to increase the forest cover of the country from 19 per cent to 33 per cent by 2012, the Indian government has decided to combine the Greening India programme with the food-for-work scheme. According to D N Tewari, member of the planning commission and chairperson of the Greening India programme's taskforce, the combination is not just another plan of the government, but a systematic approach for livelihood security and sustainable development. "The rural poor will benefit by this combination. The Greening India programme will become more people centric," Tewari added. The Greening India programme aims to regenerate 43 million hectares of degraded land falling under watershed areas. The food-for-work will make the programme more attractive as it will create food accessibility and employment opportunity for 10 crore people. Following the combination, the funding of the programme has been increased from Rs 1,615 crores per year to Rs 4,800 crores.
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