Forest and Wildlife Part-II

As per ISFR 2019 & 2021, the percentage forest in States mentioned above is as follows-

Hence, we can see that Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are the States having more than 75% of the covered forest. Thus option (b) is the correct answer.

According to India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019 & 2021, States in the given options with their percentage area under forest is given below -

Forest Cover (Percentage)

Therefore, the nearest answer can be option (a) but none of the given States has more than 80% of their area covered by forest.

17 states/UT's have above 33 per cent of the geographical area under forest cover. Out of these states and UTs, five states/UTS namely Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have more than 75 percent forest cover while 12 states/UTs namely Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Assam, Odisha, have forest cover between 33 percent to 75 percent.

According to ISFR 2021, the sequence of Mangrove Covered States/Union Territories in India are as follows- 1. West Bengal (2114 sq.km.) 2. Gujarat (1175 sq.km.) 3. Andaman and Nicobar (616 sq.km) 4. Andhra Pradesh (405 sq.km.). Note- Mangroves are shrubs or small trees that grow in coastal saline water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species.

According to the Indian State of Forest Report 2017 & 2019, recorded forest area in Uttar Pradesh is 16582 sq. Km. which is 6.88 (nearly 7) per cent of its total area. Out of the total recorded forest about 73% is reserved forest, 6.98% is protected forest and 20.22% is an unclassified forest. On the other hand satellite data shows that U.P. has the total forest cover of about 14,817.89 sq. Km. which is 6.15% of its total geographical area (According to ISFR of 2021).

According to ISFR, 2019 & 2021, the States of India in descending order of their forest cover (percentage of forest area to total area) are as follows-

Percent Of Forest Area

The question is based on recorded forest cover of these States. The recorded forest area (in sq. km) of the given States in 2019 and 2021 was as below -

Notably, the question was asked before the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. During that period Telangana was a part of Andhra Pradesh and the total recorded forest area of Andhra Pradesh was 63814 sq.km. According to this the correct answer to this question was option (a).

The Per capita forest and tree cover in Jharkhand is 0.08 hectares. Average density of population in Jharkhand is 414 persons per sq. km.

Whale Shark is the largest fish of India. It may be up to 50 feet long. They live on the coasts of Australia and South Africa but every year in March they use to come to the coasts of Gujarat. This time is gestation of Whale Sharks. A program was started in 2004 for the protection of Whale Sharks coming to the coasts of Gujarat.

Bada bhai The Gavialis is also known as the gavial and belong to the fish-eating crocodile family. These are native to the northern part of the Indian Sub-continent. They are mostly found in India and Nepal.