State of India’s forest Report 2019
- The biennial State of India’s forest Report 2019 is published by Forest Survey of India (FSI), a premier institution under the Ministry of Environment and forest.
- According to the recent report, compared to the last assessment of 2017,
- The total tree and forest cover in the country increased by 5,188 Sqkm with sharpest declines in the northeastern states
- There is an increase of 46 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country
- The total forest cover (TFC) in 2019 is 21.67% of the total geographical area (TGA) of the country as against 21.54% in 2017.
- Tree and forest cover together made up 24.39% of the geographical area.
- In terms of canopy density classes, area covered by Very Dense Forests (VDF) is 3.02%, Moderately Dense Forest is 9.39% and Open Forest is 9.26%.
- The category of VDF is defined as a canopy cover over 70 per cent has increased by a mere 1.14% between 2017 and 2019.
- The forest cover within the Recorded Forest Area or officially classified as ‘forest’ by States/Centre showed a decrease, but ‘forest’ outside such recorded area increased by 4,306 sqkm.
- Maharashtra had the largest extent of such tree outside forest.
- The top three States showing an increase in forest cover are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
- Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
- In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).
- The mangrove cover increased by 54 sqkm, or about 1%, from the last assessment, with Gujarat and Maharashtra registering the largest improvements.
Forest Survey of India
- Forest Survey of India (FSI) is an organisation under the Ministry of Environment & Forests.
- Its principal mandate is to conduct survey and assessment of forest resources in the country.
- The Forest Survey of India organize the training programmes to state sponsored forest personnel.
- FSI releases State of Forest Report biennially based on satellite imageries.
- According to the State of Forest Report, the definition of forest cover includes all lands more than 1 hectare in area with a tree canopy of more than 10 per cent, irrespective of land use, ownership, and legal status
Tree cover and Forest Cover
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change defines ‘forest cover’ in India as “all lands, more than one hectare in area with a tree canopy density of more than 10%”
- Similarly ‘tree cover’ is defined as “tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area of 1 hectare”.
- There is a third measure known as Tree outside forest (TOF).
- The ‘India State of Forest Report 2017’ defines TOF as “trees existing outside the recorded forest area in the form of block, linear & scattered size of patches”.
- Since tree cover measures only non-forest patches that are less than 1 hectare, it is only a part of TOF.
e-BCAS Project
- It is a training module project launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
- It facilitates external stakeholders to access Biometric enabled Centralised Access Control System (CACS) for training in digital platforms.
- All 29 Aviation Security Training Institutes have been registered as User Entities for this project.
- It envisaged to achieve a “paperless office” under e-Governance initiative.
Standing Committee on Economic Statistics
- The statistics ministry has constituted a 28 member Standing Committee on Statistics (SCES) chaired by former Chief Statistician Pronab Sen.
- It is to improve quality of data amid criticism of the government over political interference.
- The first meeting of the SCES is scheduled on January 6, 2020.
- The committee is set up in the backdrop of controversy over revision of GDP numbers and withholding employment data by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
- Earlier, Ministry of Statistics had decided not to release the Consumer Expenditure Survey results of 2017-18 citing data quality issues.
eBkray
- It is a platform launched by the Ministry of Finance.
- It enables online auction of assets attached by various state-run banks.
- It provides navigational links to all PSB e-auction sites, property search feature and presents single-window access to information on properties up for e-auction.
- It also provides facility for comparison of similar properties.
- It seeks to bring in transparency in the sale of properties.
University for Transgender Community
- The country's first university for transgender community will be opened in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district.
- It is being built by All-India transgender education service trust.
- It facilitate its members to study right from class one to PG and even do research and get PhD degree.
Source: PIB, The Hindu, Economic Times
