"Since October 10, 1980, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has granted approval for diversion of 12,05,138 hectares of forest land for non-forestry purposes in total 23,784 number of cases," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
In a written reply, the Minister said afforestation activities were carried out against the loss of forest land.
Javadekar also said under the Green India Mission, there was a component to encourage plantation on farmers' lands covering 7.57 lakh hectare land in the entire country at the cost of Rs 20,000 per hectare in the 12th Five Year Plan.