about
transit rules of bamboo (forest
produce), where control of
forest produce (bamboo) is
vested with the state
government.
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16. Harvesting of bamboo from
private lands, requires
“CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN”
and transport of bamboo from
forest land requires “TRANSIT
PERMIT” from the forest
department.
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17. Most of the states in the country
have their respective laws on
bamboo, as prior to 1976 forest
was a state subject.
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18. Section 27 of Indian Forest Act
prohibits removal of bamboo
(forest produce) from reserved
forest, except by the forest
department and forest
department have rights to
arrest without warrant.
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19. In the following states mentioned below, bamboo
grown in captive plantations is not a forest
produce and therefore the requirements of
harvesting permission or permit of transporting
bamboos thus grown is not required.
Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, West
Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Gujrat, Maharashtra, Bihar & Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh &
Uttaranchal
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20. Laws on bamboo in Andhra
Pradesh & Sikkim are slightly
different compared to rest of
the country.
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21. Bamboo in Andhra falls under the following acts
• Indian Forest Act 1927
• Forest Conservation Act 1980
• Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act 2006
• AP Forest Act, 1967
• A P Minor Forest Produce Act, 1971
• A P Forest Produce ( fixation of selling prices)
Rules, 1989
• A P Forest Produce ( fixation of selling prices)
Rules, 1991
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22. Thank You
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Hyderabad
India