Why in the News?

• A recent Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) audit has flagged major shortcomings in the implementation of the Green India Mission (GIM), including inadequate funding, weak convergence with other schemes, poor monitoring and significant shortfalls in achieving forest-cover targets.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About GIM (Background, Objectives, Achievements, etc.)
• News Summary (CAG Report, Key Findings, Significance, etc.)

Green India Mission

• The National Mission for a Green India is one of the eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
• It was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in 2014, with implementation activities beginning in 2015-16.
• The Mission adopts a landscape-based approach to protect, restore and enhance forest and tree cover while improving ecosystem services and the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.
• It combines climate-change mitigation with adaptation by focusing on carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water security and livelihood enhancement.
• Objectives of GIM
  • Increase forest and tree cover.
  • Improve the quality of existing forest and tree cover.
  • Enhance ecosystem services such as biodiversity, water and carbon sequestration.
  • Increase livelihood incomes of forest-dependent households.
  • Enhance annual carbon sequestration.
• The mis­sion envis­ages increas­ing forest and tree cover over 5 mil­lion hec­tares and improv­ing the qual­ity of forest and tree cover over another 5 mil­lion hec­tares.

Achievements of the Green India Mission

• The Mission has supported afforestation and eco-restoration activities across several States and Union Territories.
• According to the MoEFCC Annual Report 2024-25, Rs. 944.48 crore had been released to 17 States and one Union Territory since 2015-16 for plantation activities covering 1,55,130 hectares in forest and non-forest areas, along with livelihood-improvement activities for forest-dependent communities.
• More recent government information indicates that GIM activities have expanded further. As of March 2026, Rs. 1,019.26 crore had been released under the Mission.
• The broader improvement in India's forest and tree cover also provides important context.
• According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, forest and tree cover together account for 25.17% of India's geographical area, comprising 21.76% forest cover and 3.41% tree cover. India has recorded a cumulative increase of 4.83% in forest and tree cover since 2013.
• The Government has also reported that India ranked third globally in annual net forest gain, according to the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025. However, these broader national trends should not automatically be attributed solely to GIM, as several programmes contribute to India's overall forest and tree-cover outcomes.

Green India Mission and India's Climate Commitments

• GIM is particularly important because forests are a major component of India's climate strategy.
• Under its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), India has committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• Therefore, the effectiveness of programmes such as GIM has implications beyond afforestation. Healthy forests contribute to:
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Biodiversity conservation
  • Water regulation
  • Soil conservation
  • Climate resilience
  • Livelihoods of forest-dependent communities

News Summary

• The CAG conducted a performance audit of the planning, implementation and monitoring of GIM interventions in 16 States and Union Territories for the period 2015-16 to 2024-25.
• The audit found substantial gaps between the Mission's targets and achievements.
• 

• Thus, despite the broader national increase in forest and tree cover, the CAG found that the specific targets assessed under GIM interventions remained significantly underachieved.

Inadequate Funding

• The audit identified insufficient funding as one of the major constraints affecting implementation.
• The Mission had proposed Rs. 10,600 crore in funding support. However, during the 10-year period examined, only Rs. 1,149.14 crore was received through budgetary support.
• The CAG noted that this represented only 47.88% of the Rs. 2,000 crore approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for the initial four years, along with Rs. 400 crore from the 13^th Finance Commission grants towards the States' share.
• The substantial difference between the proposed funding and actual budgetary support limited the Mission's ability to achieve its intended scale.

Weak Convergence with Other Schemes

• GIM was designed to benefit from convergence with other government programmes, particularly Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
• However, the CAG found that the planned convergence was not effectively achieved.
• Other initiatives, including Nagar Van Yojana and School Nursery Yojana, were also found to be operating largely in silos.
• This limited convergence reduced opportunities to pool financial resources, technical capacity and implementation infrastructure across programmes pursuing related environmental objectives.

Weak Financial Controls

• The audit also identified shortcomings in financial management.
• Eight States and Union Territories did not maintain annual accounts, while accounts in other cases were either unaudited or contained discrepancies.
• Such deficiencies can affect the ability to track expenditure accurately, assess programme efficiency and ensure accountability in the utilisation of public funds.
• The CAG attributed the Mission's shortcomings to a combination of:
  • Inadequate convergence with other schemes
  • Insufficient funding
  • Deficiencies in planning
  • Weak monitoring mechanisms
• The findings suggest that expanding financial allocations alone may not be sufficient. Stronger institutional coordination, outcome-based planning and reliable monitoring mechanisms are necessary to translate expenditure into measurable improvements in forest quality and cover.

Significance of the CAG Findings

• The audit is important because GIM is directly linked to India's climate and environmental objectives.
• The Mission's intended outcomes extend beyond increasing the area under plantations to improving forest quality, ecosystem services, carbon sequestration and forest-dependent livelihoods.
• The findings therefore highlight the need to assess environmental programmes not merely through the amount of money spent or the number of saplings planted, but through measurable ecological outcomes such as survival rates, improvement in forest quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and ecosystem restoration.