The Narendra Modi government has undertaken a range of initiatives in the last nine years to develop tribal human resources with a special focus on education, health, and livelihood generation, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said on Wednesday.
He said the Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Development Mission, announced earlier this year, will saturate the target families and habitats with essential facilities. Rs 15,000 crore has been allocated for the socio-economic development of these marginalised groups for the next three years, the minister said at a press conference here.
This is the first time a dedicated scheme has been formulated to ensure holistic development and implement a data-centric human development indexing approach for the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), he said.
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Munda said the Union government will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in the next three years. The EMRS scheme for making model residential schools for tribal students across India started in 1997-98.
Under the Narendra Modi government, the number of such schools functioning in the country has increased from 119 in 2013-14 to 401 in 2023-24, he said, adding the number of students enrolled in these schools has increased from 34365 in 2023-14 to 1,13,275 in 2023-24.
As part of a new scheme formulated in 2019, the government decided to establish Eklavya Model Residential Schools in every block with 50 per cent or more Scheduled Tribes population and at least 20,000 tribal persons as per the 2011 census.
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Munda said the government was committed to strengthening healthcare systems for the tribal population and was making efforts to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047 through awareness campaigns, universal screening of seven crore people up to 40 years of age in affected tribal areas and counselling.
He said the government was working to develop over 36,000 villages across the country with at least 50 per cent tribal population and 500 STs as model tribal villages under the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojna. This initiative aims to ensure that basic amenities reach tribal villages.
In terms of land rights, the government has distributed 21.99 lakh individual titles and 1.08 lakh community titles thus far under the Forest Rights Act. Mundai said his ministry has recorded a significant increase in its annual budget. The allocated budget for 2023-24 stands at Rs. 12,461.88 crores, three times the budget in 2013-14.
The Scheduled Tribe Component Funds have seen a remarkable five-fold increase. The allocation has risen from Rs. 24,598 crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 1,19,509 crore in 2023-24 across various Union ministries and departments.
Over the past nine years, the government has released over Rs 25,000 crore to states for more than 5,000 projects spanning different schemes. States have been urged to ensure meticulous planning and monitoring for the effective implementation of these schemes and projects, Munda added.
