CAG Report: Green India Mission Forest Cover Target Missed by Nearly 98%

India's flagship Green India Mission (GIM) has fallen far short of its forest cover targets, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. The audit found that forest cover increased by only 0.03 million hectares between 2015-16 and 2024-25, against a target of 1.4 million hectares – a shortfall of nearly 98 per cent.

The CAG is an independent constitutional body responsible for auditing the receipts and expenditure of the Government of India. Its findings carry significant weight in assessing the effectiveness of public programmes.

Launched in 2014, the GIM is a centrally sponsored scheme designed to increase forest and tree cover, improve the quality of existing forests and non-forest lands, and bolster ecosystem services. It also aims to support India's climate commitments, including the creation of an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.

The CAG examined the mission's implementation in 16 states and Union territories, where the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had approved physical and financial targets over the past decade. The report also noted that only 0.11 million hectares saw an improvement in forest cover quality, a shortfall of 91.87 per cent from the target.

A central issue identified by the audit was the absence of convergence with other afforestation and rural development schemes, such as the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and other central and state initiatives. "The absence of convergence, central to the implementation strategy of the GIM, was evident across all institutional levels," the report said.

Financial management was another significant hurdle. The report highlighted that delays in fund disbursement and poor expenditure management affected the mission's execution. It also pointed to a lack of effective monitoring, with 14 states failing to provide the required public web-links for transparency as mandated.

The audit discovered inflated data and overstated achievements. "Non-validated KML files and GIS analysis showed that 70 per cent of sampled sites had no noticeable changes attributable to GIM," the report stated. This raises serious questions about the reliability of progress reports submitted by states.

Carbon sequestration assessment, which is a key objective of the mission, was largely neglected. Except for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, no state conducted any evaluation of carbon sequestration during 2015-2025. This omission undermines the mission's ability to measure its contribution to climate goals.

The CAG's findings underline the gap between policy intent and on-ground execution. Forest cover is crucial for biodiversity conservation, water security, and the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. The report's recommendations are expected to push the Environment Ministry to address these implementation gaps and strengthen accountability mechanisms.

Given India's international commitments under the Paris Agreement and its national target of 33 per cent forest and tree cover, the audit's findings serve as a critical reminder of the need for effective governance in environmental programmes. The mission's underperformance highlights the importance of robust coordination between central and state agencies, transparent reporting, and timely financial management.