Lok Sabha Question No. 3319 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-12
Subject: Forest Villages
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Kanakmal Katara

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3319

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.07.2019

## Forest Villages

## 3319.   SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA:

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

- (a) the details of forest villages in the country including Rajasthan, State-wise;
- (b) the details of criteria for recognizing any village as the forest village;
- (c) whether development works are being undertaken by the Government in the said forest villages; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the funds utilized in this regard during the last three years, State-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) As  per  information  received  from  respective  State  Governments  and  Ministry  of Tribal Affairs, the number of the forest villages in forest areas and villages inside the core/critical  tiger  habitat  in  the country,  State-wise,  including  Rajasthan,  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,  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger, funding assistance is provided to the tiger reserves, based on their  Annual  Plan  of Operations  for  various  activities  which inter  alia include antipoaching measures, habitat development, staff welfare, eco-development etc.  Besides, voluntary village relocation is also a key component, funding assistance for which is provided  to  make  the  core  /  critical  tiger  habitat  of  a  tiger  reserve  inviolate  as mandated  under  Wildlife  (Protection)  Act,  1972.    The  details  of  funds  released  / utilized under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger during last three years and the current year, State-wise including Rajasthan is given at 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 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 Sub-Plan (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. 3319 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 12.07.2019 ASKED BY SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA REGARDING FOREST VILLAGES

## Statement showing number of forest villages in various State/UT

| S.N.   | State            | Total No. of Villages   |
|--------|------------------|-------------------------|
| 1      | Assam            | 499                     |
| 2      | Chhattisgarh     | 425                     |
| 3      | Goa              | 52                      |
| 4      | Gujarat          | 196                     |
| 5      | Himachal Pradesh | 0                       |
| 6      | Jharkhand        | 24                      |
| 7      | Madhya Pradesh   | 893                     |
| 8      | Meghalaya        | 23                      |
| 9      | Mizoram          | 85                      |
| 10     | Odisha           | 20                      |
| 11     | Tripura          | 62                      |
| 12     | Uttarakhand      | 61                      |
| 13     | Uttar Pradesh    | 13                      |
| 14     | West Bengal      | 170                     |
| 15     | Lakshadweep      | 0                       |
| A      | Sub total        | 2,513                   |

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

| S.No.              | State              | No. of villages inside the core/critical tiger habitat   |
|--------------------|--------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| 16                 | Andhra Pradesh     | 28                                                       |
| 17                 | Arunachal Pradesh  | 3                                                        |
| 18                 | Bihar              | 0                                                        |
| 19                 | Karnataka          | 102                                                      |
| 20                 | Kerala             | 0                                                        |
| 21                 | Maharashtra        | 33                                                       |
| 22                 | Rajasthan          | 82                                                       |
| 23                 | Tamil Nadu         | 49                                                       |
| 24                 | Telangana          | 37                                                       |
| B                  | Sub total          | 3,34                                                     |
| Grand Total (A+B)= | Grand Total (A+B)= | 2,847                                                    |

## Annexure-II

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (c) & (d) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3319 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 12.07.2019 ASKED BY SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA REGARDING FOREST VILLAGES

State-wise details of funds released / utilized under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger during last three years and the current year

(Rs. in lakhs)

| Sl. No.   | State             | 2015-16             | 2016-17             | 2017-18 (including All India Tiger Estimation)   | 2018-19 (as on 28.1.2019)   |
|-----------|-------------------|---------------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
|           |                   | Released / Utilised | Released / Utilised | Released / Utilised                              | Released/ Utilised          |
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    | 0.00000             | 173.48600           | 232.49                                           | 162.18                      |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh | 429.53900           | 597.28900           | 671.0222                                         | 710.11                      |
| 3         | Assam             | 1425.41300          | 1510.92100          | 2309.608                                         | 1887.23                     |
| 4         | Bihar             | 223.55051           | 487.83800           | 552.273                                          | 570.89                      |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      | 398.94500           | 626.56700           | 1315.076                                         | 479.50                      |
| 6         | Jharkhand         | 47.98470            | 323.76200           | 338.62                                           | 293.45                      |
| 7         | Karnataka         | 1378.19440          | 3203.61440          | 2308.846                                         | 1784.86                     |
| 8         | Kerala            | 396.60100           | 780.23100           | 636.412                                          | 520.45                      |
| 9         | Madhya Pradesh    | 1421.00700          | 12885.59790         | 11455.457                                        | 5151.63                     |
| 10        | Maharashtra       | 3923.07890          | 8229.71800          | 6524.165                                         | 10392.76                    |
| 11        | Mizoram           | 187.98450           | 301.54800           | 215.316                                          | 134.44                      |
| 12        | Odisha            | 544.80052           | 917.16700           | 1646.127                                         | 818.35                      |
| 13        | Rajasthan         | 1257.80800          | 381.30200           | 773.09                                           | 598.07                      |
| 14        | Tamil Nadu        | 1950.17128          | 949.86900           | 2551.058                                         | 1142.62                     |
| 15        | Telangana         | 214.81920           | 239.25900           | 350.416                                          | 1036.22                     |
| 16        | Uttarakhand       | 683.98538           | 1023.40300          | 1187.439                                         | 1112.34                     |
| 17        | Uttar Pradesh     | 624.54630           | 1057.04500          | 820.074                                          | 621.73                      |
| 18        | West Bengal       | 376.50781           | 536.14070           | 597.5808                                         | 398.07                      |
| 19        | Goa               | 0.00                | 0.00                | 10.88                                            | 0.00                        |
| 20        | Manipur           | 0.00                | 0.00                | 2.70                                             | 0.00                        |
| 21        | Nagaland          | 0.00                | 0.00                | 1.35                                             | 24.86                       |
|           | Total             | 15484.9365          | 34224.7580          | 34500.000                                        | 27839.46                    |

## Annexure-III

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (c)  &(d)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3319 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 12.07.2019 ASKED BY SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA REGARDING FOREST VILLAGES

The details of BE and expenditure under programme for development of forest villages during the last three years and for the year 2017-18

## 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) |