(1)
Background: MoEF
was operating four centrally sponsored afforestation schemes during the 9th
Plan, i.e. Integrated Afforestation and Eco-development Project Scheme (IAEPS),
Area Oriented Fuel wood and Fodder Project Scheme (AOFFPS), Conservation of
Non-Timber Forest Produce including Medicinal Plants (NTFPS), and Association
of ST and Rural Poor in Regeneration of Degraded Forests (ASTRPS). The Mid-Term
Evaluation of the projects under these Schemes recommended a decentralised
approach and speedy fund transfer mechanism. Taking cue from these
recommendations, a Pilot Scheme, Samnavit Gram Vanikaran Samridhi Yojana
(SGVSY) was launched in 2000-01 utilising the delivery mechanism of Forest
Development Agency (FDA) and Joint Forest Management Committee
(JFMC). 47 Pilot projects launched during 9th Plan were highly
successful in terms of achievement
of the set objectives.
As
per 10th Plan document of Planning Commission relating to the
Forests and Environment sector (para 9.1.27), the National Afforestation
Programme (NAP) Scheme was initiated by scaling-up the SGVSY project
experience and converging all afforestation schemes of the 9th
Plan period to avoid duplicity or
redundancy, and at the same time keeping in focus the decentralization agenda
of the government. NAP is being
operated as a 100% Central Sector
Scheme.
(2)
Objectives:
The overall objective of the scheme is to develop the forest resources with people’s participation, with focus on improvement in livelihoods of the forest-fringe communities, especially the poor.
NAP Scheme aims to support and accelerate the ongoing process of devolving forest protection, management and development functions to decentralized institutions of Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) at the village level, and Forest Development Agency (FDA) at the forest division level.
(3)
Components:
Financial support under NAP Scheme is available for:
(a) Mobilisation of village JFMC,
and Micro-planning in project villages
(b) Afforestation – following components:
o Aided Natural Regeneration
o Artificial Regeneration
o Bamboo plantation
o Cane Plantation
o Mixed Plantation of trees having MFP & medicinal value
o Regeneration of perennial herbs & shrubs of medicine value
o Pasture Development/ Silvipasture
(c) Soil & Moisture Conservation
(d) Entry Point Activity (for village development; average assistance Rs.
1.6 lakh per village)
(e) Fencing, Monitoring & Evaluation, Training, Awareness raising,
Overheads
(4)
Institutional framework
and its strengthening
The NAP is being implemented
through a 2-tier structure of Forest Development Agency (FDA) at the forest
division level and Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) at the village
level. Thus, FDA is the confederation of JFMCs in that forest division. FDAs are
registered under the Societies Registration Act. JFMCs are registered either with the Forest Department
or under Statutory provisions. The
district-level officers of relevant line departments of the State Govt. and
Panchayat Raj Institution are members of FDA.
The recent experience with
present institutional framework of FDA at the forest division level and JFMC at
the village level is encouraging. All 28 States have adopted this institutional
framework including in the Autonomous Hill Districts in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
The institutions of FDAs and
JFMCs are highly innovative resource transfer mechanisms whereby the Govt of
India channelises funds directly to the grass root level implementing agency for the afforestation
activities.
The structure of FDAs and
JFMCs also caters to the gender concerns, whereby women membership to the
extent of 50% has been made mandatory in these bodies. Members of Schedule
Castes and Schedule Tribes are the focus group in JFMCs.
Training of FDA and JFMC
members is organized by State Forest Departments, as well as by the Regional
Centres of National Afforestation and Eco-development Board (7 Regional Centres
in the country).
To help and guide the FDAs
and JFMCs, there is also a National-level Steering Committee of NAP and another
at State level called State-level Coordination committee chaired respectively
by Secretary (Environment and Forests),
Government of India, and Chief Secretary of the State Government.
The following additional
steps are being undertaken to further strengthen these institutions:-
(a)A Training Needs
Assessment exercise is being undertaken by the Regional Centres of National
Afforestation and Eco-development Board
to identify the needs and capacities of different categories of staff and
members of JFMCs and FDAs for efficient implementation of NAP, and subsequently
develop training modules for the same.
(b)It is proposed to encourage linkage
of JFMCs with other rural development programme. JFMCs may leverage outside funds to augment Entry Point Activity component of NAP for
this purpose.
(c)It is also proposed to
formulate a financial management manual for FDAs and JFMCs so as to
strengthen account keeping at the local level, and thus, empower communities
for local-level decision making.
(d)A national level JFM
study has also been launched to assess strengths and weaknesses of
implementation of JFM, and the progress of empowerment of the local communities
in decision-making.
(e)Establish a system of
e-governance in National Afforestation and Eco-development Board.
(5)
Monitoring and evaluation
mechanism
(a) With a view to increasing the efficiency of NAP to meet the above goals,
the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) exercise of the FDA projects is undertaken both by the State and Central
Governments.
(b) National Afforestation and Eco-development Board undertakes the first
independent mid-term evaluation of the FDA projects within 24 months of
sanction of the project with focus on people’s participation, functioning of
JFMCs/ EDCs and the micro-planning exercise.
(c) The final evaluation is required to be carried in the fourth year of the
Project.
(d) So far, National Afforestation and Eco-development Board has launched
mid-term evaluation in respect of 250 FDA projects (including 47 Projects
under SGVSY Scheme of the IX Plan).
(e) In addition, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has randomly selected 60
FDAs each in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 for monitoring of area coverage and
forest cover increase therein.
(6)
Activities undertaken so
far
715
FDAs have been operationalised so far at a cost of Rs. 1,514.79 Crores to treat
a total area of 9.23 lakh ha. (as on 31.3.2006). Bamboo plantation, medicinal
plants and Jatropha have been given adequate focus under NAP during the current
plan period. State Governments have been advised to earmark 10% of the project
area under NAP, as per feasibility, for Jatropha plantation. Rehabilitation of
jhumlands (shifting cultivation) have been given specific focus under the
programme, and so far 19 jhum projects have been sanctioned in NE States and in
Orissa.
(7)
Progress/ Achievement
made during 2005-06
95
new FDA projects have also been sanctioned to cover an area of 55,232 hectare
through 2,391 Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs). These include 12 new
FDA projects in the North East to cover a total project area of 5380 ha.
through 183 JFMCs. An amount of Rs. 248.58 Crores has been released to Forest
Development Agencies during current financial year, out of which the release to
North Eastern States is Rs. 45.80 Crores (up to 31.3.2006).
(8)
Physical Outputs and
Expected Outcomes
The
goal of NAP is to promote improvement or increase in forest and tree cover. Two
outcome parameters have, therefore, been identified with respect to NAP:
(9)
Comparison of progress as
compared to previous years
Year-wise progress of National Afforestation Programme in the Tenth Five
Year Plan is given in the table below.
|
Year |
No.
of new FDA projects operationalised |
No.
of JFMCs |
Project
Area |
Release
(Rs. Crores) |
|
2002-03 |
237 |
8209 |
405631 |
151.26 |
|
2003-04 |
231 |
7850 |
283272 |
207.98 |
|
2004-05 |
105 |
3474 |
107963 |
233.00 |
|
2005-06
(up to 31.3.2006) |
95 |
2,391 |
55,232 |
248.58 |
(10)
State-wise Status
Progress of Forest
Development Agency (FDA) projects from April, 2000 onwards (As on 31.3.2006)
|
Sl.
No. |
Name
of State/Union Territory |
No.
of FDA Projects/Proposals sanctioned |
Total
project cost (in Rs. crores) |
Area
(in ha.) |
|
|
1 |
Andhra Pradesh |
32 |
83.02 |
47400 |
|
|
2 |
Chhattisgarh |
32 |
73.83 |
42514 |
|
|
3 |
Gujarat |
21 |
60.87 |
30445 |
|
|
4 |
Haryana |
18 |
53.44 |
22105 |
|
|
5 |
Himachal Pradesh |
27 |
52.38 |
32378 |
|
|
6 |
Jammu & Kashmir** |
31 |
74.61 |
47839 |
|
|
7 |
Karnataka |
45 |
112.15 |
59180 |
|
|
8 |
Madhya Pradesh |
49 |
112.48 |
76520 |
|
|
9 |
Maharashtra |
45 |
98.62 |
65738 |
|
|
10 |
Orissa |
40 |
69.65 |
55022 |
|
|
11 |
Punjab |
9 |
17.65 |
8235 |
|
|
12 |
Rajasthan |
33 |
39.22 |
28190 |
|
|
13 |
Tamil Nadu |
32 |
93.60 |
52253 |
|
|
14 |
Uttar Pradesh |
58 |
104.35 |
63004 |
|
|
15 |
Uttaranchal |
37 |
54.17 |
39134 |
|
|
16 |
Goa |
3 |
2.39 |
1250 |
|
|
17 |
Jharkhand |
30 |
56.33 |
39850 |
|
|
18 |
Bihar |
10 |
16.12 |
12315 |
|
|
19 |
Kerala |
24 |
47.54 |
16250 |
|
|
20 |
West Bengal |
17 |
39.07 |
22856 |
|
|
|
Total (Other States) |
593 |
1261.49 |
762478 |
|
|
21 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
19 |
27.04 |
21416 |
|
|
22 |
Assam |
29 |
36.56 |
26955 |
|
|
23 |
Manipur |
13 |
26.58 |
18374 |
|
|
24 |
Nagaland |
16 |
37.71 |
25528 |
|
|
25 |
Sikkim |
7 |
27.72 |
15280 |
|
|
26 |
Tripura |
12 |
25.57 |
19405 |
|
|
27 |
Mizoram |
19 |
60.12 |
26770 |
|
|
28 |
Meghalaya |
7 |
12.00 |
7400 |
|
|
|
Total (NE States) |
122 |
253.30 |
161128 |
|
|
|
TOTAL |
715 |
1514.79 |
923606 |
(11)
Budget Allocation of the
Scheme and Progress of Expenditure
Revised
Estimate for the scheme during 2005-06 was Rs. 248.58 crores, out of which Rs. 248.58
crores were released till 31.3.06
(12)
Implementing organization
along with details
The
NAP Scheme is being implemented through two-tier decentralized mechanism of
Forest Development Agency (FDA) at Forest Division Level and Joint Forest
Management Committees (JFMCs) at the village level.
(13)
New initiatives under the
scheme
A
number of initiatives have been taken by the Ministry to expedite the
implementation of the scheme as well improve the qualitative aspects of
implementation. These include: (i) in-principle decision has been taken by the
National-level Steering Committee for electronic transfer the funds from
Government of India to the FDAs to cut-down the delays, (ii) efforts are being
made to step-up monitoring and evaluation of the FDA projects by activation of
State-level Coordination Committees for NAP, increased field visit by officers,
and expeditious commissioning by the States of first independent concurrent
evaluation of FDA projects, (iii) 10 programmes have been arranged through the
Directorate of Forest Education for training and capacity building of
front-line staff of FDAs and JFMCs, and (iv) 45 district-level
inter-departmental linkage workshops have been approved in the work programme
of the Regional Centres of NAEB for the year 2005-06 and 2006-07 for promoting the
linkage of NAP with other developmental programmes for enhancing the
sustainability of JFM, and (v) a new component has been added in NAP to
universalize JFM in all forest-fringe villages in the country.
***