Answer:
The
minister's statement appears to be correct. In February 2011, the Prime
Minister's council on climate change approved an 'ambitious' programme to
create new forests on five million hectares of land and improve the quality of
tree cover on another five million hectares over 10 years, starting in 2012.
This amounts to an increase in forest area of just 3.45%, and that too in 10
years.
To increase it from 21% to 33% (an increase of 12%) at the same rate will
take about 35 years! Do not forget that other forces will be at work to reduce
the forest cover, just like they have been doing in the recent past.
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