National Afforestation Programme (NAP) Scheme: At A Glance
(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 NonTimber 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 Ecodevelopment 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 midterm 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:
(i) 5 years after sanction, new plantations would, for each bio-geographic region, show
the prescribed survival rates.
(ii) 6 to 12 years, after sanction, depending on the species, the new plantations would
be revealed as either new area under Forest and Tree Cover or enrichment of forest
cover in Satellite Imagery
(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 JFMCs
2002-03
No. of new FDA
projects
operationalised
237
Project Area
Release
Crores)
(Rs.
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)
Sl. No.
State-wise Status
Progress of Forest Development Agency (FDA) projects from April, 2000 onwards
(As on 31.3.2006)
Name of State/Union
No. of FDA
Total project cost (in
Area (in
Territory
Projects/Proposals
Rs. crores)
ha.)
sanctioned
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.
***