Lok Sabha Question No. 3814 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-22
Subject: Afforestation in Wastelands
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: NITYANAND RAI

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTIO N NO.  3814

TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.12.2015

## Afforestation in Wastelands

## 3814.  SHRI NITYANAND RAI:

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

- (a) the percentage of wasteland targeted for plantation of trees during the current year, State-wise; and
- (b) the percentage of waste land on which trees have been planted during the last three years, State-wise?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) & (b) The  Department  of  Land  Resources  (DoLR),  Ministry  of  Rural  Development (MoRD)  is  the  concerned  Department  for  wasteland  development  in  the  country.    However, DoLR  does  not  implement  any  scheme/programme  exclusively  meant  for  afforestation  in wastelands  but  it  has  been  implementing  an  area  development  programme  namely  Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) w.e.f. 26.02.2009 for development of rainfed and degraded  areas.    Earlier,  three  erstwhile  area  development  programmes  viz.  DPAP,  DDP  and IWDP  were  operated. The major activities taken up under IWMP  inter-alia includes afforestation, nursery raising, pasture development, ridge area treatment, drainage line treatments, soil and moisture conservation, rain water harvesting, horticulture and  livelihoods for  assetless  persons  etc.    In  2015-16,  IWMP  has  been  amalgamated  as  the  Watershed Development  Component  of  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi  Sinchayee  Yojana  (PMKSY).    Under IWMP/PMKSY, a total of  8214 projects have been sanctioned for the treatment of an area of 39.07 million ha so far at a total amount of Rs.12451.86 crore released to the States.  The area covered under afforestation and number of trees planted under IWMP/PMKSY is not separately collated  and  maintained  by  DoLR.    The  details  of  State-wise  number  of  projects  and  area sanctioned to the States during the last three years is given in Annexure-I. No new project/area has been sanctioned under IWMP/PMKSY during the current year.

DoLR  has  brought  out  Wasteland  Atlas  of  India,  2011-Change  Analysis  Based  on Temporal Satellite Data of 2005-06 and 2008-09  in collaboration with National Remote Sensing Centre  (NRSC),  Hyderabad,  according  to  which  the  extent  of  wastelands  under  23  identified categories has shown a decline by 5240.78 square km. between 2005-06 & 2008-09 and stands at 467021.16 square km.  The State-wise details of wastelands are given in Annexure-II.

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## Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  of  parts  (a  &  b)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question No.3814  regarding 'Afforestation in Wastelands ' raised by Shri Nityanand Rai due for reply on 22.12.2015.

State-wise details of projects sanctioned and area covered during last three years under IWMP/PMKSY (Watershed Development)

| S.No.   | Name of State     | No. of Projects Sanctioned   | No. of Projects Sanctioned   | No. of Projects Sanctioned   | Area of the projects sanctioned in   | Area of the projects sanctioned in   | Area of the projects sanctioned in   |
|---------|-------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| S.No.   | Name of State     | 2012-13                      | 2013-14                      | 2014-15                      | million ha 2012-13                   | 2013-14                              | 2014-15                              |
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh    | 56                           | 56                           | 59                           | 0.23                                 | 0.220                                | 0.22                                 |
| 2       | Bihar             | 24                           | 26                           | 33                           | 0.12                                 | 0.136                                | 0.164                                |
| 3       | Chhattisgarh      | 27                           | 29                           | 26                           | 0.124                                | 0.155                                | 0.124                                |
| 4       | Gujarat           | 59                           | 60                           | 61                           | 0.317                                | 0.318                                | 0.334                                |
| 5       | Haryana           | 13                           | 15                           | 13                           | 0.06                                 | 0.064                                | 0.059                                |
| 6       | Himachal Pradesh  | 21                           | 15                           | 17                           | 0.1                                  | 0.071                                | 0.079                                |
| 7       | J&K               | 43                           | 46                           | 29                           | 0.189                                | 0.167                                | 0.117                                |
| 8       | Jharkhand         | 30                           | 27                           | 27                           | 0.163                                | 0.147                                | 0.144                                |
| 9       | Karnataka         | 68                           | 63                           | 78                           | 0.333                                | 0.323                                | 0.326                                |
| 10      | Kerala            | 20                           | 10                           | 12                           | 0.097                                | 0.051                                | 0.051                                |
| 11      | Madhya Pradesh    | 37                           | 73                           | 81                           | 0.211                                | 0.428                                | 0.464                                |
| 12      | Maharashtra       | 120                          | 116                          | 122                          | 0.527                                | 0.519                                | 0.541                                |
| 13      | Odisha            | 39                           | 38                           | 38                           | 0.212                                | 0.212                                | 0.21                                 |
| 14      | Punjab            | 12                           | 14                           | 8                            | 0.046                                | 0.067                                | 0.046                                |
| 15      | Rajasthan         | 145                          | 135                          | 141                          | 0.788                                | 0.744                                | 0.748                                |
| 16      | Tamil Nadu        | 32                           | 39                           | 31                           | 0.171                                | 0.196                                | 0.159                                |
| 17      | Telangana         | 46                           | 41                           | 50                           | 0.191                                | 0.181                                | 0.201                                |
| 18      | Uttar Pradesh     | 64                           | 67                           | 58                           | 0.318                                | 0.328                                | 0.293                                |
| 19      | Uttarakhand       | 8                            | -                            | -                            | 0.04                                 | -                                    | -                                    |
| 20      | West Bengal       | 42                           | 44                           | -                            | 0.183                                | 0.187                                | -                                    |
|         | N.E. States       |                              |                              |                              |                                      |                                      |                                      |
| 21      | Arunachal Pradesh | 28                           | 26                           | 16                           | 0.073                                | 0.061                                | 0.05                                 |
| 22      | Assam             | 54                           | 45                           | 47                           | 0.216                                | 0.201                                | 0.209                                |
| 23      | Manipur           | 15                           | 13                           | 14                           | 0.07                                 | 0.062                                | 0.061                                |
| 24      | Meghalaya         | 12                           | 11                           | 12                           | 0.039                                | 0.036                                | 0.041                                |
| 25      | Mizoram           | 15                           | 14                           | 11                           | 0.059                                | 0.058                                | 0.056                                |
| 26      | Nagaland          | 17                           | 20                           | 13                           | 0.069                                | 0.079                                | 0.053                                |
| 27      | Sikkim            | 2                            | 0                            | 4                            | 0.007                                | -                                    | 0.016                                |
| 28      | Tripura           | 17                           | 8                            | 9                            | 0.044                                | 0.035                                | 0.044                                |
|         | Grand Total       | 1066                         | 1051                         | 1010                         | 5.00                                 | 5.045                                | 4.81                                 |

Note: No new Watershed projects have been sanctioned during 2015-16.

## Annexure-II

Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  of  parts  (a  &  b)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.3814 regarding  'Afforestation  in  Wastelands  '  raised  by  Shri  Nityanand  Rai  due  for  reply  on 22.12.2015.

State/UT wise area of Wastelands (Wasteland Atlas of India, 2011) that has been reduced and put to productive use from 2005-06 to 2008-09

(Area in square km.)

| Sl. No.   |                   | Total wasteland   | Total wasteland   | Change in Wasteland   |
|-----------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-----------------------|
| Sl. No.   |                   | 2005-06           | 2008-09           | Change in Wasteland   |
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    | 38788.22          | 37296.62          | -1491.60              |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh | 5743.83           | 14895.24          | 9151.41               |
| 3         | Assam             | 8778.02           | 8453.86           | -324.15               |
| 4         | Bihar             | 6841.09           | 9601.01           | 2759.92               |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      | 11817.82          | 11482.18          | -335.64               |
| 6         | Delhi             | 83.34             | 90.21             | 6.87                  |
| 7         | Goa               | 496.27            | 489.08            | -7.18                 |
| 8         | Gujarat           | 21350.38          | 20108.06          | -1242.32              |
| 9         | Haryana           | 2347.05           | 2145.98           | -201.07               |
| 10        | Himachal Pradesh  | 22470.05          | 22347.88          | -122.17               |
| 11        | Jammu &Kashmir    | 73754.38          | 75435.77          | 1681.39               |
| 12        | Jharkhand         | 11670.14          | 11017.38          | -652.76               |
| 13        | Karnataka         | 14438.12          | 13030.62          | -1407.50              |
| 14        | Kerala            | 2458.69           | 2445.62           | -13.07                |
| 15        | Madhya Pradesh    | 40042.98          | 40113.27          | 70.29                 |
| 16        | Maharashtra       | 38262.81          | 37830.82          | -431.99               |
| 17        | Manipur           | 7027.47           | 5648.53           | -1378.94              |
| 18        | Meghalaya         | 3865.76           | 4127.43           | 261.67                |
| 19        | Mizoram           | 6021.14           | 4958.64           | -1062.50              |
| 20        | Nagaland          | 4815.18           | 5266.72           | 451.55                |
| 21        | Odisha            | 16648.27          | 16425.76          | -222.51               |
| 22        | Punjab            | 1019.50           | 936.83            | -82.67                |
| 23        | Rajasthan         | 93689.47          | 84929.10          | -8760.37              |
| 24        | Sikkim            | 3280.88           | 3273.15           | -7.73                 |
| 25        | Tamil Nadu        | 9125.56           | 8721.79           | -403.77               |
| 26        | Tripura           | 1315.17           | 964.64            | -350.53               |
| 27        | Uttarakhand       | 12790.06          | 12859.53          | 69.47                 |
| 28        | Uttar Pradesh     | 10988.59          | 9881.24           | -1107.35              |
| 29        | West Bengal       | 1994.41           | 1929.20           | -65.21                |
| 30        | Union Territory   | 337.30            | 315.00            | -22.30                |
|           | Total             | 472261.94         | 467021.16         | -5240.78              |

Source: Wastelands Atlas of India, 2011- Change Analysis Based on Temporal Satellite Data of 2005-06 and 2008-09.