India has published its first dedicated guide to the grasslands, deserts, ravines and scrublands that government paperwork has spent decades filing under “wasteland.”
Lesser Florican
Maharashtra’s GR No. SAVVI-2025/PR.KR.11/VANE-11, issued on 7 May 2026, explicitly prohibits tree planting in grasslands and wetlands — the first time a government resolution has put this in writing at scale. The same order that launched a 300-crore plantation drive also protects the ecosystems most at risk from it.