Lok Sabha Question No. 4093 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-04
Subject: Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: NINONG ERING, KIRRON KHER

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4093

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.01.2019

## Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act

## 4093.   SHRI NINONG ERING: SHRIMATI KIRRON KHER:

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

- (a) whether rules under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 (CAF) are yet to be formulated, if so, the details and the present status thereof along with time by which the said rules are likely to be notified;
- (b) the details of consultations which have taken place in the last one year on formulation of the said Rules;
- (c) whether there has been any engagement with civil society organizations in this regard, if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  details  of  annual  plan  of  operations  prepared  by  the States;
- (d) whether gram sabhas in areas covered by Forest Rights Act (FRA) and Provisions of the Panchayats  (Extention  to  Scheduled  Areas)  Act  (PESA)  have  been  included  in  the formulation of these annual plans, if so, the details of consent taken from gram sabhas and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) whether  gram  sabhas  will  be  able  to  monitor  the  use  of  funds  and  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (f) the total amount spent on afforestation drives of various States during each of the last three years, States/UT-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 [38 of 2016] was notified on 3 rd August, 2016 and this Act came into effect with effect from 30 th September, 2018 vide Gazette notification dated 13 th August, 2018.

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Rules, 2018 was prepared in consultation with various stakeholders and State Governments and notified on 10 th August, 2018.

Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund  (Accounting  Procedure)  Rules,  2018  as approved  by  the  Ministry  of  Finance  was  notified  in  Gazette  dated  on  20 th November, 2018.

- (b)&(c) In last one year 5 consultations were made with various stakeholders including observation of various Civil Societies on the formulations of the Rules and the recommendations were incorporated in the Rules as agreed upon in the meeting and approved by the Government. The Annual Plan of Operation is prepared as per the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority guideline, 2009 and approved by the steering Committee of the State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority. Funds are  spent  on  Compensatory  Afforestation  and  other  allied  activities  as  per Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority guideline.
- (d)&(e) The  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund  Rules,  2018  provides  that  only  those activities  provided  in  the  Annual  Plan  of  Operation  approved  by  the  State Authority in the State will be carried out by the Forest Department from State Fund. It further provides that the Annual Plan of Operation should be prepared in  consultation  with  the 'Gram  Sabha'  having  jurisdiction  over  the forest  and non-forest land under consideration. This is in consonance with the provisions of the Rule 4(1)(f) of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007 which empowers the Gram Sabha to monitor and control the committee constituted under clause 4(1)(e) which shall prepare a conservation and management plan for community forest resources in order to sustainably and equitably manage such community forest resources for the  benefit  of  forest  dwelling  Scheduled  Tribes  and  other  Traditional  Forest Dwellers and integrate such conservation and management plan with the micro plans or working plans or management plans of the forest department with such modifications as may be considered necessary by the committee. The consultation  of  Gram  Sabha  was  prescribed  in  the  Rule  in  order  to  integrate such conservation and management plan prepared by the Gram Sabha with the Annual Plan of Operation prepared as per the Working Plan Code by the Forest Department and approved by the State Authority for Compensatory Afforestation and other improvement and eco-restoration activities for implementation in the State.
- (f) The  fund  released  by  Adhoc  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund  Management and  Planning  Authority  to  various  state  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund Management and Planning Authority for undertaking Compensatory Afforestation  and  allied  activities  and  permissible  under  the  Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority guidelines 2009 in the last 3 years is given in Annexure-A.

Annexure-A referred in the answer to part (f) of Lok Sabha  Unstarred Question no. 4093 by Shri NINONG  ERING  and  SHRIMATI  KIRRON  KHER  due  for  answer  on  04.01.2019  regarding 'Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act'.

## State/ Union Territory wise release of fund in last three years including year 2018-19

(In Rs.)

| State/UT          | FY-15-16       | FY-16-17       | FY-17-18       | FY-18-19         |
|-------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|------------------|
| State/UT          | Release        | Release        | Release        |                  |
| Andhra Pradesh    | 850,000,000    | 890,000,000    | 970,000,000    | 1,044,700,000.00 |
| Andaman Nicobar   | 10,000,000     |                |                |                  |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 620,000,000    | 1,500,000,000  |                | 950,000,000      |
| Assam             |                | 300,000,000    | 700,000,000    | 458,400,000      |
| Bihar             | 341,400,000    | 330,000,000    | 393,100,000    | 376,190,000      |
| Chandigarh        | 21,179,000     | 10,000,000     | 11,300,000     | 12,700,000       |
| Chhattisgarh      | 2,390,000,000  | 2,800,000,000  |                |                  |
| Delhi             | 39,100,000     | 40,000,000     |                |                  |
| Gujarat           | 330,000,000    | 990,000,000    | 270,000,000    | 2,726,600,000    |
| Haryana           | 640,000,000    | 180,000,000    | 800,000,000    | 1,442,000,000    |
| Himachal Pradesh  | 769,800,000    | 1,320,000,000  | 1,200,000,000  | 1,325,200,000    |
| Jammu Kashmir     | 310,000,000    | 1,020,000,000  | 690,000,000    |                  |
| Jharkhand         | 1,410,000,000  | 1,490,000,000  | 2,340,000,000  | 2,862,500,000    |
| Karnataka         | 600,000,000    | 875,200,000    | 860,000,000    | 1,014,000,000    |
| Kerala            |                |                | 80,000,000     | 146,100,000      |
| Madhya Pradesh    | 2,130,000,000  | 1,400,000,000  | 2,000,000,000  | 2,687,600,000    |
| Maharashtra       | 1,550,000,000  | 2,050,000,000  | 1,990,000,000  | 2,250,000,000    |
| Manipur           | 250,000,000    | 150,000,000    | 295,000,000    | 248,500,000      |
| Meghalaya         | 165,600,000    |                | 70,000,000     |                  |
| Mizoram           | 100,000,000    | 77,300,000     | 68,500,000     |                  |
| Orissa            | 3,220,000,000  | 4,260,000,000  | 14,940,400,000 | 5,540,000,000    |
| Punjab            | 490,000,000    | 660,000,000    | 640,000,000    | 792,000,000      |
| Rajasthan         | 480,000,000    | 1,410,600,000  | 1,790,000,000  | 1,692,400,000    |
| Sikkim            | 110,000,000    | 90,000,000     |                |                  |
| Tamil Nadu        | 22,000,000     | 90,000,000     | 126,800,000    |                  |
| Telangana         | 760,000,000    | 1,182,180,000  | 1,270,000,000  | 2,373,800,000    |
| Tripura           | 110,000,000    | 120,000,000    | 7,100,000      | 2,309,000,000    |
| Uttar Pradesh     | 1,770,000,000  | 1,320,000,000  | 1,230,000,000  | 1,506,000,000    |
| Uttarakhand       | 1,640,000,000  | 1,707,100,000  | 960,000,000    | 3,030,000,000    |
| West Bengal       |                | 210,000,000    |                | 212,200,000      |
| Total             | 21,129,079,000 | 26,472,380,000 | 33,702,200,000 | 34,999,890,000   |