Arrange the following states in decreasing order of their total area under forest cover : 1. Jharkhand 2. Chhattisgarh 3. Arunachal Pradesh 4. Madhya Pradesh Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- (a)4 – 3 – 2 – 1
- (b)4 – 2 – 3 – 1
- (c)3 – 4 – 1 – 2
- (d)2 – 1 – 3 – 4
Correct — A, Madhya Pradesh, then Arunachal Pradesh, then Chhattisgarh, then Jharkhand. On the India State of Forest Report figures current when this paper was set, Madhya Pradesh led the country with about 77,500 square kilometres of forest cover, Arunachal Pradesh came second with about 67,200, and Chhattisgarh third with about 55,600. Jharkhand is far behind these three and does not appear anywhere near the top of the national list, so it takes fourth place among the four. Reading the numbered items back into the code gives 4 – 3 – 2 – 1.
- (b)4 – 2 – 3 – 1 — Gets Madhya Pradesh first and Jharkhand last, but swaps the middle pair. Chhattisgarh is heavily forested, yet Arunachal Pradesh has roughly eleven thousand square kilometres more forest cover, so Arunachal must come second. This is the option that catches a candidate who thinks of the central Indian forest belt first and forgets how densely forested the north-east is.
- (c)3 – 4 – 1 – 2 — Puts Arunachal Pradesh ahead of Madhya Pradesh, which is wrong on area, and then places Jharkhand above Chhattisgarh, which reverses the true order of those two by a very wide margin. Arunachal leads the country on the percentage of its area under forest among the large states, but the question asks for total area, and Madhya Pradesh is much the larger state.
- (d)2 – 1 – 3 – 4 — Ranks Madhya Pradesh last, which cannot be right for the state that tops the national forest-cover table, and puts Jharkhand second, which is far from the truth. It is the option to eliminate first.
Forest cover is measured by the Forest Survey of India from satellite imagery and reported every two years in the India State of Forest Report. It means all land of at least one hectare with a tree canopy density above ten per cent, regardless of who owns it or how it is legally classified. Madhya Pradesh has led the country on total forest cover for decades, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and this ordering was unchanged in the most recent assessment as well.
The item is a ranking question and the whole trap lies in which quantity is being ranked. Three different measures are routinely confused. Total forest cover by area puts Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh at the top, and that is what this question asks. Forest cover as a percentage of a state's own geographical area gives a completely different leaderboard headed by Mizoram, with Arunachal Pradesh and the other north-eastern states close behind and Madhya Pradesh far down. Recorded forest area, which is the legal category rather than the satellite measurement, yields a third ordering again. A quick sanity check helps here: Madhya Pradesh is one of India's largest states and holds a huge belt of teak and sal, so it is very unlikely to sit anywhere but first on a total-area question, and Jharkhand is both small and heavily mined and industrialised, so it is unlikely to sit anywhere but last.
- Forest cover is defined by the Forest Survey of India as land of one hectare or more with tree canopy density above ten per cent, irrespective of ownership or legal status.
- The India State of Forest Report is published every two years by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun.
- By total forest cover, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the top three states, and that order has held from the assessment current in 2016 through to the most recent one.
- By forest cover as a share of its own area, Mizoram leads the states — a different ranking from the one this question asks for.
Reading the items back gives 4 – 3 – 2 – 1, option (a).
- Ranking by percentage of state area when the question asks for total area, or the other way round.
- Forgetting Arunachal Pradesh, whose forest cover is second only to Madhya Pradesh even though the state is not large.
NDA asks forest data either as an ordering item like this or as a single which-state-leads question, so memorise the top three by area and the top three by percentage as two separate lists.
The minimum land area recommended for forest cover to maintain proper ecological balance in India is
- (a) 25%
- (b) 33%
- (c) 43%
- (d) 53%
Answer(b) 33%
The national benchmark against which state forest figures are read — the National Forest Policy of 1988 sets one-third of the country's area as the target, with two-thirds in the hills.
According to the Forest Survey Report, 2021, area-wise which one of the following States has the largest forest cover in India?
- (a) Odisha
- (b) Madhya Pradesh
- (c) Arunachal Pradesh
- (d) Chhattisgarh
Answer(b) Madhya Pradesh
The same table six years later, which shows that the ordering this item tests has not changed — Madhya Pradesh still leads on area, with Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh behind it.
Which one of the following States in India has the largest area under forest cover ?
- (a) Maharashtra
- (b) Chhattisgarh
- (c) Madhya Pradesh
- (d) Andhra Pradesh
Answer(c) Madhya Pradesh
The single-state version of this question asked the very next year, confirming how regularly the leader of the forest-cover table is examined.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which Indian state has the largest area under forest cover?
- (a)Arunachal Pradesh
- (b)Madhya Pradesh
- (c)Chhattisgarh
- (d)Maharashtra
Answer(b) Madhya Pradesh — it has led the India State of Forest Report table on total forest cover for many assessments.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which body publishes the India State of Forest Report?
- (a)The Botanical Survey of India
- (b)The Wildlife Institute of India
- (c)The Forest Survey of India
- (d)The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education
Answer(c) The Forest Survey of India — based at Dehradun, it brings out the report every two years.