each new report on the state of India's forest cover published by the Forest Survey of India (fsi) provides new insights and triggers fresh criticism. The latest State of Forest Report (sfr) 2003, the ninth in a series, released on July 19, 2005, by Union ministry of environment and forests (moef), fits the bill. It has made experts feel the fsi's approach is too traditional, both in terms of research methodology and the agency's centralised, bureaucratic functioning.

Number jumble Since the last report of 2001 to 2003, the country's forest cover increased by about 2,800 square kilometres (sq km), the report says. But this 0.41 per cent increase conceals an alarming figure: the net drop in the dense forest cover was 26,245 sq km. This means considerable expanses of dense forest areas (over 40 per cent tree cover) degraded to the