The government’s plan to increase and improve the quality of India’s forests has run into a wall due to shortage of funds. The Green India Mission, which is part of the government’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, has set a goal of increasing forest cover by 5 million hectares and improving the quality of forests on another 5 million hectares by 2020, an effort that’s going to cost. 46000 crore over a ten year period.

The Planning Commission was entrusted with the task of raising additional funds, over and above the. 8,500 crore annual outlay on forestry. However, Plan panel has told the environment ministry to try and raise money from its own budget.