UPPSC 2022 Prelims Q123: As per the 'India State of Forest Report – 2021' which of — Answer & Explanation

Q: What is the answer to UPPSC 2022 Prelims Q123?

B. Correct — B, Andhra Pradesh. The India State of Forest Report 2021 names its gainers explicitly: 'Top five states showing increase in forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km), Karnataka (155 sq Km) and Jharkhand (110 sq. Km).' Andhra Pradesh therefore tops the list, and the 'last two years' in the stem is the gap between this assessment and the previous one of 2019 — the Forest Survey of India publishes the report biennially, so every change figure in ISFR 2021 is measured against ISFR 2019. For scale, the whole country added 1,540 sq km of forest cover and 721 sq km of tree cover in that period, a total of 2,261 sq km; Andhra Pradesh's 647 sq km is a substantial share of the national forest-cover gain. The report also records where the gain came from: 'Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest.' None of the other three States appears anywhere in the report's list of the top five gainers, which settles the question by itself.

UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 123 of 150

Verified against the official question paper. Answer as per the official UPPSC answer key.

As per the 'India State of Forest Report – 2021' which of the following States has registered maximum increase in the forest cover during the last two years ?

(a)Assam
(b)Andhra Pradesh
(c)Kerala
(d)Arunachal Pradesh

Answer

Why

Correct — B, Andhra Pradesh. The India State of Forest Report 2021 names its gainers explicitly: 'Top five states showing increase in forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km), Karnataka (155 sq Km) and Jharkhand (110 sq. Km).' Andhra Pradesh therefore tops the list, and the 'last two years' in the stem is the gap between this assessment and the previous one of 2019 — the Forest Survey of India publishes the report biennially, so every change figure in ISFR 2021 is measured against ISFR 2019. For scale, the whole country added 1,540 sq km of forest cover and 721 sq km of tree cover in that period, a total of 2,261 sq km; Andhra Pradesh's 647 sq km is a substantial share of the national forest-cover gain. The report also records where the gain came from: 'Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest.' None of the other three States appears anywhere in the report's list of the top five gainers, which settles the question by itself.

Why the others are wrong

(a)Assam — Assam is not in the report's list of the five States that gained the most forest cover. It appears in ISFR 2021 among the States with forest cover between 33 and 75 per cent of their geographical area — a statement about how forested Assam already is, not about how much it added in this cycle.
(c)Kerala — Kerala too is absent from the report's top-five gainers. Like Assam it is listed among the States whose forest cover lies between 33 and 75 per cent of geographical area, which is a stock figure rather than a change figure. The question asks for the increase, not the level.
(d)Arunachal Pradesh — The strongest trap in the set, because Arunachal Pradesh is at the top of two other ISFR 2021 lists: it has the second-largest forest cover by area after Madhya Pradesh, and the second-highest forest cover as a percentage of geographical area at 79.33 per cent, behind Mizoram's 84.53 per cent. Being heavily forested is not the same as having added the most forest in a two-year window, and Arunachal Pradesh does not figure among the report's top five gainers.

Concept

The India State of Forest Report is the biennial national assessment published by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It maps forest cover from satellite imagery using a canopy-density definition — all land of at least one hectare with more than ten per cent tree canopy, irrespective of ownership or legal status — and classifies it as very dense (canopy above 70 per cent), moderately dense (40-70 per cent) and open (10-40 per cent). Because it is a two-yearly cycle, every 'change' figure in the report is a change since the previous edition, so ISFR 2021's numbers are all measured against ISFR 2019. Tree cover — patches smaller than one hectare, including trees outside forests — is assessed separately and reported alongside forest cover.

Every ISFR question turns on which of four different quantities is being asked for, and the options are usually built so that a different State tops each one. In ISFR 2021 the four are: largest forest cover by area, Madhya Pradesh; highest forest cover as a share of the State's own area, Mizoram at 84.53 per cent; largest increase over the previous assessment, Andhra Pradesh at 647 sq km; and largest mangrove increase, Odisha at 8 sq km. Arunachal Pradesh sits second on two of those lists, which is exactly why it is placed in this question. Read the stem for the word that fixes the quantity — here 'increase' and 'during the last two years' — before looking at the options at all. Also keep the two aggregate figures apart: forest and tree cover together were 24.62 per cent of the country's geographical area in ISFR 2021, of which tree cover alone accounted for 2.91 per cent.

Key facts

ISFR 2021 top five States by increase in forest cover: Andhra Pradesh 647 sq km, Telangana 632 sq km, Odisha 537 sq km, Karnataka 155 sq km, Jharkhand 110 sq km.
Nationally, forest and tree cover rose by 2,261 sq km over the 2019 assessment — 1,540 sq km of forest cover and 721 sq km of tree cover; the gain came mainly in open forest, followed by very dense forest.
Total forest and tree cover in ISFR 2021 was 80.9 million hectares, or 24.62 per cent of India's geographical area; tree cover alone was 95,748 sq km, or 2.91 per cent.
Area-wise, the largest forest cover is in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra; by percentage of geographical area the leaders are Mizoram (84.53 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33 per cent) and Meghalaya (76.00 per cent).
Total mangrove cover in ISFR 2021 was 4,992 sq km, an increase of 17 sq km over 2019, with Odisha (8 sq km) the largest gainer, followed by Maharashtra (4 sq km) and Karnataka (3 sq km).

Green wooded slopes of the Nallamala hills seen from above, with a ghat road curving along the hillside and old stone bridge piers among the trees — Andhra Pradesh recorded the largest increase in forest cover of any State in the India State of Forest Report 2021 — 647 sq km over the 2019 assessment, ahead of Telangana and Odisha. The Nallamala Hills, on the Eastern Ghats, hold one of the State's largest forest tracts.Image: Abdaal (talk) · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Study next

The Forest Survey of India and the ISFR methodology — canopy-density classes, the one-hectare and ten-per-cent thresholds, and why 'forest cover' differs from 'recorded forest area'The National Forest Policy 1988 target of one-third of the country's area under forest and tree cover, and how far ISFR figures fall short of itMangroves in India — the biggest mangrove States, the Sundarbans, and mangrove-cover change in successive ISFR editionsForest carbon stock, growing stock and bamboo assessment, and India's forestry commitments under its Nationally Determined ContributionsThe Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, compensatory afforestation and the CAMPA fund — the legal machinery behind changes in forest cover

Common traps

Confusing the State with the most forest for the State that added the most forest. Madhya Pradesh leads on area and Mizoram on percentage; Andhra Pradesh leads on increase in ISFR 2021.
Mixing forest cover with forest and tree cover. Forest and tree cover was 24.62 per cent of India's area in ISFR 2021; tree cover alone was 2.91 per cent, so quoting the combined figure as 'forest cover' is a common slip.
Forgetting that ISFR is biennial, so 'change since the last assessment' always means a two-year change — ISFR 2021 against ISFR 2019, ISFR 2023 against ISFR 2021.

UPPSC sets ISFR questions almost every year and usually pins them to the newest edition available at the time of the exam, often with a Uttar Pradesh angle — which UP districts cross a given forest-cover threshold, or where the State stands nationally. UPSC prefers ranking and ordering questions built on the same report, asking you to arrange States by percentage of forest cover rather than to recall a single figure.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2019_GS1_Q332019Open & attempt →

Consider the following States: 1. Chhattisgarh 2. Madhya Pradesh 3. Maharashtra 4. Odisha With reference to the States mentioned above, in terms of percentage of forest cover to the total area of State, which one of the following is the correct ascending order?

(a) 2-3-1-4
(b) 2-3-4-1
(c) 3-2-4-1
(d) 3-2-1-4

Answer(c) 3-2-4-1

The same source report worked from the other direction — ranking States by forest cover as a percentage of their own area, the quantity this UPPSC question deliberately does not ask for.

UPSC_2005_GS1_Q1472005Open & attempt →

Consider the following statements: 1. The forest cover in India constitutes around 20 % of its geographical area. Out of the total forest cover, dense forest constitutes around 40 %. 2. The National Forestry Action Programme aims at bringing one-third of the area of India under tree/forest cover. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer(b) 2 only

Tests the same aggregate figures and the one-third national goal against which every ISFR edition is read — useful for seeing how slowly the national percentage actually moves between assessments.

UPPSC_2025_PRE_PaperI_Q1092025Open & attempt →

As per the India State of Forest Report 2023, which of the following districts in Uttar Pradesh had forest over more than 20% of their total area ? 1. Bahraich 2. Chandauli 3. Shravasti Select the correct answer from the code given below : Code :

(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 and 3
(c) Only 3
(d) Only 1

Answer(b) 2 and 3

The same report two editions later, and the form UPPSC now prefers — district-level forest cover within Uttar Pradesh. Note that ISFR questions are always keyed to the edition current at the time of the exam.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
As per the India State of Forest Report 2021, which State has the largest forest cover in terms of area?
- (a)Arunachal Pradesh
- (b)Madhya Pradesh
- (c)Chhattisgarh
- (d)Odisha
Answer(b) Madhya Pradesh — area-wise it leads, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra; by percentage of geographical area the leader is Mizoram at 84.53 per cent.
practice — not a real PYQ
The India State of Forest Report defines 'forest cover' as all land of at least one hectare with a tree canopy density of more than
- (a)5 per cent
- (b)10 per cent
- (c)25 per cent
- (d)40 per cent
Answer(b) 10 per cent — the definition is independent of ownership and legal status, which is why forest cover and recorded forest area do not coincide.