National Afforestation Programme

The Ministry of Environment and Forests reviewed the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) guidelines based on the feedback from the implementing States and other stakeholders, as well as mid-term evaluation of the programme. It was considered desirable to inter-alia further decentralize the scheme administration to the States, modify the institutional arrangements, streamline the fund flow, and add two new components with a view to enhance the delivery of the programme. Revised Operational guidelines of NAP have been issued in the year 2009. The State-wise details of funds released to Forest Development Agencies under NAP scheme during last three years (2007-08 to 2009-10) are given in Annexure I.

The Ministry of Environment & Forests is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely “Intensification of Forest Management”, which aims at creation of infrastructure for development and conservation of forest resources in the country. The details of funds released to States including Orissa State during the Current Financial Year (2010-11) is given in Annexure II.

It has come to the notice of Ministry of Environment & Forests that funds provided to State of Goa under the National Afforestation Programme Scheme in the year 2003-04 have not been fully utilized. The Ministry has regularly monitored the progress and also highlighted it in various meetings with the Government of Goa. The State Government has been requested to refund the unspent amount.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Shri Jairam Ramesh in a written reply to a question by Shri P. T. Thomas, Nityananda Pradhan, Modugula Venugopala Reddy, Badruddin Ajmal, Jayant Chaudhary and Ramsinh Rathwa in Lok Sabha.

Annexure I

Details of State-wise funds released during last three years(2007-08 to 2009-10)

S. No.	State	Amount Released (Rs. in crore)
1	Andhra Pradesh	32.54
2	Chhattisgarh	93.49
3	Gujarat	81.11
4	Haryana	53.64
5	Himachal Pradesh	17.74
6	Jammu & Kashmir	26.42
7	Karnataka	58.43
8	Madhya Pradesh	58.92
9	Maharashtra	72.32
10	Orissa	49.46
11	Punjab	12.20
12	Rajasthan	20.48
13	Tamil Nadu	26.30
14	Uttar Pradesh	97.76
15	Uttarakhand	28.63
16	Goa	0.00
17	Jharkhand	71.94
18	Bihar	21.14
19	Kerala	22.27
20	West Bengal	19.40
21	Arunachal Pradesh	10.47
22	Assam	32.84
23	Manipur	27.81
24	Nagaland	25.06
25	Sikkim	26.77
26	Tripura	9.11
27	Mizoram	47.64
28	Meghalaya	12.84
	Grand Total	1056.74

Annexure II

Details of State-wise fund released under the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme during the year 2010-11.

S.No.	Name of States/UTs	Amount released (Rs. in lakhs)
1	Andhra Pradesh	136.94
2	Bihar	118.77
3	Chhattisgarh	345.83
4	Goa	25.00
5	Gujarat	322.27
6	Haryana	82.80
7	Himachal Pradesh	212.89
8	Jammu & Kashmir	0.00
9	Jharkhand	89.94
10	Karnataka	142.89
11	Kerala	257.16
12	Madhya Pradesh	267.75
13	Maharashtra	184.70
14	Orissa	195.34
15	Punjab	76.49
16	Rajasthan	103.76
17	Tamil Nadu	143.99
18	Uttar Pradesh	199.62
19	Uttarakhand	134.57
20	West Bengal	141.68
21	Assam	202.65
22	Arunachal Pradesh	268.66
23	Manipur	168.21
24	Meghalaya	100.94
25	Mizoram	349.79
26	Nagaland	147.52
27	Sikkim	259.33
28	Tripura	188.81
29	Andaman & Nicobar	10.33
30	UT Chandigarh	24.86
TOTAL		4903.48

Encroachment in Forest Land

About 8.34 lakhs hectare of forestland has been encroached upon by the people living in and around forest lands in the country. This land is spread in 16 States and Union territories. However, about 3.58 lakhs hectare of Forest land has been regularized by granting title deeds in favour of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers under the provision of the Scheduled tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006. The State –wise details are given in annexure.

The protection of forest areas is primarily the responsibility of the concerned State/UT Governments under the relevant provisions of various Central/State Acts, rules, Regulation, etc. However, this Ministry provides financial assistance to the State Forest Departments under a Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Intensification of Forest Management’ to strengthen their forest protection machinery by way of infrastructure development, use of modern technology, improved mobility by way of deployment of new field vehicles improved communication and providing arms ammunition to the front-line forestry force.

‘Encroachment In Forest Land’

S. No.	State	Forest land under Encroachment	Forest land regularized under FRA 2006
1	Andhra Pradesh	2,56,000.00	1,90,184.00
2	A&N Island	3,326.63	Nil
3	Assam	2,59,700.00	Nil
4	Chhattisgarh	1,18,494.60	1,18,494.60
5	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	613.30	Nil
6	Daman & Diu	87.83	Nil
7	Gujarat	34,791.00	34,219.00
8	Himachal Pradesh	1,855.68	Nil
9	Karnataka	74,210.22	14,848.00
10	Meghalaya	9,378.00	Nil
11	Mizoram	12,057.90	Nil
12	Nagaland	2,671.86	Nil
13	Tripura	47,758.14	Nil
14	UT Chandigarh	14.00	Nil
15	UT Lakshadweep	Nil	Nil
16	West Bengal	12,603.88	Nil
	Grand Total	8,33,563.04	3,57,745.60

This information was given by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, in a written reply to a question by Shri Hamdullah Sayeed in Lok Sabha.

Unemployment in Rural Areas

Reliable estimates of employment and unemployment are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Organization. Last such survey was conducted during 2004-05. As per latest survey report, number of unemployed youth in the age group of 15-29 was estimated at 8.87 million on usual status basis during 2004-05. State-wise details of unemployment rates amongst youth in both rural and urban areas on usual status basis are as under:

Sl. No.	State/Union Territory	Rural	Urban
1.	Andhra Pradesh	1.8	8.5
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	2.5	4.8
3.	Assam	6.8	19.9
4.	Bihar	4.3	17.4
5.	Chhattisgarh	1.3	7.6
6.	Delhi	5.1	10.8
7.	Goa	26.0	18.5
8.	Gujarat	1.4	4.9
9.	Haryana	5.5	9.3
10.	Himachal Pradesh	4.2	9.7
11.	Jammu & Kashmir	4.1	13.6
12.	Jharkhand	3.7	18.6
13.	Karnataka	1.5	6.4
14.	Kerala	26.8	32.5
15.	Madhya Pradesh	1.0	7.3
16.	Maharashtra	2.7	8.4
17.	Manipur	2.6	17.4
18.	Meghalaya	0.7	10.7
19.	Mizoram	0.8	4.8
20.	Nagaland	5.5	18.9
21.	Orissa	10.2	31.7
22.	Punjab	9.7	10.5
23.	Rajasthan	1.8	6.2
24.	Sikkim	6.4	7.9
25.	Tamil Nadu	3.5	8.2
26.	Tripura	32.1	60.1
27.	Uttarakhand	3.3	12.2
28.	Uttar Pradesh	1.5	7.4
29.	West Bengal	6.0	13.2
30.	A&N Islands	13.2	21.5
31.	Chandigarh	6.2	13.9
32.	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	6.9	7.9
33.	Daman & Diu	0.6	4.9
34.	Lakshadweep	16.7	45.5
35.	Puducherry	18.3	25.5
	All India	4.0	10.1

Unemployment rates according to usual status during 2004-05 were 1.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent in rural and urban areas of the country respectively, showing lower rate of unemployment in rural areas.

Government has taken several steps to provide employment to unemployed persons including youth in the country. 11th Five Year Plan aims at creating 58 million work opportunities through normal growth process and by implementing various employment generation programmes, such as, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP); Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the rural areas besides entrepreneurial development programmes run by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.

Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a credit linked subsidy programme being implemented since 2008-09 by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, aims at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises by organizing traditional artisans and unemployed youth. During the year 2010-11, 30,729 units were assisted and 2.85 lakh persons provided employment upto 10^th Feb, 2011 and Rs. 593.66 crore have been provided as margin money till January, 2011.

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) is a holistic self employment scheme which aims at providing sustainable income to rural BPL families through income generating assets/ economic activities so as to bring them out of poverty line. During 2010-11 upto January, 2011, Rs. 1880 crore has been released by the Central Government and 14.85 lakh swarojgaries have been assisted.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provides for enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Rs. 32177.04 crore has been released as Central fund in the current financial year till 22.02.2011 and 158.58 crore of person days employment was generated upto January, 2011.

This information was given by Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister for Labour And Employment in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.