Lok Sabha Question No. 3642 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-20
Subject: Life on Land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Brijendra Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMTE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO . 3642

TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.12.2021

## Life on Land

## 3642.   SHRI BRIJENDRA SINGH:

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

- (a) Whether the state of Haryana has fared poorly in the sustainable development goal of 'Life on Land' as per the NITI Aayog India Index 2021?
- (b) If so, the reasons and details thereof;
- (c) Whether  the  government  has  taken  steps  to  promote  agroforestry,  afforestation  of wastelands and other relevant practices to increase the tree cover in states dominated by agriculture such as Haryana and Punjab; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefore?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a)  &  (b)The  performance  of  States  in  Goal  15  in  SDG  India  Index  2020-21  is  measured using  6  indicators,  namely  forest  cover,  tree  cover,  area  under  afforestation  schemes, degraded land, area under desertification and number of cases under wildlife protection Act. The  SDG  India  Index  scores  range  between  0-100  with  a  higher  score  indicating  better performance. States and UTs are classified as, 'aspirant' if they score between 0-49 points. Haryana's score in Goal 15 is 48 and hence it falls in the aspirant category,  while  India's score in Goal 15 is 66. Haryana is ranked 25 th among all the states in India. Haryana's score has improved by 8 points while its rank has improved by 3 positions since 2019-20 in Goal 15 (Life on Land).

The performance of Haryana, the country value and the state with best performance for each of the 6 indicators of SDG15 is given as follows:

1. Forest cover as a percentage of total geographical area: 3.62 ,(Haryana) (India value 21.67) (Best State: 85.41 (Mizoram)) [Data Source: Forest Survey of India 2019 | Data Period: 2019]
2. Tree cover as a percentage of total geographical area - 3.54 , (Haryana)(India value 2.89) (Best State: 7.56 (Kerala)) [Data Source: Forest Survey of India 2019 | Data Period: 2019]
3. Percentage of area covered under afforestation schemes to the total geographical area - 0.38, (Haryana)(India value 0.51) (Best State: 4.37 (Telangana)) [Data Source:
4. Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, EnviStats 2020 | Data Period: 2017-18]
4. Percentage of degraded land over total land area - 8.80, (Haryana) (India value 27.77) (Best State: 3.15 (Punjab)) [Data Source: Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, EnviStats 2020 | Data Period: 2015-16]
5. Percentage increase in area of desertification - 7.75, (Haryana)(India value 1.98) (Best State:         -16.69 (Uttar Pradesh)) [Data Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Desertification & Land Degradation Atlas of India Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organization| Data Period: 201113]
6. Number of cases under Wildlife Protection Act (1972) per million hectares of protected area - 90.00 , (Haryana)(India value 15.00) (Best State: 2 (Karnataka)) [Data Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau| Data Period: 2019]
8. (c)  &  (d)  Yes,  the  state  government  of  Haryana  and  Punjab  has  taken  steps  to  promote agroforestry,  afforestation  of  wastelands  and  other  relevant  practices  to  increase  the  tree cover. The tree cover of Haryana has increased by 150 square kilometre in 2019 as compared to 2017. Government of Haryana has planted 53,10,984 plants on the area of 4,558 hectares (under agro-forestry) and 46,81,468 plants on the area of 1,800 hectares (on other lands) in 2020-21.

Government  of  Punjab  has  implemented  Sub-  Mission  on  Agro-  Forestry(SMAF) under National Mission for Sustainable (NMSA) to promote agro-forestry to increase Trees outside Forest. Further, in order to increase the tree cover of the state, available wasteland is also reclaimed and brought under green cover. Under SMAF Punjab has planted 46.93 Lakhs plants with 3768 beneficiaries. In 2020-21, plantation of 115.169 hectare has been done to reclaim the alkaline waste lands in forest areas.

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