According to the India State of Forest Report, 2017, what percentage of total geographical area of the country is under forest?

The correct answer is C, 21.54 per cent. The India State of Forest Report 2017, brought out by the Forest Survey of India under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, recorded forest cover of about 7,08,273 sq km, which is 21.54 per cent of the geographical area.

• Option A (20.34): This is not the ISFR 2017 figure for forest cover.
• Option B (22.34): This overstates the figure. The 2015 report had 21.34 per cent, and 2017 rose only slightly above that.
• Option D (23.54): This is not a figure in the report. The 2017 total of 24.39 per cent refers to forest and tree cover combined, which is a different category.

Core concept: forest cover means recorded forest areas with canopy density above 10 per cent. Forest and tree cover adds trees outside recorded forest areas. For Mains, the gap between recorded forest and total green cover matters for the Green India Mission and compensatory afforestation policy.

Trap: mixing up forest cover with forest and tree cover, and mixing up the 2015 and 2017 reports. Later editions have revised the forest cover figure upward, to 21.67 per cent in 2019, 21.71 per cent in 2021 and 21.76 per cent in 2023.