Environment · 5 Aug 2026

Kerala Forest Act Section 27

Which one of the following statements correctly describes the context of Section 27 of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961, as invoked in the Kerala Forest Department's 2026 action against geotagging?

ASection 27 prohibits unauthorised entry into Reserved Forests and the Department is targeting geotags because they enable entry that this provision was designed to prevent
BSection 27 explicitly criminalises the act of geotagging a forest location, treating it as equivalent to unauthorised entry
CSection 27 empowers the Forest Department to directly compel platforms like Google Maps to remove content, backed by statutory force
DSection 27 was enacted specifically in response to the Wayanad landslide to regulate digital mapping of disaster-prone zones
This question is based on: When a Waterfall Becomes Illegal the Moment It Appears on a Map
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About this question

Why in news

Kerala's Forest Department has declared indiscriminate geotagging of ecologically sensitive locations illegal and will seek removal of such tags from platforms like Google Maps, citing unauthorised entry into wildlife corridors and protected areas like Silent Valley.

Why for UPSC

This tests whether aspirants can distinguish an existing legal provision (physical entry) from the new digital-era gap it does not cover (geotagging itself) - the precise analytical distinction the article is built around.

Prelims summary

Section 27 of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961 criminalises unauthorised physical entry into Reserved Forests; it does not explicitly criminalise geotagging, which is the governance gap Kerala's 2026 "digital conservation" move seeks to address informally.

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