PUSHED TO THE MARGIN
* India is among the top 10 countries in terms of forest area
* The country achieved the third-highest annual net gain in forest cover
* About 90000 animal species are in Indian forests
THERE is only one Muslim, Junior Technical Assistant Mohammed Pervez, among 92 of the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), which is under the administration of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, according to Mohammed Abdul Mannan’s new book, At The Bottom Of The Ladder: State Of The Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25. The book quantified the presence of Muslims in 150 key organisations, including Union ministries, departments, and organisations.
None among the 19 officials, including the Director-General at the headquarters and zonal offices, is a Muslim. In the Bengaluru-based Southern Zone, one of the 26 officials is Mohammed Pervez, a Junior Technical Assistant. At Dehradun, 72 officers and staff have no Muslims among them.
The total sanctioned strength of the organisation is 436, which includes members of the Indian Forest Service and Indian Statistical Service on deputation. There are no Muslims among the 13 officials at the FSI headquarters in New Delhi headed by the Director-General, as is the case with six officials at its zonal offices at Nagpur, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Shimla.
The FSI is headed by the Director-General, who is supported by two Joint Directors and eight Deputy Directors at the headquarters. Each zonal office is headed by a Regional Director and supported by one or two Deputy Directors. The Joint Directors at the headquarters head two units – Forest Geoinformatics Division (FGD) and Forest Inventory and Training Division (FITD).
The FGD conducts an assessment of forest cover, thematic mapping, and the production of maps. The FITD unit does an inventory of tree resources in and outside forests, conducts training courses, extension works, publishes reports, and maintains the library. The premier national organisation is responsible for the assessment and regular monitoring of the forest resources of the country. In addition, it is also engaged in providing the services of training, research and extension.
Established in June 1981, the FSI succeeded the Pre-investment Survey of Forest Resources (PISFR), a project initiated in 1965 by the Union government with the sponsorship of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and UNDP. PISFR’s main objective has been to ascertain the availability of raw material for the establishment of wood-based industries in selected areas of the country. In its report in 1976, India’s National Commission on Agriculture (NCA) recommended the creation of a national forest survey organisation for a regular, periodic and comprehensive forest resources survey of the country.
It led to the creation of FSI. Following a critical review of its activities, the Union government redefined the mandate in 1986 to make it more relevant to the rapidly-changing needs and aspirations of the country. The FSI operates four regional offices at Shimla, Kolkata, Nagpur and Bengaluru. The Eastern zone has a sub-centre in Meghalaya. Forests, according to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR), are “sentinel guardians; nurturing life, preserving biodiversity, and safeguarding the delicate equilibrium of our ecosystems.”
As per the ISFR, the total forest and tree cover of the country is 8,27,356.95 square km, which is 25.17 per cent of the geographical area (GA) of the country. The total forest cover has an area of 7,15,342.61 square km (21.76 per cent), whereas the tree cover has an area of 1,12,014.34 square km (3.41 per cent). In 2019, the Indian forest cover stood at 3,976 square km. The tree cover increased to 80.73 million hectares, or 24.56 per cent of the geographical area of the world’s most populous country.
There has been a total increase of 5,188 square km in two years (0.6 per cent) – an area the size of Goa and Delhi put together. India has resolved to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. India has also pledged to bring in 26 million hectares of degraded land under restoration by that year. India’s forests support the livelihoods of about 17 per cent of the global human population and 18 per cent of the world’s total livestock.
As per the Global Forest Resource Assessment (GFRA- 2020) published by FAO, India is ranked amongst the top 10 countries of the world, in terms of forest area and holds third position for the highest annual net gain in forest cover between 2010-2020. The FSI conducts forest surveys, studies and research to periodically monitor the changing situation of land and forest resources and present the data for national planning, conservation and sustainable management of environmental protection as well as for the implementation of social forestry projects.
FSI assesses the forest cover of the country every two years. Since 2004, FSI has been monitoring forest fires across the country using MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) and GIS-based technology. Now, it uses digital interpretation of remote sensing satellite data and publishes the results in a biennial State of Forest Report (SFR) being published since 1993. The FSI is among the nine national survey organisations in the country, along with ASI (archaeology), BSI (botany), FiSI (fisheries), GSI (geology), IIEE (ecology), NIO (oceanography), RGCCI (population survey and language survey), SI (cartography) and ZSI (zoology).
In 1969, forestry in India underwent a major change with the passage of the Forest Rights Act, a new legislation that sought to address the needs of forest-dwelling communities that resulted from the failure to record their rights over forest land and resources. By 2010, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated India’s forest cover to have reached about 68 million hectares. The variety and distribution of forest vegetation is large: there are 600 species of hardwoods. India is one of the 17 mega-biodiverse regions of the world.
Indian forests represent one of the 12 mega-biodiverse regions of the world. India’s Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are amongst the 32 biodiversity hotspots on earth. India is home to 12 per cent of the world’s recorded flora, about 47,000 species of flowering and non-flowering plants. Over 59,000 species of insects, 2,500 species of fish, and 17,000 species of angiosperms live in Indian forests. About 90,000 animal species, representing over seven per cent of Earth’s recorded faunal species have been found in Indian forests, along with over 4,000 mammal species are found in the country.
To read and obtain more data, please visit:
At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25
Next: Only 27 Muslims among over 1,000 officials at the Geological Survey of India
