Steps to control desertification

The Government is implementing several schemes/programmes to combat desertification, which include, inter –alia:

 

1. National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) is implementing National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for ecological restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people’s participation. The scheme is implemented through 3 tier institutional set up of State Forest Development Agency (SFDA) at State level, Forest Development agency (FDA) at Forest Division Level and Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at village level. An amount of 157.78 crore has been released to the States/UTs to treat an area of 37110 hectares during 2018-21 under NAP. The state wise details with regard to area covered and fund released is at Annexure I and II respectively.

 

2. National Mission for Green India (GIM) aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s forest cover by means of plantation activities in forest and non-forest areas. GIM activities were started in the FY 2015-16. A sum of Rs. 594.28 Crores have been released to fifteen States namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, West Bengal, and one union territory Jammu & Kashmir for creation of plantation over an area of 117503 hectares. In the last three years (2018-19 to 2020-21), an amount of Rs 298.10 crore has been sanctioned, out of which Rs. 233.44 crore has been utilized.

 

3. Demand driven action oriented research work is carried out through projects under National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS). Certain projects include the development of models for land reclamation, soil conservation and watershed management, etc. Rs,10.84 crore was sanctioned under NMHS and the entire amount was utilized in the last three years (2018-19 to 2020-21).   The detail is at Annexure III.
4. Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is implemented under Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna, with objective to develop rainfed and degraded lands. The activities undertaken include , inter-alia, ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, nursery raising, pasture development, livelihoods, etc through interventions to ensure sustainable development and improved natural resource management with better resilience to climate change.

 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

 

 

 

Annexure-I

State/UT –wise details with regard to area covered under the National Afforestation Programme

Approved Advance Work Area

Year-wise Summary

 

S No	State/UT	Area (in hectares)
		2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	Total
1	Andhra Pradesh	1480	0	0	1480
2	Bihar	1550	1935	0	3485
3	Chhattisgarh	2000	3500	0	5500
4	Goa	0	0	0	0
5	Gujarat	0	0	0	0
6	Haryana	0	0	0	0
7	Himachal Pradesh	0	45	0	45
8	Jammu & Kashmir	0	0	0	0
9	Jharkhand	0	0	0	0
10	Karnataka	6085	0	0	6085
11	Kerala	0	0	0	0
12	Madhya Pradesh	0	0	0	0
13	Maharashtra	0	0	0	0
14	Orissa	3188	6335	0	9523
15	Punjab	0	0	0	0
16	Rajasthan	0	0	750	750
17	Tamil Nadu	0	0	0	0
18	Telangana	0	0	0	0
19	Uttar Pradesh	0	0	0	0
20	Uttarakhand	0	0	0	0
21	West Bengal	0	0	0	0
22	Arunachal Pradesh	0	0	0	0
23	Assam	373	0	0	373
24	Manipur	0	0	0	0
25	Meghalaya	0	0	0	0
26	Mizoram	1960	0	0	1960
27	Nagaland	0	6100	0	6100
28	Sikkim	0	0	0	0
29	Tripura	0	1809	0	1809
	TOTAL	16636	19724	750	37110

 

Annexure-II

Released/utilized Amount in last three years (2018-19 to 2020-21) in States/UTs under the National Afforestation Programme

S.No	State/UTS	Year wise release (Rs in cr)			Total released amount in last three years  (Rs  in crore)	Total Utilized amount in last three years (Rs  in crore)
		2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
1	Andhra Pradesh	6.38			6.38	6.38
2	Bihar		1.18	0.8	1.98	1.98
3	Chhattisgarh	7.82	5.71	9.88	23.41	23.41
4	Goa
5	Gujarat
6	Haryana
7	Himachal Pradesh	2.92	0.52	0.57	4.01	3.50
8	Jammu & Kashmir
9	Jharkhand
10	Karnataka	10.99			10.99	10.99
11	Kerala
12	Madhya Pradesh	7.78		0.57	8.35	5.27
13	Maharashtra	15.33			15.33	9.97
14	Orissa	11.36	8.45	13.67	33.48	33.48
15	Punjab
16	Rajasthan	1.95			1.95	1.95
17	Tamil Nadu	2.07			2.07	0
18	Telangana
19	Uttar Pradesh	0.32			0.32	0
20	Uttarakhand	2.58		1.06	3.64	3.07
21	West Bengal
22	Arunachal Pradesh
23	Assam	0.58			0.58	0
24	Manipur	4.38			4.38	4.38
25	Meghalaya	0.74			0.74	0.74
26	Mizoram	7.79		7.4	15.19	15.19
27	Nagaland	6.41	2.35	4.27	13.03	13.03
28	Sikkim	5.98		0.88	6.86	6.86
29	Tripura		3.76	1.33	5.09	5.09
	Total	95.38	21.97	40.43	157.78	145.29

 

 

Annexure-III

Amount sanctioned and utilized in the last three years (2018-19 to 2020-21) under National Mission on Himalayan Studies

Year	State	Amount sanctioned ( Rs. in crore)	Amount utilized  (Rs. in crore)
2018-19	Uttarakhand	0.34	0.34
	Himachal Pradesh	0.19	0.19
2019-20	Uttarakhand	1.61	1.61
	Sikkim	0.23	0.23
	Himachal Pradesh	0.27	0.27
2020-21	Uttarakhand	3.60	3.60
	Himachal Pradesh	2.30	2.30
	Manipur	1.20	1.20
	Nagaland	1.10	1.10
Total		10.84	10.84

 

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  AS/IG