New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) The government is taking a number of initiatives for the welfare and protection of tribal people and regions in coordination with various ministries, Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The health and welfare of the tribal people are a priority for this government and through schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, 61.13 lakh people have benefited so far, said Munda and rejected the Opposition’s charge that the allocation for projects related to tribals had been decreased.
“The ministry is working on a plan to set up telemedicine facilities in the areas and is also creating a database to full fill the needs of the community,” said Munda adding that it has launched ‘Swasthya” a Tribal Health & Nutrition Portal for them.
Moreover, the government is also working on research and finding a solution to Sickle Cell Anemia, which has a high incidence in tribal areas.
“We are working with the health ministry, institutes like ICMR and haematologists to find a permanent solution for it,” said Munda.
He also thanked the IT Minister for identifying over 7,287 villages of 44 aspirational districts to provide 4G mobile services by spending Rs 6,466 crore.
Munda was replying to a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The minister said that 740 Eklavya Model schools will be created on the line of Navodaya Vidyalay.
Under Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, 1.17 lakh villages have been identified which has over 25 per cent tribal population.
Moreover, to support the tribals, now Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India is purchasing 87 products. Earlier this was 12 only.
Targeting the Congress, he said after independence, steps were taken to only persuade the tribals and not to understand their issues.
“In this country for a long period, steps were taken only to persuade the tribals and not to understand them. If you could have understood the tribals, then this problem would not have happened which you are discussing today after coming out of power,” he said.
For a long period, no justice was done with tribals, though a lot of discussions had happened, he said.
Munda said that when he was the chief minister, he had several times asked the Centre to work together and take a holistic approach to address the problem of extremism but there was no action.
He said that the extremism has come down due to development under the new government “Give us good suggestions. We will implement good suggestions. You did not do it. We will do it,” Munda said.
He urged the opposition to have a serious discussion on the tribal issues.
Most of the members have opined that there has been a reduction in the budget for the welfare and development of tribal areas.
“Actually, the budget has been increased successively in last few years and the expenditure has also been accordingly done with the state government to extend its benefits to maximum people,” Munda said.
In 2019-20, 106 per cent of the budget was spent as it was increased in the revised estimate.
“While in 2020-21 and 2021-22, due to COVID-19, state governments could not complete the development work during the period from the fund which was made available to them. Hence, no further allocation was made to them,” he said.
Because of this, their expenditure was less but “there is no deficit in our intention and honesty”.
“The prime minister has asked to work in mission mode for the protection and welfare of the tribal community, tribal families and tribal areas and to protect their interests,” he added.
Earlier, all the government departments had worked independently in their silos on this and lacked coordination, so the actual benefit could not reach the tribals.
“Our prime minister has stressed on coming out of those silos,” he said, adding several schemes have been started not only by his ministry but also by other ministries, with special stress on better coordination.
Speaking during a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju lamented that tribal people especially those from the North-East were historically neglected.
He lauded the efforts made by the present government to bring them into the mainstream through development initiatives.
Vandana Chavan of the NCP said tribal people accounting for 8.6 per cent of India’s population face several issues and challenges from health and nutrition to lack of education, among others. She raised issues related to education and health faced by the tribal communities.
Samir Oraon of the BJP said the tribal people faced exploitation in the past and were deprived of their basic rights. He also raised the issue of mass religious conversions of tribal communities and said it happened due to their neglect by previous governments. PTI KRH PRS RSN KRH MR RT RT
