Green India Mission Falls Far Short of Forest Cover Target

The Green India Mission has fallen significantly short of its forest cover expansion target, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled in Parliament on August 13. Against the target of increasing forest and tree cover across 1.4 million hectares, the programme achieved an increase across only 0.03409 million hectares, resulting in a 97.57% shortfall.

The CAG reviewed the implementation of the Environment Ministry’s Green India Mission across 16 states and Union Territories between 2015-16 and 2024-25. The audit identified poor planning, weak coordination and inadequate funding as key factors affecting the programme. It also pointed to limited coordination with other afforestation and livelihood programmes, including CAMPA, MGNREGS, Nagar Van Yojana and School Nursery Yojana, with several initiatives operating separately.