Question : Forest Land

(a) the details of actual forest land and that encroached by people in the country during the last three years and the current year, State-wise;
(b) whether any complaint has been received from Karnataka regarding such encroachment by a community;
(c) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon;
(d) whether any special scheme is being implemented for the States, having less forest land to bring them at par with national average; and
(e) if so, the details and the estimated amount likely to be spent in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) (b) & (c) The forest and tree cover in the country is assessed by Forest Survey of India Dehradun. As per the latest State Forest Report (ISFR), 2017 the forest and tree cover in the various States/UTs is given as the Annexure -I.

As per the data received from various States/UTs the forest land encroached upon in the various States is as per the Annexure-II.

The control and management of forest land rest with the State Government. The Ministry has written a letter to State/ UTs Government to remove encroachment and ensure that no further encroachment takes place as per the existing acts/rules

(d) & (e) The National Forest Policy aims at maintaining one-third of the total land area of the country under forest cover. Various schemes are launched by the State/UTs Government to increase the forest cover in the respective State/UTs to bring forest area in the state at par with national average.

In order, to increase the forest cover in the country, afforestation programmes are taken up under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as National Afforestation Programme (NAP), Green India Mission (GIM), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) which from 2015-16 has been amalgamated as the Watershed Development Component of the “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)” and under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
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