Lok Sabha Question No. 2322 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-18
Subject: Afforestation Schemes
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Midhun Reddy, Shiromani Ram, Reddeppa Nallakonda Gari

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2322

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2023

## Afforestation Schemes

## 2322.  SHRI P.V. MIDHUN REDDY:

SHRI RAMSHIROMANI VERMA:

SHRI N. REDDEPPA:

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

- (a) the details of forest cover in the country as on date, State-wise;
- (b) the details of increase/decrease in forest cover during the last 3 years;
- (c) whether  the  afforestation  is  extremely  important  for  environment  protection  and  rain water harvesting and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  details  of  funds  allocated,  released  and  utilised  during  2022-23  till  date  for afforestation, Scheme-wise and State-wise; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  is  considering  to  run  afforestation  programme  across  the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The State/UT wise details of increase or decrease in forest cover as per the ISFR-2019 and ISFR-2021, are given in Annexure-I & Annexure-II respectively.

(c), (d)  &  (e)  The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  &  Climate  Change  supports  the States/Union  Territories  for  carrying out afforestation  activities  through  the  Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely National Mission for a Green India. This flagship afforestation scheme  of  the  Ministry,  aims  to  undertake  afforestation  activities  in  degraded  forest  areas with people's participation. The scheme promotes environmental conservation and rain water harvesting through afforestation and tree plantation, restoration of degraded forest landscapes, habitat improvement including through soil moisture conservation activities. The State  wise  and  year-wise  details  of  funds  released  since  2022-23  under  the  Green  India Mission is given in Annexure-III .

Afforestation  activities  are  also  undertaken  in  a  major  way  under  the  Compensatory Afforestation Fund as per the provisions of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 and  the  Rules  made  there  under.  The  State  wise  and  year-wise  details  of  funds  allocated under Compensatory Afforestation Fund since 2022-23 is given in Annexure- IV .

The Ministry is also implementing the Nagar Van Yojana which envisages creation of 600 Nagar Vans and 400 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period 2020-21 to 2026-27. The Nagar Van Yojana aims at enhancing the green cover in the urban and peri-urban areas and augmenting biological diversity.

Afforestation  activities  are  also  taken  up  under  various  programmes  and  schemes  of  line Ministry such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry etc, and under schemes of State Government/UT Administration through different departments, Non-Government Organizations,  Civil  Society,  Corporate  bodies  etc.  The  multi  departmental  efforts  have yielded good results in conserving and enhancing forest cover in the country.

***

Annexure-I

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) & (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2322 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Afforestation Schemes'

## Details of States/UTs showing increase in Forest Cover between ISFR 2019 and ISFR 2021 (Area in Square Kilometer)

ISFR 2021

&  ISFR 2019

|   S. No. | States/UTs          | Geographical area   | Forest Cover as per ISFR 2019 (a)   | Forest Cover as per ISFR 2021 (b)   | Change in Forest Cover between ISFR 2021 & ISFR 2019 (b-a)   |
|----------|---------------------|---------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh      | 1,62,968            | 29,137                              | 29,784                              | 647                                                          |
|        2 | Telangana           | 1,12,077            | 20,582                              | 21,214                              | 632                                                          |
|        3 | Odisha              | 1,55,707            | 51,619                              | 52,156                              | 537                                                          |
|        4 | Karnataka           | 1,91,791            | 38,575                              | 38,730                              | 155                                                          |
|        5 | Jharkhand           | 79,716              | 23,611                              | 23,721                              | 110                                                          |
|        6 | Kerala              | 38,852              | 21,144                              | 21,253                              | 109                                                          |
|        7 | Chhattisgarh        | 1,35,192            | 55,611                              | 55,717                              | 106                                                          |
|        8 | Bihar               | 94,163              | 7,306                               | 7,381                               | 75                                                           |
|        9 | Gujarat             | 1,96,244            | 14,857                              | 14,926                              | 69                                                           |
|       10 | Tamil Nadu          | 1,30,060            | 26,364                              | 26,419                              | 55                                                           |
|       11 | Rajasthan           | 3,42,239            | 16,630                              | 16,655                              | 25                                                           |
|       12 | Jammu &Kashmir      | 2,22,236            | 21,358                              | 21,387                              | 29                                                           |
|       13 | Ladakh              | 2,22,236            | 2,254                               | 2,272                               | 18                                                           |
|       14 | Maharashtra         | 3,07,713            | 50,778                              | 50,798                              | 20                                                           |
|       15 | Uttar Pradesh       | 2,40,928            | 14,806                              | 14,818                              | 12                                                           |
|       16 | Madhya Pradesh      | 3,08,252            | 77,482                              | 77,493                              | 11                                                           |
|       17 | Himachal Pradesh    | 55,673              | 15,434                              | 15,443                              | 9                                                            |
|       18 | Goa                 | 3,702               | 2,237                               | 2,244                               | 7                                                            |
|       19 | Uttarakhand         | 53,483              | 24,303                              | 24,305                              | 2                                                            |
|       20 | Haryana             | 44,212              | 1,602                               | 1,603                               | 1                                                            |
|       21 | A&N Islands         | 8,249               | 6,743                               | 6,744                               | 1                                                            |
|       22 | Puducherry          | 490                 | 52.41                               | 53.3                                | 0.89                                                         |
|       23 | Chandigarh          | 114                 | 22.03                               | 22.88                               | 0.85                                                         |
|       24 | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 491                 | 207.16                              |                                     |                                                              |
|       25 | Daman &Diu          | 111                 | 20.49                               | 227.75                              | 0.10                                                         |

## Annexure -II

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) & (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2322 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Afforestation Schemes'

## Details of States/UTs showing decrease in Forest Cover between ISFR 2019 and ISFR 2021

(Area in Square Kilometer)

ISFR 2021

&  ISFR 2019

|   S. No. | States/UTs        | Geographical area   | Forest Cover as per ISFR 2019 (a)   | Forest Cover as per ISFR 2021 (b)   |   Change in Forest Cover between ISFR 2021 & ISFR 2019 (b-a) |
|----------|-------------------|---------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743              | 66,688                              | 66,431                              |                                                      -257    |
|        2 | Manipur           | 22,327              | 16,847                              | 16,598                              |                                                      -249    |
|        3 | Nagaland          | 16,579              | 12,486                              | 12,251                              |                                                      -235    |
|        4 | Mizoram           | 21,081              | 18,006                              | 17,820                              |                                                      -186    |
|        5 | Meghalaya         | 22,429              | 17,119                              | 17,046                              |                                                       -73    |
|        6 | West Bengal       | 88,752              | 16,902                              | 16,832                              |                                                       -70    |
|        7 | Assam             | 78,438              | 28,327                              | 28,312                              |                                                       -15    |
|        8 | Tripura           | 10,486              | 7,726                               | 7,722                               |                                                        -4    |
|        9 | Punjab            | 50,362              | 1,849                               | 1,847                               |                                                        -2    |
|       10 | Sikkim            | 7,096               | 3,342                               | 3,341                               |                                                        -1    |
|       11 | Delhi             | 1,483               | 195.44                              | 195                                 |                                                        -0.44 |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2322 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Afforestation Schemes'

## State-wise and year-wise details of funds released under Green India Mission (GIM) since 2022-2023

(Rupees in Crores)

| S. No.   | States/UTs        | Funds Released 2022-23   | Funds Released 2023-24   |
|----------|-------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| 1        | Haryana           | -                        | 5.19                     |
| 2        | Karnataka         | 2.93                     | 2.33                     |
| 3        | Madhya Pradesh    | 17.93                    | 8.62                     |
| 4        | Manipur           | 5.45                     | 8.91                     |
| 5        | Mizoram           | 36.27                    | 21.13                    |
| 6        | Punjab            | 2.7393                   | 5.38                     |
| 7        | Sikkim            | 6.57                     | 7.50                     |
| 8        | Uttarakhand       | 28.40                    | 21.61                    |
| 9        | West Bengal       | 0.76                     | 0.76                     |
| 10       | Uttar Pradesh     | -                        | 5.43                     |
| 11       | Odisha            | 8.48                     | -                        |
| 12       | Jammu and Kashmir | 6.49                     | -                        |
|          | Total             | 116.01                   | 86.86                    |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2322 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Afforestation Schemes'

## State-wise and year-wise details of funds allocated under Compensatory Afforestation Fund since 2022-2023

## (Rupees in Crores)

| S. No   | State/UT                                 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 |
|---------|------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|
| 1.      | Andaman and Nicobar Islands              |    10.97  |    6.7    |
| 2.      | Andhra Pradesh                           |   224.09  |  227.82   |
| 3.      | Arunachal Pradesh                        |   196.93  |  136.65   |
| 4.      | Assam                                    |   162.57  |  109.69   |
| 5.      | Bihar                                    |   115.42  |   37.88   |
| 6.      | Chandigarh                               |     1.56  |    1.54   |
| 7.      | Chhattisgarh                             |   688.47  |  471.36   |
| 8.      | Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli |     0     |    0      |
| 9.      | Delhi                                    |    33.93  |   47.15   |
| 10.     | Goa                                      |    36.53  |   31.28   |
| 11.     | Gujarat                                  |   205.4   |  250.02   |
| 12.     | Haryana                                  |   270.68  |   49.43   |
| 13.     | Himachal Pradesh                         |   190.23  |  185.14   |
| 14.     | Jammu and Kashmir                        |   312.69  |  287.53   |
| 15.     | Jharkhand                                |   764.828 |  412.13   |
| 16.     | Karnataka                                |   270.98  |  311.61   |
| 17.     | Kerala                                   |    17.26  |    9.06   |
| 18.     | Madhya Pradesh                           |   899.84  | 1070.6    |
| 19.     | Maharashtra                              |   708.11  |  597.57   |
| 20.     | Manipur                                  |    22.59  |   20.26   |
| 21.     | Meghalaya                                |    26.67  |   31.19   |
| 22.     | Mizoram                                  |    16.74  |   14.6    |
| 23.     | Nagaland                                 |     0     |    0      |
| 24.     | Odisha                                   |  1191.31  |  948.04   |
| 25.     | Punjab                                   |   203.01  |  257.1    |
| 26.     | Rajasthan                                |   249.19  |  288.18   |
| 27.     | Sikkim                                   |    92.85  |   62.07   |
| 28.     | Tamil Nadu                               |    38.22  |   42.1712 |
| 29.     | Telangana                                |   772.65  |  446.307  |
| 30.     | Tripura                                  |    52.9   |   85.77   |
| 31.     | Uttar Pradesh                            |   344.08  |  153.92   |
| 32.     | Uttarakhand                              |   320.15  |  366.8    |
| 33.     | West Bengal                              |    52.83  |   79.4    |
| 34.     | Ladakh                                   |     0     |   60.55   |
|         | TOTAL                                    |  8493.68  | 7057.35   |