Question : AFFORESTATION IN THE COUNTRY

(a) the extent of forest cover in every State/Union Territory of the country with respect to its total area at present;

(b) whether a large scale deforestation/denudation has taken place and the forest cover has been receding since last five years;

(c) if so, the details thereof for each year and the reasons therefor, State/Union Territory-wise;

(d) whether the Government have any comprehensive programmes to check the fast vanishing forest area and to increase the total forest cover in each State of the country during the Tenth Plan Period;

(e) if so, the details thereof;

(f) the number of trees planted in each state alongwith the expenditure incurred thereon during the said period; and

(g) the details of the afforestation programmes implemented both by the Centre and State with/without foreign assistance for checking deforestation and the total expenditure incurred thereon along with achievements made in this regard during the said period, State-wise?

MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS ( SHRI T.R.BAALU)

(a) to (g) The statement is laid on the Table of the House

STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF PART (a) to (g) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 419 FOR 22.4.2002 REGARDING AFFORESTATION IN THE COUNTRY

(a) The State-wise details of the extent of forest cover and geographical area are given in Annexure- I.

(b) No, Sir.

(c ) Dose not arise.

(d) & (e) Comprehensive programmes have been proposed in the Tenth Plan to increase the forest/tree cover in the country from existing 19% to 25%.

(f) & (g) The tree planting/afforestation activities undertaken by the State Governments are monitored under Point No 16 of Twenty Point Programme. The State-wise details of number of seedling distributed and area afforested during the period from 1996-97 to 2000-01 are given in Annexure-II. The figures of expenditure have not yet been compiled.

ANNEXURE-I

ANNEXURE IN RESPECT OF PART (a) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 419 FOR 22.4.2002 REGARDING AFFORESTATION IN THE COUNTRY

Name of the State	Geographical	Forest cover	Forest Cover	Area	as per State	as a percent	(in Sq. Km.)	of Forest	of the geogr-	Report 1999	aphical area	(in Sq. Km)
Andhra Pradesh	275,068	44,229	16.08
Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	68,847	82.21
Assam	78,438	23,688	30.2
Bihar	4,830	94,163	5.13
Chhattisgarh	1,35,194	56,693	41.93
Delhi	1,483	88	5.93
Goa	3,702	1,251	33.79
Gujarat	196,024	12,965	6.61
Haryana	44,212	964	2.18
Himachal Pradesh	55,673	13,082	23.5
Jammu & Kashmir	222,235	20,441	9.2
Jharkhand	79,714	21,644	27.15
Karnataka	191,791	32,467	16.93
Kerala	38,863	10,323	26.56
Madhya Pradesh	308,252	75,137	24.38
Maharashtra	307,690	46,672	15.17
Manipur	22,327	17,384	77.86
Meghalaya	22,429	15,633	69.7
Mizoram	21,081	18,338	86.99
Nagaland	16,579	14,164	85.43
Orissa	155,707	47,033	30.21
Punjab	50,362	1,412	2.8
Rajasthan	342,239	13,871	4.05
Sikkim	7,096	3,118	43.94
Tamil Nadu	130,058	17,078	13.13
Tripura	10,486	5,745	54.79
Uttaranchal	53,485	23,260	43.49
Uttar Pradesh	240,926	10,756	4.46
West Bengal	88,752	8,362	9.42
A&N Islands	8,249	7,606	92.21
Chandigarh	114	7	6.14
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	491	202	41.14
Daman & Diu	112	3	2.68
Lakshdweep+	32	0	0
Pondicherry+	493	0	0
Total	3287263	637,293	19.39
+	No discernible forest cover

Sl.No	Name of State	Seedling	Area afforested	distributed	in hectares	in lakhs (for	plantation on	private lands)
1	Andhra Pradesh	11655	815723
2	Arunachal Pra	32	15201
3	Assam	131	40407
4	Bihar	526	50749
5	Goa	62	4266
6	Gujarat	8951	348575
7	Haryana	2572	79857
8	Himachal Pra	123	131797
9	J & Kashmir	238	77685
10	Karnataka	2522	356550
11	Kerala	61	53142
12	Madhya Pradesh	1956	761158
13	Maharashtra	4109	452420
14	Manipur	51	29255
15	Meghalaya	193	8368
16	Mizoram	142	34040
17	Nagaland	-	-
18	Orissa	1864	349339
19	Punjab	275	57769
20	Rajasthan	1688	268347
21	Sikkim	82	36913
22	Tamil Nadu	4237	580372
23	Tripura	186	37183
24	Uttar Pradesh	8173	428468
25	West Bengal	1097	55686
26	A & N Islands	10	17255
27	Chandigarh	2	1065
28	D & N Haveli	30	1746
29	Daman & Diu	4	162
30	Delhi	87	1016
31	Lakshadweep	16	259
32	Pondicherry	22	320	Total	51096	5095094