The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, provides for 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but implementation was deferred until after a delimitation exercise scheduled to be conducted after 2026, as IndiaSpend reported in December 2024.

“On the 16th of April, Parliament will be convened to discuss and pass an important bill that advances women’s reservation,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on April 9, 2026. “It is imperative that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly elections to the various states in the coming times are conducted with women’s reservation in place.”

In five charts, we examine women’s representation and participation across various levels of governance.

Reservation at grassroots

In 1992, India enacted the 73rd Amendment to its Constitution, reserving a third of seats for women in rural and urban local bodies to ensure greater representation for women in general and other excluded groups in particular, such as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, as IndiaSpend explained in 2017. Some states, such as Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, have extended the reservation of seats for women to 50%.

In 18 states, women now occupy more than half of all PRI seats. Only the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Ladakh have less than 33% representation of women in these grassroots institutions.

A 2026 report on women in local governance found that while reservations expand women's entry into office, their authority does not follow automatically. It noted that authority is shaped by household mediation, bureaucratic discretion, and social norms.

Women in Tamil Nadu’s panchayats have transformed local governance while battling gender prejudice, financial constraints, casteism and physical threat, as IndiaSpend reported in 2018.

There is evidence of significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women, noted a 2018 study by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research.

It examined data for 4,265 state assembly constituencies—over two decades to 2012—where the “share of state legislative assembly seats won by women increased from about 4.5% to close to 8%” and focussed on the increase of luminosity, or night light, in these constituencies as a proxy for economic activity.

Women legislators in India raised economic performance in their constituencies by about 1.8 percentage points per year more than male legislators, according to the study. “We estimate that women legislators in India raise luminosity growth in their constituencies by about 15 percentage points per annum more than male legislators,” the study noted.

Yet, women account for under one in seven members in the Lok Sabha.

“Reservation has brought women into grassroots politics and created a large number of elected representatives, but has not created pathways to higher levels due to party structures and social barriers,” said Bhim Raskar, director at Resource and Support Centre for Development (RSCD). “In many cases, women who are elected do not function independently. Decisions are often taken or influenced by male family members, so their authority remains limited even though they hold the position,” he added.

A 2024 overview of challenges facing women sarpanches found that many elected women are treated as figureheads, with husbands or other community members often performing panchayat functions on their behalf. The study noted that structural factors such as patriarchy, caste dynamics, social expectations and family influence continue to shape women’s participation even after they are elected.

More women in village councils than parliament

States with higher representation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions show lower representation at higher levels of government. In Himachal Pradesh, women account for 50.13% of PRI representatives, but only one of 68 members of the state’s legislative assembly (MLAs) is a woman.

Similarly, Karnataka has nearly 53% women in PRIs, but only 4.5% of its MLAs and under 11% of its 28 members of parliament (MPs) are women.

“There is very little vertical mobility for women in politics. Many women enter through reservations at the local level, but very few are able to move ahead to become MLAs or MPs, so most of them remain at the local level,” Raskar said.

The 2026 report on women in local governance found that rotational reservation produces a one-term trap, where women consolidate political experience only to find re-contestation blocked, undermining continuity in office.

In the 32 women-led panchayats IndiaSpend surveyed in 2018 across six districts of Tamil Nadu for a five-part series, 30% women said they would like to contest the upcoming panchayat elections even when their seat was an unreserved one. Also, 15% women said they would like to enter mainstream electoral party politics if given a chance. Across districts, women complained of patriarchal hostility and caste bias.

IndiaSpend reported in 2018 that that legacy played a key role in elections, with many women MLAs coming from political families or networks. It also found that there is no easy correlation between women’s empowerment indicators and female representation.

IndiaSpend reached out to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj seeking responses on the independent functioning of elected women representatives in PRIs and barriers to women contesting a second term. We will update this story when we receive a response.

Women’s representation in the Lok Sabha has increased from 22 of 489 members (5.5%) in 1957, to 75 of 544 members (13.79%) in 2024.

“In many cases, women take a ‘U-turn’ after one term. They enter politics through reservation, but after one term they do not continue because of family responsibilities and lack of support, which makes it difficult for them to continue in politics,” Raskar said.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 2026 data show that women hold 27.5% of parliamentary seats globally, while India ranks 149th.

Under 10% Union ministers are women

Women’s representation in the Council of Ministers increased from 2.6% in 1996 to 17.8% in 2015, before declining to 9.7% in 2024, data for the last three decades show.

“The main constraint is not only political but also social. Family is still the main power structure, and in many cases women are expected to prioritise household responsibilities. Unless that changes, women’s participation will remain limited even if their numbers increase,” Raskar said.

In 2019, IndiaSpend reported that political parties play a key role in determining candidate selection, limiting women’s entry into elections despite their higher success rates. It also noted that the absence of women in party leadership positions reduces the likelihood of more women being nominated.

A 2026 paper on women's political participation found that the odds of success for women candidates with assets below Rs 1 crore are extremely low, and that independent women candidates are almost never elected without party backing. The study identified party ticket allocation as a critical bottleneck, with most parties hesitant to nominate women in winnable constituencies.

Women vote as much as men

Women’s participation in the 2024 general election is comparable to overall turnout at the national level. State-level data show that in several regions, women’s participation exceeds overall turnout.

In several states and Union territories, women’s turnout exceeded 70% but no women were elected. These include Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Lakshadweep.

Higher turnout among women is linked to factors such as increased literacy, voter enrolment efforts and welfare outreach, an IndiaSpend 2024 analysis found. It also pointed to migration patterns and the expansion of self-help groups as contributing to greater political participation.

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

This summer, places such as Mumbai already reported a heatwave in March, and the India Meteorological Department has forecast more heatwave days and warmer nights in several parts of the country.

Every summer, millions of Indians in informal work lose incomes to extreme heat, as IndiaSpend reported in February 2026. They work slower, take unpaid sick days, or stop work entirely when temperatures become unbearable. They have no paid leave, no air-conditioned workplaces, and no financial buffer.

Globally, more than 2.4 billion workers are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in more than 22.85 million occupational injuries each year, according to the World Health Organization. More than one third of all persons who frequently work in hot conditions experience physiological heat strain.

In addition, for every degree increase beyond 20°C in Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature—a measure of heat stress that takes into account air temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle, and cloud cover—productivity decreases by 2-3%.

India is projected to lose about 5.8% of working hours in 2030, up from 4.3% in 1995, the International Labour Organisation estimated. Given its large population, the country is expected to lose 34 million full time jobs in 2030 as a result of heat stress—with agriculture and construction, the sectors with the highest number of workers, expected to be most affected.

In 2023, extreme heat cost India an estimated 181 billion potential labour hours, translating into income losses of about Rs 13 lakh crore (about $141 billion), according to The Lancet’s 2024 report on climate and health policy priorities for India, we had reported in February.

Two recent studies showing the impact of heat stress on garment workers and street vendors illustrate the increased vulnerability. The former work in dense factory settings with cramped workstations and poor ventilation.

A study published in February 2026, which surveyed 115 garment workers in Tamil Nadu and Delhi, showed that in the last 12 months, 87% workers reported facing heat-related issues such as headaches, dizziness, weakness and muscle cramps.

Eleven of the 15 factories where the respondents worked have roofs made of metal or asbestos, materials that trap heat indoors. Three in four workers said the heat at their workstations is so intense that it makes them feel unhealthy, “like working in a furnace”. Two in three said the heat affected their ability to work.

About 94% of the respondents were women. Lack of clean toilets or the chance and breaks to access them deters garment factory workers from drinking sufficient water even during summer. As a result, about 97% of female workers reported a burning sensation during urination, the study—conducted by Heat Watch and Tata Institute of Social Sciences—found.

A separate study, of more than 400 street vendors in Delhi-NCR, showed that 70% of vendors lacked access to toilets, clean water and shade, and that access worsened during the heat period. Nine in 10 vendors reported no access to free, clean water while working, according to the study by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organising (WIEGO).

Despite labour protections being mentioned in heat action plans and government advisories, informal workers remain the most vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat with little institutional protection.

Sangeeta Sonawane, a vegetable vendor in Mumbai’s Borivali, uses a piece of thermocol to shield herself from the heat, but has little protection beyond that.

IndiaSpend reached out to the Union environment ministry, labour ministry and the National Disaster Management Authority for comment on the measures being taken to mitigate the impact of extreme heat on labourers. We will update this story when we receive a response.

Garment workers face serious health issues

More than a third (36.5%) of the garment factory workers surveyed by TISS and Heat Watch reported that although water is available on the factory floor, it can run out or is not clean.

Nearly two in five (38.3%) reported that the toilets are often unclean, 73% reported they do not have running water, 78.3% workers reported that it is difficult to get permission to use the toilets. Further, “45% of workers reported amber to brown urine, an indicator of dehydration and possible kidney strain”, the survey found.

The conditions also affected menstrual health, with 94% women respondents reporting thick white discharge, an indicator of vaginal yeast infections commonly caused due to hot and humid conditions. “It is also reflective of a pervasive crisis in urinary tract health linked to poor sanitation,” the study noted. “Alarming qualitative reports include workers passing blood in their urine (hematuria) during peak summer.”

Nearly four in five workers (78.3%) said they avoid taking breaks “because they worry about not meeting the assigned production target”. Workers reported having fixed break times, but said it is “difficult to take an extra break even if they feel tired or hot”.

The researchers developed an index that combined environmental load, physiological strain, metabolic load and adaptive capacity to gauge how much heat stress workers were facing. The majority of workers were in the ‘high stress’ category, while a quarter were in a ‘critical’ state.

“A few states, such as Tamil Nadu, had set maximum temperature thresholds for factory units under the Factories Rules 1950, with corresponding guidelines for the factory inspectorate on the action to be taken if temperatures exceeded these limits. However, there is a need for a stronger inspectorate system to ensure effective implementation,” said Vasundhara Jhobta of Heat Watch and an author of the report.

“Additionally, heat stroke, as well as other illnesses related to extreme heat, should be recognised as occupational diseases and covered under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, which is not the case at present” said Jhobta.

Water, washroom, shade

Outdoor workers have it even worse.

Shobha Devi is a flower seller in Santacruz. She does not have a fixed station—she just stands in the busy market areas holding flowers and gajras (flower strings) for sale.

“This heat is nothing. May is the worst,” said Devi, who carries water and food from home. Sometimes, she brings her toddler boy, a four-year-old, along. “Kya karoon? (what should I do)” asked Devi, when asked if the toddler can be protected from the heat.

There is a municipal toilet nearby. She lives in Virar, an hour by the local train, and cannot return home during the peak heat hours.

WIEGO surveyed 519 street vendors across 17 markets before the beginning of summer heat in 2025 and revisited the same sites between July 8 and 18 with 494 street vendors. The vast majority (89%) of vendors reported no access to free, clean water while working and more than 70% street vendors had no access to toilets. Where there were toilet facilities, most required payment and very few were designated for women.

“This indicates that, while national programmes may have expanded sanitation coverage overall, those trading in public space have largely been excluded,” the policy brief stated.

In Round 2, 79% of vendors reported seeking medical attention for heat-related illness—for themselves or a family member—a near four-fold increase from Round 1.

Anup Yadav, a street vendor in Borivali, has access to water from a local tap but he has to pay Rs 200 a month for it. He is also a ‘floater’ who is on his feet all day selling bananas, but most of his customers come only in the evening.

“Dopahar me zyada dhanda nahi hota hai abhi (Not much business happens in the afternoon hours in the summer),” said Yadav.

Anup Yadav is out to sell bananas for about 12 hours every day, but the summer heat affects his business.

Nearly every respondent (96%) reported seeing fewer customers, and 90% said they reduced their working hours due to extreme heat. Many (72%) lost stock to heat damage. The financial strain was evident as borrowing nearly doubled, with women taking on more debt than men.

“For all street vendors in fact, buying drinking water and paying to use toilets is an added expense in summers, as opposed to middle class people like us who receive subsidised water in their homes,” said Shalini Sinha, Asia Strategic Lead of the Urban Policies Program at WIEGO. Women are particularly vulnerable, she explained.

Vendors reported that municipal authorities often do not let them put up umbrellas for shade because it is then perceived as a pucca structure and therefore, encroachment.

Sinha believes that when designing vending zones under the Street Vending Act, cities should focus on making them climate-resilient vending zones.

Last year, the National Hawkers’ Federation had written to the Union government to issue national guidelines to protect street vendors from heatwaves.

“Most heat action plans don't give any suggestions, even for outdoor workers,” said Sinha.

Dileep Mavalankar, one of India’s foremost experts on heat who guided analysis of heat-related mortality during Ahmedabad’s deadly heat wave of 2010 and the development of Ahmedabad’s heat action plan, also agreed that most plans do not go beyond mentioning labourers cursorily.

India needs a cadre of industrial hygienists on the lines of the American Congress of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Mavalankar stated. They measure different parameters at workplaces such as temperature, light, noise, vibration, pollution, chemicals etc. and certify them fit for workers. “Most heat action plans as of now don't pay much attention to workers. They talk about vulnerable populations in general,” Mavalankar said.

“There is a need for parametric insurance wherein labourers can pay a premium at the beginning of the season and if the heat crosses a certain threshold, they can get a payout for those number of days which compensates them for missing work,” he said.

SEWA’s Extreme Heat Micro-Insurance, a parametric insurance product, began with about 21,000 women in a 2023 pilot, and during the 2024 heat season, the expanded initiative supported about 50,000 women across Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, disbursing nearly Rs 5 crore (about $600,000) to offset lost earnings and health costs, we had reported in February.

“If workers work in the heat and fall sick, the medical cost is also an added expense and a burden,” Mavalankar added.

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

First, in 2004 when the Brahmaputra river breached its banks and swallowed whole his home and farmland in Assam’s Goalpara district. Overnight, he was rendered homeless. With few options left, he and others from the inundated village pitched makeshift houses in a government land close to his village. Brick by brick, a settlement grew: homes, farms, a mosque, even an anganwadi. The Mondals rebuilt their life on a one-acre land.

Then, just as suddenly as the floods did, the forest department arrived with bulldozers in early 2025. Overnight, 1,040 people were evicted and displaced. “First they buried our paddy fields under soil. Then they planted bamboo," said Mondal. “Now the land is fenced off, and we are no longer allowed near our own land,” he added.

A few days later on March 24, 2025, the district forest department posted on social media: “GCP [Green Credit Program] monitoring team visits evicted site in Lakhipur, Goalpara! New beginnings: Plantation drive to revive elephant habitat to commence soon!”

The GCP programme was started in October 2023 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to “encourage voluntary plantations” among corporations and industries. State forest departments provide a list of “degraded lands” which are then afforested using “green credits” bought by companies.

Internal documents accessed through the Right to Information Act show that in numerous “restoration” sites, locals—like the Mondals—have been evicted in the name of ecological restoration.

Furthermore, in some sites, lands claimed by forest-dwelling communities under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act or Forest Rights Act have been fenced off and listed for afforestation.

The documents also show the rocky path to the implementation of the afforestation programme. Environment officials and funding companies have raised concerns of financial irregularities, of local authorities deviating from approved eco-restoration plans by raising monoculture plantations or planting lower densities of trees, or choosing sites where plantations would be difficult to sustain.

For experts and policy analysts, these instances have added to the skepticism of the programme which they say would violate international norms, particularly on mandates of social justice and involvement of local communities, for market-linked environmental action.

IndiaSpend has written to MoEFCC for comment on safeguards to assess eligible land, steps taken to address irregularities, and concerns around dilution of intent of compensatory afforestation. We will update this story when we receive a response.

Expanding the scope of Green Credits

The Green Credit Programme (GCP) came into effect with the notification of the Green Credit Rules on October 12, 2023 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

The rules created a record of degraded land that can be used to promote voluntary plantation activities and eco-restoration projects across the country by awarding “green credits”. One Green Credit is equivalent to one tree planted. These credits, to be bought by individuals, communities and private companies, can be traded domestically.

While the scheme hoped to enrol individuals and private sector industries, until now, it has attracted investments from only state-run oil, coal and power companies. Seventeen public sector units—including, Indian Oil Corporation and other petrochemical corporations, Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries, National Thermal Power Plant Corporation—have bought green credits.

Since its launch, eco-restoration has begun in 225 sites across 12 states covering 48.53 sq.km. of “degraded land”, show data from the MoEF&CC.

Plantations after evictions and displacements

Internal documents accessed from the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), a government body supervising the programme, through the RTI Act, show that GCP is being carried out in multiple sites where local communities have been evicted.

The documents include inspection reports conducted by ICFRE and PSU representatives in 169 GCP sites across 10 states. These sites are spread over 3,530 hectares (35.30 sq.km.) of forest involving Rs 117 crore worth of green credits.

In Bihar, during March 2025, an ICFRE inspection team found mud huts and “agricultural activities” in 50 hectares and 55 hectares of degraded forest in Rohatas and Nawada districts, respectively. “Necessary action must be taken to remove the encroachments,” stated a letter dated April 29, 2025 to the Forest department, adding that protection against grazing should be in place.

In Assam, five sites spanning 214 hectares were cleared of homes, farmlands, tea plantations and even two schools. One of them “will be used as a camp hut for plantation and one forest battalion will be placed there to stop any further encroachment,” said the ICFRE inspection report from March 2025.

Assam has seen an uptick in anti-encroachment drives in recent years, particularly in forest land. Land Conflict Watch, an organisation that documents ongoing land and resource conflicts in India, estimates that 15,684 people were affected by evictions in forest lands in Assam.

In another 84-hectare site, the ICFRE team—which included officials from Coal India Limited which is funding the eco-restoration—observed that while major portions of encroachments were cleared the previous year, “a significant portion” remained which “must be cleared before the commencement of ecorestoration activities”.

“While large-scale eviction drives were successfully carried out at several sites, one location continues to face issues of residual encroachment. These must be fully cleared before plantation activities can begin to ensure sustainability and avoid future land conflicts,” said a letter dated April 15, 2025.

However, Ajay Kumar from Green Credit Cell, ICFRE, told IndiaSpend that eviction drives were not linked to the programme. “We have given no such direction. This is the state's law and order problem. We try to refrain from taking such lands. All states have to give undertaking that people were not displaced from the land for plantations,” he said.

He said the Green Credit Cell verifies the status of the land through satellite imagery to ensure that it did not have local communities. In Assam’s case, the sites were chosen after clarifications and assurances from the state Forest department, he said.

When contacted, Tejas Maraswamy, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Goalpara district, said the evictions were done only after a survey revealed that the residents were not eligible for claims under the Forest Rights Act.

“The evictions were conducted because the area is a reserve forest and a protected area. It was not done for the purpose of plantations,” he said, and added: “It was good we got the opportunity later for plantation and the revival of habitat through the (GCP) programme. We had to prevent encroachment because it degrades the land.”

A grey zone with few safeguards

The Green Credit Programme currently lacks explicit safeguards for indigenous and local communities. In contrast, internationally traded carbon credit programmes are increasingly attempting to incorporate ethical standards and safeguards to prevent human rights violations.

In a bid to attract private investment, the Union government, in August 2025, expanded the scope of the GCP to allow the credits to be utilised for compensatory afforestation. Prior to this, if a company wanted to acquire forest lands to set up an industry, they would have to “compensate” for the forest loss by paying for afforestation primarily in alternative non-forest land. But, now, companies could just buy green credits which will pay for afforestation in existing forest lands.

“These degraded forest lands could have anyway been regenerated using existing public funds,” said Prakriti Shrivastava, a former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer. “Instead, companies have been allowed an easy route out through these credits,” she said.

In March 2025, Shrivastava and other members of environmental groups, People for Aravalli and Rainbow Warriors, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court questioning the criteria for determining credits or “degraded” lands. The PIL is yet to be heard.

The August notification also dilutes the stated intention of the Green Credit mechanism. “I have not been too comfortable with the Carbon Credit System since it reflects “wrong doer’s penance” in monetary terms. There is a need to develop a more positive approach,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi about GCP’s objectives, quoted prominently on the website.

"There is a significant shift in logic from restitution of forest harm to market-mediated compliance. This fundamentally weakens the legal safeguards of the Compensatory Afforestation regime and normalises forest loss through market instruments," said Meenal Tatpati, independent lawyer and researcher, who has closely studied the green credit mechanism.

The programme also escapes scrutiny of international guidelines.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is the primary international treaty for coordinating the global response to climate change, had placed “mandatory environmental and human rights” safeguards while introducing the concept of carbon credits.

Policy observers point to the preamble to the 2015 Paris Agreement where 194 countries (and the European Union) agreed to recognise that climate action must be grounded in justice, human rights, including the “the rights of indigenous peoples (and) local communities”.

The UN body responsible for establishing the carbon market has finalised a grievance and appeals procedure for anyone affected by the carbon credit market. More safeguards are expected to be put in place to empower vulnerable communities and individuals.

“However, GCP does not need to adhere to these standards because it is not traded internationally under the Paris Agreement,” said Trishant Dev, deputy programme manager specialising in climate, trade and green industrial policy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). “If India were to make these credits tradable internationally under the agreement, they may fall short of the standards laid down in the agreement,” he said.

When GCP runs contradictory to Forest Rights Act

The accessed internal documents show possible violations of the country’s forest legislations aimed to protect indigenous communities. At Nana Baval village in Sabarkanta district of Gujarat, the site has been fenced off, while borewells and earthen check dams were being built, photographs dated March 26, 2025 from the inspection report show. Actual tree plantation had not started, residents say, but official reports show activities such as laying “thorny bushes”, creation of concrete walls, and appointment of watchmen is under way.

During the fencing of the land, villagers had been told vaguely that the land was being protected for “development activity” that will benefit the village.

“We have been cultivating this land for nearly 45 years. We earn around Rs 70,000-80,000 annually from it. Even now, we don’t know what will happen to our crop,” said Laxman Bumbadiya (35), a farmer from the Dungri Bhil community, a Scheduled Tribe community indigenous to the Aravali landscape.

Villagers have filed applications over this land under the Forest Rights Act, which identifies historical rights over forest lands for tribal communities. “We’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve gone to the Collector’s office to check on the status of FRA claims,” he said.

Their applications have remained pending, they said. Across India, there are nearly 750,000 claims pending under the FRA. Under the Act, claimants cannot be evicted or displaced until the process of verification is complete.

“Nearly all GCP sites are on potential Community Forest Rights lands. The risk of communities losing their right over forests increases under GCP,” said Gautam Aredath, a policy analyst at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)’s CFR Central India Initiative, which promotes decentralised and democratic forest governance for conservation and livelihoods.

ICFRE’s inspection reports show that in one site spanning 16 hectare in Kamrup West district of Assam, which was planned to be restored through credits bought by Oil India Limited for Rs 1 crore, the local community had already obtained rights under the Forest Rights Act. The sites were chosen in June 2024, and the funding companies were informed of the Forest Rights applications only in March 2025 during their inspection.

Aredath believed that GCP’s “top-down” approach to restoration can be exclusionary. “Restoration must deliver both local livelihood and wider environmental benefits. This will be best achieved by using the funds through GCP to allow local communities to lead restoration,” he said.

Pia Sethi, senior fellow at the Centre for Ecology Development and Research, said these plantations should account for local incomes, aspirations and dependence on the land. “Ideally, these projects should work closely with pastoralist communities in the restoration of ecosystems and protection of their ancestral grazing grounds, because they have historically been given short shrift,” she added.

Implementation on rocky ground

Two years into the scheme, inspection reports and letters of correspondence between ICFRE and forest departments have listed non-compliance, irregularities and procedural lapses in choosing of lands and in means of restorations.

For instance, in five sites in Assam’s Goalpara district, officials from ICFRE as well as the companies funding the green credits found that the forest department had deviated from plans by cutting costs. The original approved plan was for an Assisted Regeneration plantation with 2,500 saplings per hectare. Local forest officials however planted bamboo at 625 saplings per hectare.

“...such changes are not permissible…,” said ICFRE in a letter to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Assam. “This raises serious concerns regarding financial integrity and compliance with GCP guidelines.”

In Chhattisgarh, the monitoring team observed a “mismatch” between species listed in cost estimates and those being raised in nurseries. In Uttar Pradesh, officials found that plantation was being done in areas adjacent to the chosen site.

In at least eight sites, officials found the chosen site unsuitable for eco-restoration. In Keonjhar in Odisha, for instance, officials found that the site had a “dense canopy” of trees already. In Telangana, the site was an existing mature eucalyptus plantation. In several sites across states, the site selected was too rocky to plant trees.

GCP promises its investors that the forest department will finish the plantations within two years. But, internal reports show persistent issues of delays and slow progress. Just 28% of the pledged funds had been used, with ICFRE noting bureaucratic delays in disbursing funds from nodal offices in state forest departments to local forest authorities.

When asked about these irregularities and concerns, Ajay Kumar from the Green Credit Cell at ICFRE, said: “We are monitoring the situation regularly and addressing if there are any issues. It’s our responsibility to ensure there are no financial irregularities and the scheme is successfully implemented.”

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.