SRINAGAR, Aug. 12 -- The Jammu and Kashmir Government has issued detailed guidelines to balance forest conservation and sustainable management with recognition and settlement of the legitimate rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

The Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, through Circular No. 07-JK(FST) of 2026, has directed all concerned departments and authorities to strictly comply with applicable laws and prescribed procedures concerning forest land, encroachment and forest rights.

The circular states that all such action shall conform to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, as applicable to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Scheduled Tribes a...