UP's efforts towards environmental protection being validated by national reports: Govt
According to a statement issued by the government, as part of this 'green revolution', the flagship mega-plantation campaign — 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0' — has set a new record in 2025 by planting more than 37.21 crore saplings in a single year.
Lucknow, Jul 10 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh is steering ahead towards environmental protection and green-cover expansion, with its efforts being validated by national environmental reports, the state government said on Thursday.
According to the forest department, the overall survival rate for the saplings planted between 2021-22 and 2024-25 is 86.67 per cent. This figure has shown a consistent improvement annually, rising from 76.87 per cent in 2021-22 to a remarkable 96.06 per cent in 2024-25.
Since 2017, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed an increase of approximately 5 lakh acres (about 2,023 sq. km) in its green cover. The combined forest and tree cover has expanded from 9.18 per cent to nearly 10 per cent of the state's geographical area. Specifically, the tree cover increased by roughly 2 lakh acres between 2017 and 2021, with an additional 1.38 lakh acres added from 2021 to 2023, totalling nearly 3.38 lakh acres to date, the statement read.
Furthermore, a Forest Survey of India (FSI) report from Dehradun reveals Uttar Pradesh's contribution to climate action. By 2023, the state's tree cover outside designated forest areas increased by 3.72 per cent, surpassing the national average of 3.41 per cent. The state also recorded a 2.46-per cent rise in the forest carbon stock, which is almost double the national average of 1.13 per cent, the statement added. PTI CDN RC
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
17 minutes ago
- The Print
Anganwadi centres to get space at Zilla Parishad schools in Maharashtra
'There are thousands of Anganwadis in the state that operate from rented spaces. Irregular fund disbursement has led to difficulties in managing rent, electricity, water supply and sanitation,' said a Rural Development Department official. The initiative, which had been under discussion for some time, is expected to ease the burden on thousands of Anganwadi centres currently functioning from rented premises. These facilities play a key role in delivering services like immunisation, health check-ups, antenatal care and early childhood education. Mumbai, Jul 13 (PTI) Anganwadi centres, rural childcare centres for kids under the age of six, will now be allowed to operate from unused classrooms in nearby Zilla Parishad (ZP) schools in Maharashtra, officials have said. 'To address these issues, it had been proposed to relocate these centres to nearby ZP-run schools, provided the distance between the two is within 1 kilometre,' he said. The Anganwadi programme in Maharashtra is implemented by the Women and Child Development Department under the Union government's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. As per government data, the state has 1,10,048 Anganwadis, of which around 21,000 operate from rented premises, while 10,000 are located in community halls or public libraries. An official from the Women and Child Development Department said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 had also recommended integrating Anganwadis with schools to improve early learning outcomes. 'In line with this, the state has advised ZP schools to share unused classrooms with Anganwadis,' the official said. ZP schools have been asked to allow Anganwadi staff and children access to kitchens, washrooms, school grounds, drinking water and sports equipment, the official said. 'Where the school building has multiple floors, Anganwadis should be given classrooms on the ground floor. The Women and Child Development Department will provide funds for repairs, painting and setting up essential infrastructure, if necessary,' the official added. PTI ND NR This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Print
8 hours ago
- The Print
Local train bombing survivor misses Mumbai's lifeline, seeks empathy not sympathy
While many of his friends and family members saw this as a monumental tragedy, Chauhan, now a successful Chartered Accountant having his own firm, saw it as the beginning of a different, and in many ways, more fulfilling journey. On July 11, 2006, as a 21-year-old Chartered Accountancy student, Chauhan was on his way home when a bomb ripped through his train, forever changing his life as the blast left him with a spinal cord injury, confining him to a wheelchair. Mumbai, Jul 13 (PTI) A survivor of the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, Chirag Chauhan, remembers the local train not with a heavy heart of a victim, but with the fond nostalgia of a Mumbaikar who simply misses his city's lifeline. 'I used to wish that I had missed the train that day, but then I realised whatever destiny has in store is going to happen,' he told PTI, with a calm that belies the horror he survived. He had left work early that day, something he didn't usually do. It was an unusual decision that placed him on a train with a bomb just two to three feet away from him. The bomb exploded between between Khar and Santacruz stations. While many on the train that day didn't survive, Chauhan somehow did. Seven blasts occurred at different locations in the Western line of the city's local trains within a span of 15 minutes, killing over 180 persons and injuring several others on July 11, 2006. The familiar rhythm of a Mumbai local train is a song for Chauhan which he hasn't heard in nearly two decades. One can visualise the shine in his eyes when he spoke of how much he misses travelling by the local trains. The screech of the brakes, the slam of the doors, and the collective rush of thousands of lives moving in unison — these are the memories that today seem to him of a different time, a different life. 'I wish I could travel in the local,' says Chauhan as for him getting back on a train won't be about conquering a fear, it will be about reclaiming a small piece of his life and participating in a shared experience — a simple, human desire for a connection with the city he loves. He wishes to travel one day on the Vande Bharat Express, which he's heard is more accessible. 'I heard it's more accessible, but I'm just figuring out if I get a chance, I will definitely go to Vande Bharat. They even have an accessible coach, which is wheelchair friendly and accessible. That's what I heard. But I want to try it out,' he said. For Chauhan, getting back on a train won't be about conquering a fear. It will be about reclaiming a small piece of his life and participating in a shared experience — a simple, human desire for a connection with the city he loves. Today, at 40, Chauhan is a successful CA with his own practice and staff of 10. He admits to the 'systematic handicap' that remains in India for the disabled, from inaccessible buildings to old-school attitudes, but he refuses to let it define his journey. 'But one should not find fault with the system. If you have to achieve, you have to find ways to cross over,' he says. Chauhan has learned to navigate a life that he had not dreamt of, and he's not bitter about it. When people sympathise with him, he accepts the sentiment and moves on. 'You cannot continue to explain to everybody that we need empathy and not sympathy,' Chauhan, who identifies himself as a survivor of a tragedy and a man who remade his life from scratch, said. He explained that he knows that people are attempting to support him, but what he really seeks is a greater connection — a comprehension of his experience rather than sympathy for his situation. In 2009, after passing his CA exams, Chauhan was invited to attend a rally in Mumbai to be honoured for his success by the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, who subsequently became the country's prime minister. 'It was an honour to be recognised,' he said, adding, 'after that I focused on my personal life, juggling with my own world.' For Chauhan, who worked in a multi-national and a bank, focus remained on his new journey — building a practice, launching a startup and managing other ventures. PTI SKL RT This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Mint
12 hours ago
- Mint
Too premature to draw conclusions on pilots role from AI plane crash initial report: Former AAIB chief
New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) It will be too premature to draw conclusions on the role of pilots from the preliminary investigation report into the fatal crash of Air India plane last month and the final report will mention about the most probable cause for the accident, former AAIB chief Aurobindo Handa said on Sunday. A day after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report into the crash that killed 260 people, he said, "We should allow AAIB to complete the investigation in a fair, unbiased and transparent manner." Handa has investigated more than 100 aircraft accidents, including the Air India Express plane crash in Kozhikode in 2020. "AAIB has done a good job. Going forward, they will now focus to find out as to why and how these fuel switches moved and whether there could have been any mechanical and/or electrical failures/malfunction," he told PTI. The report, released on Saturday, said the fuel switches of the crashed Boeing 787-8 plane's engines were cut off within a gap of one second, and later switched on. From the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he did cut off the switch and the other pilot saying he did not do so. The report did not mention which pilot asked the question and which pilot responded. The co-pilot was Pilot Flying (PF), and the Pilot In Command (PIC) was Pilot Monitoring (PM) for the flight. "It will be too premature to draw any conclusions, including the role of one of the pilots from the AAIB's preliminary investigation report on Air India flight 171... we should allow AAIB to complete the investigation in a fair, unbiased and transparent manner," Handa said. The Pilot In Command (PIC) was 56-year-old Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and the First Officer was 32-year-old Clive Kundar. Sabharwal's flying experience with 787 was more than 8,596 hours, including 8,260 hours as PIC, while Kundar's flying experience with this type of aircraft was 1,128 hours. Kundar was pilot flying while Sabharwal was pilot monitoring for the AI 171 flight operated with the nearly 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 aircraft. According to the preliminary report, both pilots had adequate rest period prior to operating the flight. "In some quarters, especially in foreign media, there are endeavours to indicate that one of the pilots could have been at fault. Yet again, I would like to request our veteran aviators to refrain from any sort of speculation," Handa said. The AI 171, operated with a nearly 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 aircraft, flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed into a building soon after takeoff and 260 people died. Out of the 242 people onboard the plane, only one survived. On Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said one should not jump into any conclusions on the role of pilots in the Air India plane crash and there are multiple things that need to be looked into before preparing the final investigation report.
