Question

Which state has the largest area under permanent forest?
(A) Madhya Pradesh
(B) Bihar
(C) Odisha
(D) None of these

Answer 1

Hint: This state is located in central India. It is the second largest Indian state by area and fifth largest by population with more than 75 million residents.

Complete answer:
Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forest. It is followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. The recorded forest area of the state is about 95,000 sq. km constituting almost 31% of the total geographical area of the state. It constitutes 12.3% of India’s total forest area. The whole forest area is divided into three major areas: Reserved Forest (65.3%), Protected Forest (32.84%) and Unclassified Forest (0.18%).
The forest cover in the state is less dense in the northern and western parts containing major urban centres. The difference in the forest types of MP is mainly because of the variability in climatic and edaphic conditions.
The major types of soils found in this region are Black soil, Red and Yellow soil, Alluvial soil, Laterite soil and Mixed soil. It is home to ten National Parks and a number of nature reserves like Bagh caves, Balaghat, Bori Natural etc. Most of these biosphere reserves are located in the eastern Madhya Pradesh.
After India’s independence, MP state was created with Nagpur as its capital. In 1956, it was reorganised to form the present day Madhya Pradesh. This state was the largest in India by area until 2000, until its southeastern Chhattisgarh region was designated as a separate state.

Option A is correct answer

Note: In 2019, around 1.5 million volunteers in Madhya Pradesh planted 66 million trees in 12 hours along the Narmada river. Banyan tree is the State tree of Madhya Pradesh.