Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Loss of prime forest, 25/07/2016. Forest Survey of India, Dehradun is carrying out the assessment of forest cover of the Country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report. The latest report in the series is India State of Forest Report 2015. As per this report, there is a net increase of 3775 square kilometers in the forest cover of the country as compared with India State of Forest Report-2013. The states/UT wise details of forest cover is given in Annexure.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Loss of forest cover, 25/07/2016. During last ten years and current year, the Central Government has accorded approvals over 2,45,288 ha of forest land in 11580 cases for public and private sector projects. State wise details of approvals granted by the Central Government for use of forest land for such activities is given at Annexure-I

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Incomplete Hydro Power Projects, 25/07/2016. Construction activities on some of the Hydro-Electric Projects (HEPs) in Private sector have been stopped by the developers of these projects. The details of such projects are given at Annex.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Electrification of Villages, 25/07/2016. 86 and 214 villages were electrified during last two years i.e. 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively in the State of Madhya Pradesh. The district-wise details are at Annex-I. As informed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, there are 164 un-electrified villages in the State as on 18.07.2016. The district-wise details of un-electrified villages are at Annex-II.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Conservation of wetlands, 25/07/2016. As per National Wetland Atlas published by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad in 2011, there are a total of 7,57,060 wetlands in the country occupying 15.26 million hectare area (around 4.63% of the geographic area of the country). These include lakes/ponds, ox-bow lakes, high altitude & riverine wetlands, waterlogged areas, rivers/streams, tanks, reservoirs, lagoons, creeks, sand beaches, corals, mangroves, mud flats, salt pans, aquaculture ponds, etc.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Sanitation Facilities for SC, ST Household, 21/07/2016. State-wise houseless urban population, category-wise, SC, ST and others, as released by the
Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India is at Annexure-I . Data on Houses, Household Amenities & Assets released under Census 2011, provides details of households having latrine, Sanitation and other facilities or otherwise. Details in respect of these facilities, State-wise, is at Annexure-II. RGI has not published household amenities data for SC and ST in Census 2011.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Implementation of Programmes for Development of Forest Villages, 20/07/2016. Ministry of Tribal Affairs had implemented a programme for development

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on National Wetland Conservation Programme, 18/07/2016. 115 wetlands in 24 States and two Union Territories are identified for conservation and management under the NWCP. The State-wise/year-wise list of these wetlands is given in Annexure-I. The State Governments undertake activities for conservation and management of wetlands funded under NWCP/NPCA through its concerned agencies. The Ministry and the State Level Steering Committees monitor the implementation/execution of the programme.