"Parliamentary Committee Flags Gaps in Himalayan Forest Fire Research and Policy"
NCSFFM
National Centre for Study on Forest Fire Management, housed at ICFRE-FRI, conducts scenario-based fire vulnerability research.
Fuel load
accumulated combustible organic matter (e.g. pine needles) on a forest floor that determines fire intensity.
Forest fires are a recurring ecological hazard across India, but the Himalayan region presents a uniquely complex challenge owing to its ecological fragility, altitudinal diversity, and high sensitivity to climatic shifts. The Himalayas span two broadly distinct fire regimes: the Western Himalaya, characterised by coniferous forests dominated by Pinus roxburghii (chir pine), whose needle litter creates dense, highly combustible fuel loads; and the Eastern Himalaya, where atmospheric dryness interacts with cultivation-linked burning practices to produce a different ignition dynamic. Historically, forest fire management in India has been governed through the National Action Plan on Forest Fires (NAPFF), and institutional responsibility is shared between the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), state forest departments, and the Forest Survey of India (FSI), which monitors fire alerts via satellite.
Parliamentary Standing Committees serve as a critical oversight mechanism between the executive and the legislature. As the NCERT Political Science textbook notes, since 1983 India has developed a system of departmentally related standing committees that supervise the work of ministries, their budgets, and their expenditure. The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change is one such body, and its reports — though not legally binding — carry significant persuasive authority and frequently catalyse policy reform. The 412th Report of this Committee, presented to both Houses of Parliament, focuses specifically on forest fires in the Himalayan region, their adverse effects, and mitigation strategies.
The National Centre for Study on Forest Fire Management (NCSFFM) at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education – Forest Research Institute (ICFRE-FRI) is the nodal body for forest fire research in India. Its ongoing work under the NCSFFM is scenario-based and forward-looking, oriented towards projecting future fire vulnerability rather than empirically establishing the historical relationship between climate variables and past fire incidence.
The 412th Report identifies several structural and knowledge gaps in India's approach to Himalayan forest fires. First, it flags a critical research deficit: despite the MoEFCC acknowledging that rising temperatures, prolonged dry spells, and increasing climate variability are contributing to greater fire frequency and intensity, no dedicated study has been commissioned to empirically establish this linkage for the Indian Himalayan Region. The Committee distinguishes this from the NCSFFM's ongoing work, which is prospective rather than retrospective — it projects future vulnerability but does not analyse historical climate-fire relationships. This gap matters because evidence-based policy requires both retrospective analysis (what has driven past fires) and forward projection (where future risk lies).
Second, the report highlights the West-East differentiation within the Himalayan fire regime. The Western Himalaya's fire threat is driven primarily by extreme pre-monsoon heat, pine-needle fuel accumulation, and proximity-based human ignition. …
In India, which of the following review the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?
1.Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
2.Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
3.Finance Commission
4.Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
5.NITI Aayog
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Consider the following statements about the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Parliament of India:
1.Although members of this Committee are elected from both Houses of Parliament, the Chairperson of this Committee is appointed by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
2.Twenty members are elected by the Rajya Sabha and ten members by the Lok Sabha.
3.No Minister, except for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, is eligible to be a member of this Committee.
4.Members are elected for a fixed term of two years from the date they enter their office.
Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct?
Which of the following statements about the Ethics Committee in the Lok Sabha are correct?
1.Initially it was an ad-hoc Committee.
2.Only a Member of the Lok Sabha can make a complaint relating to unethical conduct of a member of the Lok Sabha.
3.This Committee cannot take up any matter which is sub-judice.
Select the answer using the code given below:
Which of the following best describes the primary driver of forest fire risk in the Western Himalaya as identified in the Parliamentary Standing Committee's 412th Report?
Consider the following statements about Parliamentary Department-Related Standing Committees in India:
1.The system of departmentally related standing committees has been in existence since 1983.
2.Their reports are legally binding on the executive ministry concerned.
3.They can review the functioning of statutory and regulatory bodies under their subject domain.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Assertion (A): The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change recommended that India adopt a uniform, pan-Himalayan forest fire prevention framework for administrative efficiency.
Reason (R): The Western and Eastern Himalaya have distinct fire regimes driven by different climatic and anthropogenic factors.
Which of the following is correct?
Want the full note, Prelims Facts & MCQ answers?
Create a free account — takes less than a minute.
Create free account