India Cut Down 1.6 Million Hectares. And We’re Calling It Progress.

A column written by Prasad Bidapa. Let’s not dress this up. In the last 14 years, from 2012 to 2024, India lost 1.62 million hectares of tree cover. That’s not a typo. In 2016 we lost 164,150 hectares. In 2017 we lost 179,261 hectares. Those were the worst years on record in the last decade. Since 2001, the total damage is 2.31 million hectares gone. That’s a 7.1% decline. It has put 1.29…