CAG audit flags major gaps in Green India Mission implementation
A performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that the National Mission for Green India (GIM) achieved only a fraction of its forest-cover expansion target between 2015-16 and 2024-25, examined across 16 states and Union Territories.
The audit attributed the shortfall to inadequate convergence with other afforestation and rural-employment schemes, insufficient and delayed release of funds, weak project planning, and poor monitoring at the field level.
Budgetary support released over the decade covered less than half of the approved outlay, constraining plantation, soil-and-moisture conservation, and ecosystem-restoration activities under the mission.
The audit also flagged that a large majority of sampled sites showed no measurable change in forest or tree cover that could be attributed to mission interventions, pointing to weak outcome tracking rather than mere underspending.
Poor integration was noted between the Green India Mission and parallel programmes such as the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA), the rural employment guarantee scheme, Nagar Van Yojana, and the School Nursery Yojana.
National Mission for a Green India (GIM)
GIM is one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), approved in February 2014 and administered by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). It targets increasing forest and tree cover on 5 million hectares and improving the quality of existing forest/tree cover on another 5 million hectares over ten years, alongside enhancing ecosystem services (biodiversity, hydrology, carbon sequestration) across 10 million hectares and improving forest-based livelihoods for about 3 million households.
Key Details
- One of eight NAPCC missions (others include National Solar Mission, National Water Mission, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, etc.), NAPCC launched in 2008.
- Implemented in a decentralised, landscape-based manner through State/UT Forest Departments, unlike the earlier "compartmental" afforestation approach.
- Focuses on multiple ecosystem services — biodiversity, water, biomass, mangroves, wetlands, and critical habitats — not tree planting alone.
The audit's core finding is that GIM's flagship forest-cover target has been missed by a wide margin over the decade under review, largely due to the funding and coordination gaps outlined above.
Role and Powers of the CAG (Performance Audit)
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is a constitutional authority under Article 148, described as the "guardian of the public purse," who audits the accounts of the Union and State governments. Beyond regularity audits (checking legality of expenditure), the CAG conducts performance audits to assess whether a scheme has achieved its physical and financial objectives efficiently and economically; such reports are submitted to the President/Governor under Articles 151 and tabled in Parliament/State Legislatures via the Public Accounts Committee mechanism.
Key Details
- CAG's duties, powers, and conditions of service are further laid out in the Comptroller and Auditor General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971.
- Article 149 empowers CAG to perform such duties as prescribed by Parliament, including audits of government companies and autonomous bodies substantially funded by government.
- CAG reports are examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), not acted on directly by CAG itself, which has no executive enforcement power.
This audit report on GIM is a performance audit exercising CAG's mandate to evaluate whether a centrally-funded environmental scheme delivered on its stated objectives, feeding into parliamentary oversight of the Environment Ministry.
Convergence Mechanisms: CAMPA and MGNREGS
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 established CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) to manage funds collected from user agencies when forest land is diverted for non-forest use; these funds are meant for compensatory afforestation, assisted natural regeneration, and forest/wildlife habitat improvement. MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, 2005) provides guaranteed rural wage employment and is often used to fund plantation and soil-water conservation labour. GIM guidelines envisage convergence with both to multiply on-ground impact without duplicating funding.
Key Details
- Under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, states now receive roughly 90% of accumulated CAMPA funds, with about 10% retained at the Centre.
- CAMPA funds support compensatory afforestation, forest-fire control, and soil-and-water conservation, functions that overlap substantially with GIM's mandate.
- Nagar Van Yojana (urban forestry) and School Nursery Yojana are newer MoEFCC schemes meant to dovetail with GIM's landscape restoration goals.
The audit specifically found weak convergence between GIM and these programmes, meaning funds and afforestation efforts across schemes were not being pooled or coordinated effectively at the field level, diluting overall impact.
- GIM was approved under NAPCC in February 2014, targeting 5 million hectares of new forest/tree cover and quality improvement on another 5 million hectares within 10 years.
- The CAG audit covered implementation across 16 states and Union Territories for 2015-16 to 2024-25.
- Budgetary support released over the decade was reported at roughly ₹1,149 crore, about 48% of the approved outlay. [Unverified — exact figure from external press reporting, not independently cross-checked against the primary CAG report]
- A large majority (reported around 70%) of audited sites showed no discernible forest-cover change attributable to the mission. [Unverified — figure as reported in press coverage of the audit]
- CAG operates under Article 148 of the Constitution and the CAG (DPC) Act, 1971; its reports are examined by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.