A new IIT Kharagpur study warns that while India's green cover is rising due to afforestation, forest health is declining as photosynthetic efficiency has dropped 5% between 2010 and 2019. "The decline is most pronounced in pristine forests of Eastern Himalayas, Western Ghats and Indo-Gangetic Plain," said IIT's associate professor Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath, adding this may threaten biodiversity.