Question : CONSTITUTION OF MUKHERJEE COMMITTEE

(a) whether a committee under the Chairmanship of Sh. A.K. Mukherjee was constituted to make necessary recommendations for converting one third of the land area of the country into forest land;

(b) if so, whether the said committee has submitted its report to the Government;

(c) if so, the date on which the said report was submitted to the Government alongwith the details of recommendations of the said report; and

(d) the follow up action being taken by the Government for the implementation of the recommendations of the said report alongwith the outcome thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI NAMO NARAIN MEENA)

(a) and (b) A Committee under the chairmanship of Shri A. K. Mukherjee was constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for “Review of afforestation policies and rehabilitation of wastelands”.

(c) and (d) The Committee submitted its report on 30.01.1998. The Ministry of Environment and Forests have taken a number of steps related to the recommendations made in the Committee’s Report, which include:

(i) National Afforestation Programme (NAP) scheme is being implemented through a decentralized two-tier mechanism of Forest Development Agency (FDA) at Forest Division level and Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at village level.

(ii) Guidelines have been issued on 15.12.2004 to States and Union Territories to rationalise transit and felling regulations for tree species grown on non-forest private lands.

(iii) The Ministry’s allocation for afforestation has been significantly increased for the Tenth Five Year Plan as compared to Ninth Five Year Plan.

(iv) A “Joint Forest Management Cell” has been established in the Ministry on 19.08.1998.