Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). There has been an increase in forest cover of the country by 5516 square kilometre between ISFR 2017 and ISFR 2021. The State/UTs wise details of change in Forest Cover including the State of Chhattisgarh between ISFR 2017 and ISFR 2021 are given in Annexure-I (below this content) .
The Ministry supports the States/Union Territories for carrying out afforestation activities through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely Green India Mission. 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 details of fund released under Green India Mission to the State of Chhattisgarh during the last five years are as follows.
| Year | Fund released under GIM (Rs. In Crores) |
| 2018-19 | 5.36 |
| 2019-20 | 5.04 |
| 2020-21 | 1.66 |
| 2021-22 | 6.12 |
| 2022-23 | Nil |
| 2023-24 | Nil |
| Total | 18.18 |
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 approved Annual Plan of Operations (APO) for State of Chhattisgarh for undertaking activities under the State CAMPA fund during the last five years are as follows: -
| Year | Amount approved in APO under State CAMPA (Rs. In Crore) |
| 2018-19 | 897.52 |
| 2019-20 | 848.51 |
| 2020-21 | 1347.02 |
| 2021-22 | 1500.75 |
| 2022-23 | 688.47 |
| 2023-24 | 471.36 |
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 Ministries such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry etc. and under schemes of State Governments/UT Administrations through different departments, Non-Government Organizations, Civil Societies, Corporate bodies etc. The multi departmental efforts have yielded good results in conserving and enhancing forest cover in the country.
Annexure-I
(Area in Square Kilometre)
| S.No. | States/UTs | Geographical area | Forest Cover | Change in Forest Cover between ISFR 2017 & ISFR 2021 (b-a) | |
| ISFR 2017 (a) | ISFR 2021(b) | ||||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 1,62,968 | 28,147 | 29,784 | 1,637 |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743 | 66,964 | 66,431 | -533 |
| 3 | Assam | 78,438 | 28,105 | 28,312 | 207 |
| 4 | Bihar | 94,163 | 7,299 | 7,381 | 82 |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 1,35,192 | 55,547 | 55,717 | 170 |
| 6 | Delhi | 1,483 | 192.41 | 195.00 | 2.59 |
| 7 | Goa | 3,702 | 2,229 | 2,244 | 15 |
| 8 | Gujarat | 1,96,244 | 14,757 | 14,926 | 169 |
| 9 | Haryana | 44,212 | 1,588 | 1,603 | 15 |
| 10 | Himachal Pradesh | 55,673 | 15,100 | 15,443 | 343 |
| 11 | Jharkhand | 79,716 | 23,553 | 23,721 | 168 |
| 12 | Karnataka | 1,91,791 | 37,550 | 38,730 | 1,180 |
| 13 | Kerala | 38,852 | 20,321 | 21,253 | 932 |
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh | 3,08,252 | 77,414 | 77,493 | 79 |
| 15 | Maharashtra | 3,07,713 | 50,682 | 50,798 | 116 |
| 16 | Manipur | 22,327 | 17,346 | 16,598 | -748 |
| 17 | Meghalaya | 22,429 | 17,146 | 17,046 | -100 |
| 18 | Mizoram | 21,081 | 18,186 | 17,820 | -366 |
| 19 | Nagaland | 16,579 | 12,489 | 12,251 | -238 |
| 20 | Odisha | 1,55,707 | 51,345 | 52,156 | 811 |
| 21 | Punjab | 50,362 | 1,837 | 1,847 | 10 |
| 22 | Rajasthan | 3,42,239 | 16,572 | 16,655 | 83 |
| 23 | Sikkim | 7,096 | 3,344 | 3,341 | -3 |
| 24 | Tamil Nadu | 1,30,060 | 26,281 | 26,419 | 138 |
| 25 | Telangana | 1,12,077 | 20,419 | 21,214 | 795 |
| 26 | Tripura | 10,486 | 7,726 | 7,722 | -4 |
| 27 | Uttar Pradesh | 2,40,928 | 14,679 | 14,818 | 139 |
| 28 | Uttarakhand | 53,483 | 24,295 | 24,305 | 10 |
| 29 | West Bengal | 88,752 | 16,847 | 16,832 | -15 |
| 30 | A&N Islands | 8,249 | 6,742 | 6,744 | 2 |
| 31 | Chandigarh | 114 | 21.56 | 22.88 | 1.32 |
| 32 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 491 | 207 | 227.75 | 0.26 |
| 33 | Daman & Diu | 111 | 20.49 | ||
| 34 | Jammu & Kashmir | 2,22,236 | 23,241 | 21,387 | -1,854 |
| 35 | Ladakh | 0 | 2,272 | 2,272 | |
| 36 | Lakshadweep | 30 | 27.10 | 27.10 | 0.00 |
| 37 | Puducherry | 490 | 53.67 | 53.30 | -0.37 |
| Grand Total | 32,87,469 | 7,08,273 | 7,13,789 | 5,516 |
This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
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