Asiatic lion population rises to 891 in 2025 from 674 in 2020.
Fire incidents in Punjab, Haryana drops 90% in 2025 vs 2022.
6,188 forest diversion proposals approved for 92,063 ha (2020-25).
The population of Asiatic Lion in the country has increased to 891 in 2025 from 674 in 2020, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union minister of state for Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in the Rajya Sabha. As per the information received from Gujarat, the lion population has inhabited new areas like notified forest areas, river corridors as well as revenue wastelands.
The State has taken up various measures to manage human-wildlife conflicts and disease vulnerability by strengthening veterinary facilities, the minister added.
Punjab and Haryana have collectively recorded 90 per cent reduction in fire incidences during paddy harvesting season in 2025 compared to the same period in 2022, Singh told the Rajya Sabha.
The government has adopted a multi-layered mechanism for monitoring paddy stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the NCT of Delhi for control of air pollution from stubble burning, he added.
The share of methane emissions from stubble burning in India’s total methane emissions was 1.49 per cent in 2020, according to the fourth Bienneal Update Report of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Singh noted.
from 2020-21 to 2024-25, the central government has granted prior approval to 6,188 proposals under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 for diversion 92,062.85 hectares of forest land for non-forestry purposes, Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.
Currently, 47 doppler weather radars are in operation across the country, including three in Himachal Pradesh (at Kufri, Jot and Murari Devi), with 87 per cent of the total area of the country coming under radar coverage, Jitendra Singh, Union minister of state (Independent Charge) for science and technology and earth sciences, told the Rajya Sabha.
Additionally, the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences launched Mission Mausam, with the goal of making India a "weather-ready and climate-smart" nation, aiming to mitigate the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.
There are 17 nuclear power reactors with a total capacity of 13,100 MW under implementation in India, Jitendra Singh said in the Rajya Sabha. These comprise seven nuclear reactors under construction and 10 reactors under pre-project activities. These are expected to be completed progressively by 2031-32.
The present installed nuclear power capacity in the country is 8,780 megawatts, comprising 24 nuclear power plants (excluding RAPS-1 of 100 MW).
AMRUT 2.0 has been launched on October 1, 2021 in all Urban Local Bodies (ULB) / cities, enabling the cities to become 'self-reliant' and 'water secure', according to Manohar Lal, Minister of Housing and Urban Affair, who was speaking in the Lok Sabha.
Providing universal coverage of sewerage and septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is one of the major focus areas of AMRUT 2.0. State Water Action Plans (SWAP) comprising 3,528 water supply projects worth Rs 1,19,636.49 crore have been approved so far by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2,484 ULBs across the country.
Approved projects cover development of 11,160 million litres per day (MLD) water treatment capacity (new / augmentation), 17.8 million new household tap connections and laying of 126,000 km of pipelines (new & replacement).
Further, under this Mission, SWAPs comprising 583 sewerage / septage projects worth Rs 66,117.69 crore have been approved so far in 255 Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation cities. Approved projects cover 6,649 MLD sewage treatment capacity (new / augmentation), 6.5 million household sewer connections and laying of 34,548 km of sewer lines, Lal told Lok Sabha.
As on February 3, 2026, more than 157.9 million (81.59 per cent) rural households in the country out of 193.6 million have tap water connections in their homes, V Somanna, Union minister of state for Jal Shakti (water resources), told the Lok Sabha. This was done under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the minister noted.
When the mission began in August 2019, only 32.3 million (16.72 per cent) rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, as reported by states / UTs, more than 125.5 million additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM.
So far, 889 sewerage / septage management projects worth Rs 34,467.01 crore have been grounded under AMRUT, Tokhan Sahu, Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs, told the Lok Sabha. Through these projects, about 6,299 MLD of sewage treatment capacity has been approved.
Of this, 4,843 MLD sewage treatment capacity has been created, out of which 1,437 MLD capacity has been developed for recycle / reuse