The Company’s pioneering afforestation initiative through the Social Forestry program greened 33,982 acres during the year. It is currently spread across 16 districts in six States covering 3.29 lakh acres in 5,087 villages, impacting over 1,21,557 poor households. Together with Company’s Farm Forestry program, this initiative has greened nearly 7.33 lakh acres to date and generated about 135 million person-days of employment for rural households, including poor tribal and marginal farmers. Integral to the Social Forestry program is the Agro-Forestry initiative, which cumulatively extends to over 1.12 lakh acres and ensures food, fodder, and wood security. Besides enhancing farm level employment, generating incomes and increasing green cover, this large-scale initiative also contributes meaningfully to the nation’s endeavor to create additional carbon sinks for tackling climate change. In addition to the above, the Social and Farm Forestry initiative of your Company, through a multiplier effect, has led to improvement in pulpwood and fuelwood availability in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. In the state of Tripura, this initiative is also creating a bamboo wood source that is suitable for agarbatti manufacturing.