Lok Sabha Question No. 867 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-23
Subject: Increase in Forest Areas
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Chunni Lal Sahu

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTIO N NO. 867

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2021

## Increase in Forest Areas

## 867. SHRI CHUNNI LAL SAHU:

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

- (a) the details of schemes being implemented by the Government to increase forest area in urban/rural areas during the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether the Government is making constant efforts to promote plantation across the country; and
- (c) if so, the details and the outcome thereof, State/ UT-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a)&(b) The Ministry has been making constant efforts to promote plantation across the country and has taken several initiatives to increase the forest and tree cover in rural and urban areas of the country as under:
- i. The  Ministry  is  implementing  two  major  afforestation  schemes  namely National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for tree plantation in degraded forests  through  people's  participation  and  National  Mission  for  a  Green India (GIM), An area over 2 million hectare was sanctioned for taking up afforestation  in  the  States/Union  Territories  (UTs)  with  an  investment  of about  Rs.  3936.41  crores  till  2020-21  under  NAP  since  its  launch  year 2000. Under GIM an amount of about Rs. 455 crore has been released to States/UTs  since  2015-16  to  2020-21.  The  State-wise  details  of  funds released during last three years  (2018-19  to  2020-21)  are given  in Annexure I.
- ii. The Government of India has disbursed an amount of Rs. 48477.77 crore from National Fund to 31 State funds as share of respective States as per Compensatory  Fund  Act,  2016  till  31.01.2021  for  taking  up  various activities for improvement of forest area. State/UT wise details are given in Annexure I.
- iii. The MoEFCC  encourages plantation/ afforestation through people's participation under Nagar Van Yojana (NVY) for protection and development of urban forests. Rs. 14.10 crore has been released to 9 States for creation of Nagar Van during 2020-21 and 2021-22.
- iv. Further, tree plantation, being a multi-departmental, multi-agency activity, are also being taken up cross-sectorally under various programmes/funding sources  of  other  ministries/  organizations  and  also  through  State  Plan budgets.
- v. The Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC & FW)  is implementing Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF)  under National  Mission  for  Sustainable  Agriculture  (NMSA)  since  2016-17  as part  of  the  recommendation  of  the  National  Agroforestry  Policy  2014  to promote plantation on farmlands. The scheme is being implemented in the States  which  have liberalized  transit  regulations  for  selected  tree  species. At present scheme is being implemented in 20 States and two UTs.
- vi. As per information received from Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 1776 No. of parks over 3500 acres of land have been developed in the Mission cities which also contributed to the urban green cover.
- vii. Afforestation and tree planting activities, including in non-forest areas, are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Mahatma Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme,  Pradhan  Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and under the schemes/plans of States and UTs.
- (c) The multi departmental efforts has yielded good results in conserving environment  by  addressing  the  problem  of  deforestation,  besides  keeping  the pace  of  development,  which  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  forest  cover  has stabilized  and  has  been  constantly  increasing  over  the  years.  The  latest 'India State of Forest Report (ISFR 2019) revealed that the total forest and tree cover of the  country  is  807,276  square  kilometres  (which  is  24.56  percent  of  the geographical  area  of  the  country)  compared  to  802,088  sq  km  (24.39  percent) in ISFR  2017.   This  is  an  increase  of  5,188  sq.  km.  of  forest  and  tree  cover combined, at the national level, as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR 2017.  The State/UT wise details of forest and tree cover  as per ISFR,2019 is given in Annexure II.

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Annexure referred to in reply to part  (a) & (b) of the Lok Sabha Un-starred Question No. 867 due for reply on 23.07.2021 by Shri Chunni Lal Sahu regarding 'Increase in Forest Areas'.

- A. State-wise  Details  of  total  funds  released  during  the  last  three  years  (2018-19  to  2020-21)  under National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM)

(Rs. In crores)

| Sl. No.   | State                | NAP    | GIM    |
|-----------|----------------------|--------|--------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh       | 6.38   | 2.67   |
| 2         | Bihar                | 1.98   | -      |
| 3         | Chhattisgarh         | 23.41  | 12.06  |
| 4         | Gujarat              | 0.00   | -      |
| 5         | Haryana              | 0.00   | -      |
| 6         | Himachal Pradesh     | 0.00   | 17.09  |
| 7         | Jammu &Kashmir       | 4.02   | 25.73  |
| 8         | Jharkhand            | 0.00   | -      |
| 9         | Karnataka            | 0.00   | 6.18   |
| 10        | Kerala               | 10.99  | 16.32  |
| 11        | Madhya Pradesh       | 0.00   | 54.81  |
| 12        | Maharashtra          | 8.35   | 10.30  |
| 13        | Orissa               | 15.33  | 44.94  |
| 14        | Punjab               | 33.48  | 3.19   |
| 15        | Rajasthan            | 0.00   | -      |
| 16        | Tamil Nadu           | 1.95   | -      |
| 17        | Telangana            | 2.07   | -      |
| 18        | Uttar Pradesh        | 0.00   | -      |
| 19        | Uttarakhand          | 0.32   | 27.89  |
| 20        | West Bengal          | 3.64   | 9.43   |
|           | Total (Other States) | 111.94 | 230.61 |
|           | North Eastern states |        |        |
| 21        | Arunachal Pradesh    | 0.00   | -      |
| 22        | Assam                | 0.58   | -      |
| 23        | Manipur              | 4.38   | 15.79  |
| 24        | Meghalaya            | 0.74   | -      |
| 25        | Mizoram              | 15.19  | 43.06  |
| 26        | Nagaland             | 13.03  | -      |
| 27        | Sikkim               | 6.85   | 8.63   |
| 28        | Tripura              | 5.09   | -      |
|           | Total (NE States)    | 45.85  | 67.48  |
|           | Grand Total          | 157.79 | 298.09 |

## B. State-wise  Details  of  Transfer  of  funds  from  the  National  Authority  of  CAMPA  to  States Authority

| Sl. No.   | Name of State/UT   |   Funds transferred (in Rs crore) |
|-----------|--------------------|-----------------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman &Nicobar   |                             16.41 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh     |                           1734.81 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh  |                           1588.72 |
| 4         | Assam              |                            560.81 |
| 5         | Bihar              |                            522.95 |
| 6         | Chandigarh         |                             11.38 |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh       |                           5791.7  |
| 8         | Goa                |                            238.16 |
| 9         | Gujarat            |                           1484.6  |
| 10        | Haryana            |                           1282.65 |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh   |                           1660.72 |
| 12        | Jammu &Kashmir     |                            764.54 |
| 13        | Jharkhand          |                           4158.02 |
| 14        | Karnataka          |                           1350.37 |
| 15        | Kerala             |                             81.59 |
| 16        | Ladakh             |                            249.27 |
| 17        | Madhya Pradesh     |                           5196.69 |
| 18        | Maharashtra        |                           3844.24 |
| 19        | Manipur            |                            309.76 |
| 20        | Meghalaya          |                            163.31 |
| 21        | Mizoram            |                            212.98 |
| 22        | Odisha             |                           5933.98 |
| 23        | Punjab             |                           1040.84 |
| 24        | Rajasthan          |                           1748.26 |
| 25        | Sikkim             |                            392.36 |
| 26        | Tamil Nadu         |                            113.42 |
| 27        | Telangana          |                           3110.38 |
| 28        | Tripura            |                            183.65 |
| 29        | Uttar Pradesh      |                           1819.63 |
| 30        | Uttarakhand        |                           2675.09 |
| 31        | West Bengal        |                            236.48 |
| Total     | Total              |                          48477.8  |

Annexure referred to in reply to part  (c) of the Lok Sabha Un-starred Question No. 867 due  for  reply  on  23.07.2021  by  Shri  Chunni  Lal  Sahu  regarding  'Increase  in  Forest Areas'.

(Area in Sq.km)

| Sl.No.   | State/UT            |   Geographical Area |   Forest &Tree Cover ISFR, 2019 |   Change in Forest& Tree Cover over ISFR,2017 |
|----------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh      |              162968 |                        33051    |                                       1151    |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh   |               83743 |                        67536    |                                       -235    |
| 3        | Assam               |               78438 |                        29735    |                                        134    |
| 4        | Bihar               |               94163 |                         9309    |                                       -253    |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh        |              135192 |                        59859    |                                        479    |
| 6        | Delhi               |                1483 |                          324.44 |                                         19.03 |
| 7        | Goa                 |                3702 |                         2509    |                                        -43    |
| 8        | Gujarat             |              196244 |                        21769    |                                      -1012    |
| 9        | Haryana             |               44212 |                         3167    |                                        164    |
| 10       | Himachal Pradesh    |               55673 |                        16263    |                                        341    |
| 11       | Jammu& Kashmir      |              222236 |                        31556    |                                        500    |
| 12       | Jharkhand           |               79716 |                        26268    |                                       -207    |
| 13       | Karnataka           |              191791 |                        44832    |                                       1569    |
| 14       | Kerala              |               38852 |                        24080    |                                        800    |
| 15       | Madhya Pradesh      |              308252 |                        85821    |                                        334    |
| 16       | Maharashtra         |              307713 |                        61584    |                                       1071    |
| 17       | Manipur             |               22327 |                        17020    |                                       -546    |
| 18       | Meghalaya           |               22429 |                        17829    |                                         26    |
| 19       | Mizoram             |               21081 |                        18447    |                                       -206    |
| 20       | Nagaland            |               16579 |                        12848    |                                        -20    |
| 21       | Odisha              |              155707 |                        56267    |                                        929    |
| 22       | Punjab              |               50362 |                         3441    |                                        -18    |
| 23       | Rajasthan           |              342239 |                        24742    |                                        -96    |
| 24       | Sikkim              |                7096 |                         3378    |                                         -1    |
| 25       | Tamil Nadu          |              130060 |                        31194    |                                        242    |
| 26       | Telangana           |              112077 |                        23096    |                                          8    |
| 27       | Tripura             |               10486 |                         7957    |                                         16    |
| 28       | Uttar Pradesh       |              240928 |                        22148    |                                         27    |
| 29       | Uttarakhand         |               53483 |                        25144    |                                         82    |
| 30       | West Bengal         |               88752 |                        18908    |                                        -75    |
| 31       | A &NIslands         |                8249 |                         6784    |                                          7    |
| 32       | Chandigarh          |                 114 |                           47.03 |                                         15.47 |
| 33       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli |                 491 |                          235    |                                         -2    |
| 34       | Daman &Diu          |                 111 |                           25.49 |                                         -5    |
| 35       | Lakshadweep         |                  30 |                           27.39 |                                         -1.71 |
| 36       | Puducherry          |                 490 |                           75.41 |                                         -5.26 |
|          | Grand TOTAL         |             3287469 |                       807277    |                                       5188.53 |

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