Arrange the following states in the ascending order of their forest cover…
2024
Arrange the following states in the ascending order of their forest cover area:
(A) Arunachal Pradesh (B) Chhattisgarh (C) Maharashtra (D) Odisha (E) Madhya Pradesh
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
- A.
(A), (C), (D), (B), (E)
- B.
(C), (D), (B), (A), (E)
- C.
(B), (A), (C), (E), (D)
- D.
(D), (B), (A), (E), (C)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
The India State of Forest Report (ISFR), published biennially by the Forest Survey of India, records each state's total forest cover as an absolute AREA figure in square kilometres, based on satellite remote-sensing assessment. Ranking states by “forest cover area” means comparing these absolute km² figures directly — a different exercise from ranking by “percentage forest cover” (forest area as a share of a state's own geographical area), which favours smaller, densely forested states over larger ones.
State | Forest cover area (ISFR, km²) |
|---|---|
Maharashtra | 50,859 |
Odisha | 52,434 |
Chhattisgarh | 55,812 |
Arunachal Pradesh | 65,882 |
Madhya Pradesh | 77,073 |
Reading the areas in increasing order gives Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, with each successive figure larger than the one before it.
As an independent check, ranking by percentage forest cover (instead of area) would reorder these very differently: Arunachal Pradesh's forest cover is roughly 79% of its own geographical area — among the highest percentages of any Indian state — while Madhya Pradesh's is only about 25%, even though Madhya Pradesh's absolute forest area is the largest of the five. The two metrics diverge, confirming that the area figures above (not percentages) are the relevant basis here.