Lok Sabha Question No. 3916 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-04
Subject: Forest Village in Gujarat
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3916 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.01.2019

## Forest Village in Gujarat

## 3916.  SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of forest villages in the country, State-wise including Gujarat at present;
- (b) the details of criteria for declaring a village as forest village;
- (c) the  details  of  developmental  works  being  done  by  the  Government  in  these  forest villages; and
- (d) the quantum of fund utilized on this account during the last three years, State-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) As per information received from respective State Governments and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the number  of the forest villages and villages inside the core/critical tiger habitat in the country, State-wise including Gujarat, is given at Annexure-I .
- (b) As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of  Forest  Rights)  Act,  2006,  'forest  village'  means  the  settlements  which  have been  established  inside the forests by  the  forest department  of  any  State Government for forestry operations or which were converted into forest villages through  the  forest  reservation  process  and  includes  forest  settlement  villages, fixed demand holdings, all types of taungya settlements by whatever name called, for such villages and includes lands for cultivation and other uses permitted by the Government.

Hence  a  forest  villages  is  the  area  where  in  people  were  settled  by  the  forest department  in  past  and  were  allotted  land  for  cultivation  and  for  residential purpose with a view to get persons for forestry works.

- (c) & (d) Developments work like road, drinking water, school, electrification, sanitation, etc are done in forest settlement villages by the respective line departments and forest  department  of  a  State  Government.  Such  details  are  not  collated  in  the Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change.  However,  total  fund utilized  by  forest  department  of  Gujarat  during  last  three  years  is  given  in Annexure-II.

In  addition,  Ministry  of  Tribal  Affairs  had  implemented  a  programme  for development of forest villages since 2005-06 as a one-time measure for integrated development  of  forest  villages  with  a  view  to  raise  the  Human  Development Index  (HDI)  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  forest  villages  and  for  providing  basic facilities and services in 2,474 forest villages/habitations that were covered under the  scheme  spread  over  twelve  States  including  Gujarat  in  the  country.  The programme was implemented as a part of the Special Area Programme 'Special Central  Assistance  to  Tribal  Sub-Plan'.  The  programme  included  infrastructure works  relating  to  basic  services  and  facilities  viz.,  approach  roads,  healthcare, primary  education, minor  irrigation, rain water harvesting, drinking water, sanitation, community halls etc. and activities related to income generation.

Components funded under Gram Vikas Yojana are covered under other schemes of Ministry of Tribal Affairs particularly Special Central Assistance to Tribal SubPlan (SCA to TSP) and grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India where grants have been increased. During the last three years and the current year funding requirement of the various components of the said special area programme has been done through other schemes of the Ministry.  The details of Budget Estimates (BE) and expenditure under these programmes during the last three years and the current year is given in Annexure-III.

The  overall  contribution  to  the  Tribal  Sub-Plan  (now  Sub-Scheme)  across Ministries  by  the  Central  Government  is  now  Rs.31919.51  crore  for  the  year 2017-18.  Centralised monitoring of TSP allocations for focused development of tribals has been  taken  up  by  the  Ministry of Tribal Affairs.    Budgetary requirement for development of tribal villages is duly addressed by the Government.

***

## Annexure-I

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3916 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 04.01.2019 ASKED BY SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA REGARDING FOREST VILLAGE IN GUJARAT

## Statement showing total No. of forest villages in various States

| S.N.   | State            | Total No. of Villages   |
|--------|------------------|-------------------------|
| 1      | Assam            | 499                     |
| 2      | Chhattisgarh     | 425                     |
| 3      | Goa              | 52                      |
| 3      | Gujarat          | 196                     |
| 4      | Himachal Pradesh | 0                       |
| 5      | Jharkhand        | 24                      |
| 6      | Madhya Pradesh   | 893                     |
| 7      | Meghalaya        | 23                      |
| 8      | Mizoram          | 85                      |
| 9      | Odisha           | 20                      |
| 10     | Tripura          | 62                      |
| 11     | Uttarakhand      | 61                      |
| 12     | Uttar Pradesh    | 13                      |
| 13     | West Bengal      | 170                     |
| A      | Sub total        | 2,513                   |

Information available for number of villages only for core/critical Tiger Reserve area in the following States

S.No.

13

14

15

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

B

State

Andhra Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Bihar

Karnataka

Kerala

Maharashtra

Rajasthan

Tamil Nadu

Telangana

Uttrakhand

Sub total

Grand Total (A+B)=

No. of villages inside the core/critical tiger habitat

28

3

0

102

0

33

82

49

37

0

3,34

2,847

## Annexure-II

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (c)  &  (d)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3916 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 04.01.2019 ASKED BY SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA REGARDING FOREST VILLAGE IN GUJARAT

Total fund utilized by forest department of Gujarat during last three years

Rs in Lakh

|   S.No. | Year    | Funds utilized   |
|---------|---------|------------------|
|       1 | 2015-16 | Rs 361.63        |
|       2 | 2016-17 | Rs. 223.98       |
|       3 | 2017-18 | Rs. 232.45       |
|       4 | Total   | Rs. 818.06       |

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (c)  &  (d)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3916 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 04.01.2019 ASKED BY SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA REGARDING FOREST VILLAGE IN GUJARAT

The details of BE and expenditure under these programmes during the last three years and the current year is as under:-

## Grant under SCA to TSP

(Rs. in crore)

|   S.No. | Year    |   BE | Expenditure                         |
|---------|---------|------|-------------------------------------|
|       1 | 2014-15 | 1200 | 1039.61                             |
|       2 | 2015-16 | 1250 | 1132.17                             |
|       3 | 2016-17 | 1250 | 1195.02                             |
|       4 | 2017-18 | 1350 | 1166.66 (sanctioned upto 12.03.2018 |

## Grant under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution

(Rs. in crore)

|   S No. | Year    | BE                     | Expenditure               |
|---------|---------|------------------------|---------------------------|
|       1 | 2014-15 | 1317.00                | 1132.64                   |
|       2 | 2015-16 | 1367.00 (R.E. 1392.28) | 1392.26                   |
|       3 | 2016-17 | 1400.00                | 1265.81                   |
|       4 | 2017-18 | 1500.00                | 1374.44 (upto 12.03.2018) |