on march 20, 2005, the Institute of Economic Growth (ieg) organised a seminar to gain an insight of issues pertaining to calculation of Net Present Value (npv) of forests. The matter has been debated ever since the Supreme Court (sc) called for a system on September 26, 2005, to evaluate the environmental cost of diverting forestland for non-forest use. The apex court had also directed that npv should be levied from projects that divert fore land for non-forest purposes.

L ast year, sc had appointed a three-member expert committee, headed by Kanchan Chopra forest economist from the ieg and one of the organisers of the conference