Lok Sabha Question No. 2363 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-18
Subject: Increase in Forest Land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: L.S. Tejasvi Surya, Kumbakudi Sudhakaran, Prathap Simha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2363

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2023

## Increase in Forest Land

## 2363.  SHRI L. S. TEJASVI SURYA: SHRI KUMBAKUDI SUDHAKARAN: SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

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

- (a) the forest cover in the country in 2014 viz-a-viz 2023, State-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has taken any steps to increase the forest land in the country during the last nine years and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the distribution of  forest land along  with  the area of  the  National  Parks,  Sanctuaries, Zoos, Protected Areas, Reserved Forests and other forest categories, State-wise;
- (d) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  over  the  past  decade,  forest  areas  have  been allotted for the development of industrial infrastructure projects;
- (e) if  so,  the  details  of  compensatory  afforestation  during  the  last  nine  years  with  the budgetary expenditure, State-wise;
- (f) the steps taken by the Government to restore the lost forest cover of the country; and
- (g) the steps taken by the Government to correct the errors made in measuring forest cover?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organisation under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per ISFR-2013, the forest cover in the country is 6,97,898 square kilometre which is 21.23% of the total geographical country.  As per ISFR 2021, the Forest Cover of the country is 7,13,789 sq. km, which is 21.71 % of the total geographical area of the country. Thus, an increase of 51,891 sq. km of the forest cover is observed between the ISFR 2013 and ISFR 2021. The State-wise forest cover details as per ISFR-2021 are given at Annexure-I .

(b)The  Ministry  provides  technical  and  financial  assistance  to  States/UTs  under  various Centrally Sponsored Schemes namely, National Mission for a Green India (GIM), Forest Fire Prevention  and  Management  Scheme  and  schemes  like  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund (CAMPA), Nagar Van Yojana and other schemes of line ministries to increase the forest and tree cover of the country.

(c)  The  State-wise details  of distribution of forest land along  with  the area of the  National Parks,  Wildlife  Sanctuaries,  Conservation  Reserve  and  Community  Reserves  are  given  at Annexure-II and Annexure-III, Annexure-IV and Annexure-V respectively.

(d)  Forest  area  of  1,68,131.52  hectare  has  been  approved  for  diversion  under  the  Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 for different categories including industrial infrastructure. The category wise list of the forest land diverted during last decade is given at Annexure-VI .

(e) The CAMPA funds are utilized for compensating the loss of forest and ecosystem services due to diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes as per the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The CAMPA  activities include raising of compensatory afforestation, improvement of quality of forest cover, enrichment of biodiversity, enhancement of ecosystem services and improvement of wildlife habitat. The details of the CAMPA funds allocated State-wise is given at Annexure-VII.

(f)  &  (g)  Various  Afforestation  programs  including  Green  India  Mission  (GIM),  CAMPA, Nagar Van Yojana and other schemes of line ministries such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry etc. have been initiated to increase the forest and tree cover in the country.  The multi departmental efforts have yielded good results in conserving and enhancing the forest and tree cover in the country.

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

## Details of States/UTs wise Forest Cover as per ISFR 2021

## (Area in Square Kilometer)

| S. No.   | State/UT                           | Geo-graphical Area (GA)   | Total Forest Cover   |
|----------|------------------------------------|---------------------------|----------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh                     | 1,62,968                  | 29,784               |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 83,743                    | 66,431               |
| 3        | Assam                              | 78,438                    | 28,312               |
| 4        | Bihar                              | 94,163                    | 7,381                |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh                       | 1,35,192                  | 55,717               |
| 6        | Delhi                              | 1,483                     | 195.00               |
| 7        | Goa                                | 3,702                     | 2,244                |
| 8        | Gujarat                            | 1,96,244                  | 14,926               |
| 9        | Haryana                            | 44,212                    | 1,603                |
| 10       | Himachal Pradesh                   | 55,673                    | 15,443               |
| 11       | Jharkhand                          | 79,716                    | 23,721               |
| 12       | Karnataka                          | 1,91,791                  | 38,730               |
| 13       | Kerala                             | 38,852                    | 21,253               |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh                     | 3,08,252                  | 77,493               |
| 15       | Maharashtra                        | 3,07,713                  | 50,798               |
| 16       | Manipur                            | 22,327                    | 16,598               |
| 17       | Meghalaya                          | 22,429                    | 17,046               |
| 18       | Mizoram                            | 21,081                    | 17,820               |
| 19       | Nagaland                           | 16,579                    | 12,251               |
| 20       | Odisha                             | 1,55,707                  | 52,156               |
| 21       | Punjab                             | 50,362                    | 1,847                |
| 22       | Rajasthan                          | 3,42,239                  | 16,655               |
| 23       | Sikkim                             | 7,096                     | 3,341                |
| 24       | Tamil Nadu                         | 1,30,060                  | 26,419               |
| 25       | Telangana                          | 1,12,077                  | 21,214               |
| 26       | Tripura                            | 10,486                    | 7,722                |
| 27       | Uttar Pradesh                      | 2,40,928                  | 14,818               |
| 28       | Uttarakhand                        | 53,483                    | 24,305               |
| 29       | West Bengal                        | 88,752                    | 16,832               |
| 30       | A &NIslands                        | 8,249                     | 6,744                |
| 31       | Chandigarh                         | 114                       | 22.88                |
| 32       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 602                       | 227.75               |
| 33       | Jammu& Kashmir                     |                           | 21,387               |
| 34       | Ladakh                             | 2,22,236                  | 2,272                |
| 35       | Lakshadweep                        | 30                        | 27.10                |
| 36       | Puducherry                         | 490                       | 53.30                |
| Total    | Total                              | 32,87,469                 | 7,13,789             |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

## List of National Parks

|   S. No. | Name of State            |   Name of the National Parks |   Area (in km 2 ) |
|----------|--------------------------|------------------------------|-------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh           |                            3 |          1368.87  |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh        |                            2 |          2290.82  |
|        3 | Assam                    |                            7 |          2664.58  |
|        4 | Bihar                    |                            1 |           335.65  |
|        5 | Chhattisgarh             |                            3 |          2899.08  |
|        6 | Goa                      |                            1 |           107     |
|        7 | Gujarat                  |                            4 |           480.12  |
|        8 | Haryana                  |                            2 |            48.25  |
|        9 | Himachal Pradesh         |                            5 |          2256.28  |
|       10 | Jharkhand                |                            1 |           226.33  |
|       11 | Karnataka                |                            5 |          2794.05  |
|       12 | Kerala                   |                            6 |           558.16  |
|       13 | Madhya Pradesh           |                           11 |          4349.13  |
|       14 | Maharashtra              |                            6 |          1273.6   |
|       15 | Manipur                  |                            2 |           140     |
|       16 | Meghalaya                |                            2 |           267.48  |
|       17 | Mizoram                  |                            2 |           150     |
|       18 | Nagaland                 |                            1 |           202.02  |
|       19 | Odisha                   |                            2 |           990.7   |
|       20 | Rajasthan                |                            5 |          3947.07  |
|       21 | Sikkim                   |                            1 |          1784     |
|       22 | Tamil Nadu               |                            5 |           827.516 |
|       23 | Telangana                |                            3 |            19.615 |
|       24 | Tripura                  |                            2 |            36.71  |
|       25 | Uttar Pradesh            |                            1 |           490     |
|       26 | Uttarakhand              |                            6 |          4915.02  |
|       27 | West Bengal              |                            6 |          1981.48  |
|       28 | Andaman &Nicobar Islands |                            6 |          1216.95  |
|       29 | Jammu &Kashmir           |                            4 |          2432.45  |
|       30 | Ladakh                   |                            1 |          3350     |

Annexure-III

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

## List of Wildlife Sanctuaries

## (Area in Square Kilometre)

|   S.No. | Name of State             |   Number of the Wildlife Sanctuaries |       Area |
|---------|---------------------------|--------------------------------------|------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh            |                                   13 |  6771.4    |
|       2 | Arunachal Pradesh         |                                   13 |  7614.56   |
|       3 | Assam                     |                                   17 |  1728.95   |
|       4 | Bihar                     |                                   11 |  2851.68   |
|       5 | Chhattisgarh              |                                   11 |  3760.28   |
|       6 | Goa                       |                                    6 |   647.96   |
|       7 | Gujarat                   |                                   23 | 16618.4    |
|       8 | Haryana                   |                                    7 |   118.21   |
|       9 | Himachal Pradesh          |                                   28 |  6115.97   |
|      10 | Jharkhand                 |                                   11 |  1955.82   |
|      11 | Karnataka                 |                                   35 |  7923.22   |
|      12 | Kerala                    |                                   18 |  2156.22   |
|      13 | Madhya Pradesh            |                                   24 |  7046.19   |
|      14 | Maharashtra               |                                   49 |  7861.69   |
|      15 | Manipur                   |                                    7 |   708.143  |
|      16 | Meghalaya                 |                                    4 |    94.107  |
|      17 | Mizoram                   |                                    9 |  1359.75   |
|      18 | Nagaland                  |                                    4 |    43.91   |
|      19 | Odisha                    |                                   19 |  7094.65   |
|      20 | Punjab                    |                                   13 |   326.6    |
|      21 | Rajasthan                 |                                   25 |  5592.38   |
|      22 | Sikkim                    |                                    7 |   399.1    |
|      23 | Tamil Nadu                |                                   31 |  6292.07   |
|      24 | Telangana                 |                                    9 |  5672.69   |
|      25 | Tripura                   |                                    4 |   603.639  |
|      26 | Uttar Pradesh             |                                   26 |  3601.42   |
|      27 | Uttarakhand               |                                    7 |  2690.12   |
|      28 | West Bengal               |                                   16 |  1440.18   |
|      29 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands |                                   97 |   395.6    |
|      30 | Chandigarh                |                                    2 |    26.009  |
|      31 | Dadra &Nagar Haveli       |                                    1 |    92.1683 |
|      32 | Daman& Diu                |                                    1 |     2.18   |
|      33 | Delhi                     |                                    1 |    19.605  |
|      34 | Jammu & Kashmir           |                                   13 |  1715.28   |
|      35 | Ladakh                    |                                    2 |  9000      |
|      36 | Lakshadweep               |                                    1 |     0.01   |
|      37 | Puducherry                |                                    1 |     3.9    |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

## List of Conservation Reserves

## (Area in Square Kilometre)

|   S. No. | Name of State    |   Number of the Conservation Reserves |      Area |
|----------|------------------|---------------------------------------|-----------|
|        1 | Gujarat          |                                     1 |  227      |
|        2 | Haryana          |                                     2 |   48.72   |
|        3 | Himachal Pradesh |                                     3 |   19.17   |
|        4 | Karnataka        |                                    14 |  171.91   |
|        5 | Maharashtra      |                                    12 | 1003.18   |
|        6 | Punjab           |                                     3 |   25.71   |
|        7 | Rajasthan        |                                    18 | 1108.99   |
|        8 | Sikkim           |                                     1 |    0.06   |
|        9 | Tamil Nadu       |                                     2 |    4.8761 |
|       10 | Tripura          |                                     1 |   12.9347 |
|       11 | Uttarakhand      |                                     4 |  212.45   |
|       12 | West Bengal      |                                     5 | 1415.91   |
|       13 | Jammu& Kashmir   |                                    33 |  706.633  |
|       14 | Ladakh           |                                     5 |  249      |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

List of Community Reserves

(Area in Square Kilometre)

|   S. No. | Name of State     |   Number of the Community Reserves |    Area |
|----------|-------------------|------------------------------------|---------|
|        1 | Arunachal Pradesh |                                  9 | 131.595 |
|        2 | Bihar             |                                  1 |   0.57  |
|        3 | Haryana           |                                  5 | 115.841 |
|        4 | Karnataka         |                                  1 |   3.12  |
|        5 | Kerala            |                                  1 |   1.5   |
|        6 | Manipur           |                                 11 | 112.596 |
|        7 | Meghalaya         |                                 74 | 141.691 |
|        8 | Nagaland          |                                114 | 851.776 |
|        9 | Punjab            |                                  3 |  83.51  |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

## Category wise list of the forest land diverted in the country from 01/04/2013 to 31/03/2023

(Area in Hectare)

| S. No.   | Category                  |   Area Approved |
|----------|---------------------------|-----------------|
| 1        | Approach Access           |          126.68 |
| 2        | Borehole Prospecting      |            0    |
| 3        | Canal                     |           15.8  |
| 4        | Defense                   |        18097.4  |
| 5        | Dispensary/Hospital       |          102.55 |
| 6        | Drinking Water            |         1103.96 |
| 7        | Encroachments             |            9.63 |
| 8        | Forest Village Conversion |         3084    |
| 9        | Hydel                     |         8297.9  |
| 10       | Industry                  |          387.33 |
| 11       | Irrigation                |        27851.1  |
| 12       | Mining                    |        38698.6  |
| 13       | Optical Fibre Cable       |          372.24 |
| 14       | Others                    |        10286    |
| 15       | Pipeline                  |          405.01 |
| 16       | Quarrying                 |           50.09 |
| 17       | Railway                   |         8073.53 |
| 18       | Rehabilitation            |          758.69 |
| 19       | Road                      |        29806.2  |
| 20       | School                    |           82.27 |
| 21       | Solar Power               |            1.1  |
| 22       | Sub Station               |           70.36 |
| 23       | Thermal                   |         2690.79 |
| 24       | Transmission Line         |        16788.5  |
| 25       | Village Electricity       |          545.1  |
| 26       | Wind Power                |          426.74 |
| Total    | Total                     |       168132    |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (e) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2363 due for answer on 18.12.2023 regarding 'Increase in Forest Land'

## Details of the CAMPA funds allocated State-wise since 2018-19 till date.

(Rs. in crores)

| S. No.   | State/UT                                 |   2018-19 |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 |
|----------|------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1.       | Andaman and Nicobar Islands              |      1.77 |      1.56 |      2.13 |      0    |    10.97  |    6.7    |
| 2.       | Andhra Pradesh                           |    118    |    322.97 |    330.82 |    325    |   224.09  |  227.82   |
| 3.       | Arunachal Pradesh                        |      0    |      0    |    155.46 |    240.85 |   196.93  |  136.65   |
| 4.       | Assam                                    |     48.84 |     55.89 |     88.34 |     79.12 |   162.57  |  109.69   |
| 5.       | Bihar                                    |     38.2  |    140.18 |    239.47 |    106.84 |   115.42  |   37.88   |
| 6.       | Chandigarh                               |      1.27 |      1.87 |      2.26 |      5.14 |     1.56  |    1.54   |
| 7.       | Chhattisgarh                             |    897.52 |    848.51 |   1347.02 |   1500.75 |   688.47  |  471.36   |
| 8.       | Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli |      0    |      0    |      0    |      0    |     0     |    0      |
| 9.       | Delhi                                    |      0    |      0    |     19.55 |     16.15 |    33.93  |   47.15   |
| 10.      | Goa                                      |      4.83 |     17.95 |     32.68 |     21.55 |    36.53  |   31.28   |
| 11.      | Gujarat                                  |    212.66 |    212.66 |    169.85 |    169    |   205.4   |  250.02   |
| 12.      | Haryana                                  |    195.95 |    100.97 |    203.95 |    317.59 |   270.68  |   49.43   |
| 13.      | Himachal Pradesh                         |    127.72 |    145.82 |    158.38 |    138.1  |   190.23  |  185.14   |
| 14.      | Jammu and Kashmir                        |    113.76 |    126.74 |    184.33 |    257.16 |   312.69  |  287.53   |
| 15.      | Jharkhand                                |    399.52 |    399.29 |    376.55 |    437.6  |   764.828 |  412.13   |
| 16.      | Karnataka                                |    101.41 |    113.69 |    216.7  |    321.06 |   270.98  |  311.61   |
| 17.      | Kerala                                   |      7.96 |      0    |     15.78 |     25.13 |    17.26  |    9.06   |
| 18.      | Madhya Pradesh                           |    272.36 |    453.5  |    500    |    616.88 |   899.84  | 1070.6    |
| 19.      | Maharashtra                              |    230    |    499.38 |    599.32 |    688.27 |   708.11  |  597.57   |
| 20.      | Manipur                                  |     24.85 |     30.97 |     27.79 |     25.09 |    22.59  |   20.26   |
| 21.      | Meghalaya                                |      0    |      0    |     33.97 |     36.4  |    26.67  |   31.19   |
| 22.      | Mizoram                                  |      9.01 |     19.23 |     32.66 |     18.08 |    16.74  |   14.6    |
| 23.      | Nagaland                                 |      0    |      0    |      0    |      0    |     0     |    0      |
| 24.      | Odisha                                   |      0    |    566.34 |    773.39 |    901.03 |  1191.31  |  948.04   |
| 25.      | Punjab                                   |    102.56 |    102.15 |    177.85 |    218.06 |   203.01  |  257.1    |
| 26.      | Rajasthan                                |    205.67 |    256.39 |    280.7  |    286.7  |   249.19  |  288.18   |
| 27.      | Sikkim                                   |      0    |     44.96 |     47.72 |     70    |    92.85  |   62.07   |
| 28.      | Tamil Nadu                               |      7.71 |      0.56 |     66.62 |      0    |    38.22  |   42.1712 |
| 29.      | Telangana                                |    237.38 |    501.26 |    483.78 |    752.71 |   772.65  |  446.307  |
| 30.      | Tripura                                  |     16.7  |     20.84 |     21.51 |     35.24 |    52.9   |   85.77   |
| 31.      | Uttar Pradesh                            |    150.6  |    285.68 |    442.01 |    586.9  |   344.08  |  153.92   |
| 32.      | Uttarakhand                              |    318.3  |    218    |    353.64 |    726.88 |   320.15  |  366.8    |
| 33.      | West Bengal                              |     23.1  |     70.07 |     74    |     58.3  |    52.83  |   79.4    |
| 34.      | Ladakh                                   |      0    |      0    |      0    |      0    |     0     |   60.55   |
|          | TOTAL                                    |   3867.65 |   5557.43 |   7458.23 |   8981.58 |  8493.68  | 7057.35   |