Lok Sabha Question No. 3431 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Forest Land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Margani Bharat, Harish Dwivedi, Nalin Kumar Kateel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3431 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2020

## Forest Land

## 3431.   SHRI MARGANI BHARAT:

## SHRI HARISH DWIVEDI:

SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGEbe pleased to State:

- (a) the  aims  and  objectives  of  the  Green  IndiaMission  and  the  funds  allocated  to  the States under thisscheme including Andhra Pradesh;
- (b) the  total  forest  cover/forest  land  in  the  countryduring  the  last  four  years  and  the current year,State-wise;
- (c) whether  any  special  scheme  is  being  implementedby  the  Government  to  bring  the States with less forestcoverage at par with the national average, if so, thedetails and the outcome thereof;
- (d) the estimated amount likely to be spent in thisregard; and
- (e) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  launchany  new  initiatives  for  increasing  the forest cover andnecessary provisions for funding are made for protection,development and promotion of forests across thecountry?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO )

- (a) National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions under the National Action  Plan  on  Climate  Change.  It  aims  at  responding  to  Climate  Change  by  a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures. The objectives of GIM are:
- i) Increase  forest/tree  cover  on  5  m  ha  of  forest/  non-forest  lands  and  improve quality of forest cover on another 5 m ha (a total of 10 m ha).
- ii) Improved  ecosystem  services  including  biodiversity,  hydrological  services  and carbon sequestration as a result of treatment of 10 m ha.
- iii) Increase forest-based livelihood income of about 3 million households living in and around the forests;
- iv) Enhanced annual CO2 sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes in the year 2020.

GIM activities started in the Financial Year 2015-16. A sum of Rs 343.08 Crores has been released to 13 states for carrying out the GIM activities from 2015-16 to 2019-20. The State wise  details  of  the  funds  allocated  under  GIM  including  Andhra  Pradesh  is  placed  at Annexure-1 .

- (b) As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2015, 2017 & 2019, the total forest cover in the  country  are  701,673  sq.  km,  708,273  sq.  km  and  712,  249  sq.  km  respectively.The detail of state-wise forest coveras per ISFR 2015, 2017 & 2019 is placed at Annexure-2 .
- (c) to  (e)The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  is  implementing  two major  afforestation  schemes  namely  National  Mission  for  a  Green  India  (GIM)  for plantation  on  landscape  basis  and  National  Afforestation  Programme  (NAP)  for  tree plantation  in  degraded  forests  including  the  States  with  less  forest  coverage.The  State governments submit their Annual Plan of Operations (APOs) every  year and funds are released as per approved APOs and availability of funds.

Tree  Plantation/Afforestation  is  also  taken  up  under  various  other  schemes  of Government of India such as National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agro-forestry under  National  Mission  for  Sustainable  Agriculture,  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS),  Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi  Sinchayee  Yojana(PMKSY), etc.  In addition, tree plantation is also taken up under State Plan/Non-plan schemes, and by various Departments, NGOs, Civil Societies, Corporate bodies etc.

Implementation  of  various  afforestation  measures  and  concerted  efforts  of  various agencies have resulted in maintaining an increasing trend in forest and tree cover which is evident from the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019.

****

Year wise funds released under GIM to 13 States (Rupees in Crores)

| Sl. No.   | States         | FY 2015-16   | FY 2016-17   | FY 2017-18   | FY 2018-19   | FY 2019-20   |   Overall Total |
|-----------|----------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|-----------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh | -            | 0.01         | 0.45         | 2.67         | -            |            4.17 |
| 2         | Chhattisgarh   | 23.39        | 20.23        | 10.95        | 5.36         | 5.04         |           64.97 |
| 3         | Karnataka      | 1.06         | 0.87         | 0.86         | 1.62         | 2.21         |            6.61 |
| 4         | Kerala         | 9.15         | -            | -            | -            | 16.32        |           25.47 |
| 5         | Manipur        | 8.35         | 7.82         | 6.42         | 4.89         | 4.16         |           31.64 |
| 6         | Mizoram        | 0.00         | 9.88         | 20.00        | 22.36        | 17.71        |           69.96 |
| 7         | Odisha         | 1.83         | 1.39         | 1.41         | 4.74         | 14.19        |           23.56 |
| 8         | Punjab         | 6.12         | -            | 6.22         | -            | 3.19         |           15.52 |
| 9         | Uttarakhand    | 20.21        | -            | -            | -            | -            |           20.21 |
| 10        | Madhya Pradesh | -            | -            | -            | 24.16        | 30.65        |           54.81 |
| 11        | Maharashtra    | -            | -            | -            | 10.30        | -            |           10.3  |
| 12        | Sikkim         | -            | -            | -            | 3.32         | 3.12         |            6.45 |
| 13        | West Bengal    | -            | -            | -            | -            | 9.43         |            9.43 |
| Total     | Total          | 70.09        | 40.21        | 46.30        | 79.43        | 106.01       |          343.08 |

*****

## Annexure-1

## Forest Cover in States and UTs

| S. No   | State/ UT           | ISFR-2015   | ISFR-2017   | ISFR-2019   |
|---------|---------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh      | 24,424      | 28,147      | 29,137      |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh   | 67,248      | 66,964      | 66,688      |
| 3       | Assam               | 27,623      | 28,105      | 28,327      |
| 4       | Bihar               | 7,288       | 7,299       | 7,306       |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh        | 55,586      | 55,547      | 55,611      |
| 6       | Delhi               | 188.77      | 192.41      | 195.44      |
| 7       | Goa                 | 2,224       | 2,229       | 2,237       |
| 8       | Gujarat             | 14,660      | 14,757      | 14,857      |
| 9       | Haryana             | 1,584       | 1,588       | 1,602       |
| 10      | Himachal Pradesh    | 14,696      | 15,100      | 15,434      |
| 11      | Jammu &Kashmir      | 22,988      | 23,241      | 23,612      |
| 12      | Jharkhand           | 23,478      | 23,553      | 23,611      |
| 13      | Karnataka           | 36,421      | 37,550      | 38,575      |
| 14      | Kerala*             | 19,239      | 20,321      | 21,144      |
| 15      | Madhya Pradesh      | 77,462      | 77,414      | 77,482      |
| 16      | Maharashtra         | 50,628      | 50,682      | 50,778      |
| 17      | Manipur             | 16,994      | 17,346      | 16,847      |
| 18      | Meghalaya           | 17,217      | 17,146      | 17,119      |
| 19      | Mizoram             | 18,748      | 18,186      | 18,006      |
| 20      | Nagaland            | 12,966      | 12,489      | 12,486      |
| 21      | Odisha              | 50,354      | 51,345      | 51,619      |
| 22      | Punjab              | 1,771       | 1837        | 1,849       |
| 23      | Rajasthan           | 16,171      | 16,572      | 16,630      |
| 24      | Sikkim              | 3,357       | 3,344       | 3,342       |
| 25      | Tamil Nadu          | 26,345      | 26,281      | 26,364      |
| 26      | Telangana           | 21,591      | 20,419      | 20,582      |
| 27      | Tripura             | 7,811       | 7,726       | 7,726       |
| 28      | Uttar Pradesh       | 14,461      | 14,679      | 14,806      |
| 29      | Uttarakhand         | 24,240      | 24,295      | 24,303      |
| 30      | West Bengal         | 16,828      | 16,847      | 16,902      |
| 31      | A &NIslands         | 6,751       | 6,742       | 6,743       |
| 32      | Chandigarh          | 22.03       | 21.56       | 22.03       |
| 33      | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 206         | 207         | 207         |
| 34      | Daman &Diu          | 19.61       | 20.49       | 20.49       |
| 35      | Lakshadweep         | 27.06       | 27.10       | 27.10       |
| 36      | Puducherry          | 55.38       | 53.67       | 52.41       |
|         | Total               | 701,673     | 708,273     | 7,12,249    |

(Source: ISFRs 2015; 2017 & 2019)

## Annexure-2

(Area in km 2 )