Archive · 15 Aug 2026
CAG: Green India Mission misses forest cover target by 98%
India has a big plan called the Green India Mission to grow more trees and make forests healthier.
It started in February 2014.
The government wanted to add 1.4 million hectares of forest over about ten years.
A special watchdog called the CAG checked how well the plan worked.
It found that forest cover grew by only 0.03 million hectares — that is less than three percent of the goal.
The quality of the forests also improved only a tiny bit compared with the target.
The CAG said the mission did not plan its money well and did not work closely with other government schemes.
Many states also did not keep proper track of their work.
Only Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh measured how much carbon the forests captured.
The mission also chose safer areas instead of the places most at risk from climate change, and it could not get about Rs 10,600 crore in funding.
Forest cover under the Green India Mission grew by only 0.03 million hectares against a 1.4 million hectare target between 2015-16 and 2024-25 — a shortfall of about 97.5% (97.57%).
A CAG audit tabled in Parliament on Wednesday found forest cover quality improved in only 0.1–0.11 million hectares against the same target — a shortfall of roughly 91.8–91.9%.
The audit blamed poor financial planning, lack of convergence with schemes such as CAMPA and MGNREGS, and weak monitoring, with 14 states failing to provide required public web-links for transparency.
The mission selected areas with low or moderate climate vulnerability instead of more susceptible ones, violating a key criterion, and 70% of sampled sites showed no noticeable changes attributable to the mission.
Only Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh carried out carbon sequestration assessments between 2015 and 2025, and the mission failed to secure Rs 10,600 crore in proposed funding.
- Who
- The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which audited the Green India Mission run by the Ministry of Environment.
- What
- The audit found the Green India Mission increased forest cover by only 0.03 million hectares against a target of 1.4 million hectares — a shortfall of about 97.5% — with forest quality improving in only about 0.1 million hectares.
- When
- The audit report was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday and covered financial years 2015-16 to 2024-25; the mission was launched in February 2014.
- Where
- India — the audit covered interventions in 16 states and Union territories, including Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
- Why
- Poor financial planning, lack of convergence with existing central and state schemes, weak monitoring, and selection of less climate-vulnerable areas.
- Programme
- Green India Mission
- Launch date
- February 2014
- Parent initiative
- National Action Plan on Climate Change
- Forest cover target (2015-16 to 2024-25)
- 1.4 million hectares
- Actual forest cover increase
- 0.03 million hectares (97.5% shortfall)
- Forest quality improvement
- 0.1–0.11 million hectares (about 91.8% shortfall)
- States/UTs covered by audit
- 16
- Funding not secured
- Rs 10,600 crore
