---
title: "CAG audit flags gaps in Green India Mission implementation"
url: https://projectchintan.com/article/cag-audit-gaps-green-india-mission-q3tv4
publisher: Project Chintan
author: Project Chintan Newsroom
section: Politics
published: 2026-08-15T14:03:30.029Z
modified: 2026-08-15T16:00:07.249Z
language: en-IN
---

# CAG audit flags gaps in Green India Mission implementation

Auditors found major gaps in the Green India Mission, citing inadequate funding, weak coordination with other schemes, and poor monitoring. The audit covers 2015-16 to 2024-25 across 16 states and UTs.

## Key takeaways

- Auditors found major gaps in funding, coordination with CAMPA and MGNREGS, and monitoring for the Green India Mission.
- Forest cover quality improved in only a small fraction of targeted area, far below planned goals.
- A significant portion of proposed funding was not received over the audit period, and several states did not maintain annual accounts.

## What Happened

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) conducted an audit of the Green India Mission (GIM), a 2014 initiative of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change aimed at protecting, restoring, and expanding India’s forest cover. The audit assessed planning, implementation, and monitoring in 16 States and Union Territories from 2015-16 through 2024-25. It found significant shortcomings in funding, coordination with other government schemes, and monitoring, with the mission failing to meet key targets for improving forest cover and its quality.

## Why It Matters

The GIM is a central part of India’s climate strategy, contributing to biodiversity, water services, and carbon sequestration. It also ties into India’s Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, with a target to add 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in forest and tree cover by 2030. The audit’s findings on funding gaps, weak convergence with CAMPA and MGNREGS, and siloed functioning raise questions about the programme’s ability to support these climate commitments and forest-based livelihoods.

## Background

Launched in 2014 as one of eight missions under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, GIM sought to increase forest and tree cover by 5 million hectares and improve the quality of forest/tree cover by 5 million hectares. The report notes planned convergence with CAMPA and MGNREGS, along with other initiatives like Nagar Van Yojana and School Nursery Yojana, but finds that coordination largely did not materialize. The audit covers a decade of activity and compares targets with observed outcomes.

## Key Facts

- The target was to improve the quality of forest cover over 1.4 million hectares, but improvement occurred only over 0.11384 million hectares (shortfall of 91.87%).
- The target to increase forest cover by 1.4 million hectares was met with an increase of 0.03409 million hectares (shortfall of 97.57%).
- Proposed funding support was ₹10,600 crore, but only ₹1,149.14 crore (about 47.88% of the Cabinet-approved initial four years plus State share funding) was received in budgetary support over 10 years examined.
- Of the States and Union Territories studied, eight did not maintain annual accounts, while others had unaudited or discrepant accounts tied to subsidiary records.
- Congress party criticised the GIM, with Jairam Ramesh calling it a “gigantic fraud” and stating it failed to meet monitoring, planning, and implementation expectations set at conception.

## What Happens Next

The report highlights weaknesses in convergence, funding, and monitoring. It implies that future attempts to scale or reconfigure the GIM may need stronger financial controls, better integration with related programmes, and more robust oversight to align with climate and forest goals. No specific next-step timetable is provided in the material reviewed.

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Canonical: https://projectchintan.com/article/cag-audit-gaps-green-india-mission-q3tv4
Reported from: Multiple Sources