The UPA Government had assumed office in May, 2004 and had
adopted the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) as its immediate
and main task for achievement in its immediate future. The UPA Government
lays special emphasis through the NCMP for the upliftment /development
of Scheduled Tribes.
In
order to operationalise the commitment of UPA Government, the Ministry
of Tribal Affairs focused attention during the two year period on
development of core sectors through its schemes which broadly relate
to income generation, creation of infrastructure in critical areas,
empowerment of ST communities, augmenting productivity of the natural
resource base, including development of the lands of the STs by
providing minor irrigation and other facilities to the extent possible,
mitigating historical injustice done to the tribal communities living
in and around forests, etc. The Ministry also played advocacy role
effectively to bring the issues concerning STs at the centre stage.
Decentralisation
of NGO procedure
During the year 2005-06, the Ministry has adopted a new decentralised
procedure for receipt, identification, scrutiny and sanction of
proposals from NGOs under the schemes of the Ministry. This was
done with an aim to make the schemes more objective and transparent
with larger involvement of States to ensure correlation of NGOs
and their projects with ground situation/realities.
In the new decentralised procedure, the States are required
to first identify the geographical pockets in far-flung under-served
tribal areas along with services in which such areas are deficient,
such as education, health, drinking water, etc. The lists of under-served
tribal areas along with the services found to be deficient are also
required to be communicated to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. As
per the new guidelines the project proposals having their activities
in such deficient tribal areas should alone be recommended and duly
prioritised to accommodate within the funds allocated to the State.
At the beginning of the financial year, all the States are intimated
about their tentative fund allocation in order to send the recommendations
as soon as possible.
In the above context as per the revised guidelines, the States
are also required to get all the projects examined through field
functionaries and determine their necessity in the thrust sectors
identified by each State for NGO intervention. In order to do such
examination, the State Committee would get the proposals of the
NGOs inspected through the District authorities as per the detailed
inspection format provided by the Ministry. Only after getting the
inspection report from the field functionaries at the District level,
the State Committee would examine the cases for further recommendation.
In order to implement the decentralised procedure in a more
transparent manner and to involve the States as well as the District
authorities, it has been decided to constitute a State Committee
for Supporting Voluntary Effort at the State level to be chaired
by Principal Secretary/Secretary to the State looking after tribal
welfare with the following composition:
|
1
|
Principal Secretary/Secretary of the Department looking after
the tribal
|
Chairman
|
|
2
|
Secretary, Department of Rural Development in the State or
his representative
|
Member
|
|
3
|
Secretary, Department of Agriculture in the State or his
representative
|
Member
|
|
4
|
Secretary, Department of Health in the State or his representative
|
Member
|
|
5
|
Three Experts/reputed NGOs from the States to be nominated
by the Chairman
|
Member
|
|
6
|
Commissioner/Director, Tribal Welfare of the State or Director,
Tribal Research Institute
|
Member-Secretary
|
The Ministry has issued the detailed guidelines to all the
States on June 2, 2005. The State governments of Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim,
Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal and West Bengal have already constituted
the State Level Committees and except for Jammu & Kashmir and
Sikkim, all other States have already sent their State Level Committee
recommendations.
The new decentralised procedure has infused more transparency
in the system by devolving more powers to the States for scrutinising,
identifying and recommending the most eligible cases for NGO intervention
after getting them monitored and evaluated by the District level
functionaries.
Tribal Sub Plan Strategy
The Tribal
Sub Plan was adopted for the first time at the beginning of the
V Five Year Plan in 1974-95 and continues till date. It applies
to 21 States and 2 Union Territories where Scheduled Tribes constitute
a sizeable population. However, the TSP allocations were not pursued
seriously by the line Ministries and State governments in letter
and spirit and consequently resources have not been utilised in
a focussed manner under a tribal centric policy to benefit the target
group.
The Ministry
of Tribal Affairs proactively advocates for pooling of resources
to be earmarked under TSP component in each of the State. The Planning
Commission had constituted a Sub Group of the Task Force on Development
of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Chairpersonship
of Secretary (Tribal Affairs). The report of the Sub Group was accepted
by the Planning Commission’s main Task Force. Due to the constant
persuasions of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Planning Commission
have now issued orders to this effect directing the States to earmark
funds for TSP from total State Plan outlay at least in the proportion
of the ST population to the total population of the State/UT. As
per guidelines issued by the Planning Commission, the Tribal Sub
Plan funds are to be non-divertible and non-lapsable. The guidelines
also provide that the Tribal Welfare Departments will be the nodal
Departments for the formulation and implementation of the Tribal
Sub Plan in the States. If the States follow the guidelines, approximately
an amount of Rs. 15,161.85 crore would become available for spending
under Tribal Sub Plan.
The Ministry
is also advocating institutionalising similar mechanism for Central
Ministries, which will ensure a flow of approximately Rs. 9,973.76
crore under Plan and Rs. 1,960 crore under Non Plan, during 2006-07
as 8 per cent of their budget.
Development of Forest Village
There are around 3,000 forest villages in the country. Forest villages are those villages, which were
set up in remote and inaccessible forest areas during the British
period with a view to providing uninterrupted manpower for forestry
operations. These villages are well recorded in the records of State
Forest Departments. Many of these villages, despite their long existence,
are, even today, not revenue villages and the land is recorded as
forest land, covered under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
Consequently, the tribals inhabiting the forest villages
do not get the benefit of various welfare schemes, due to non-availability
of title of land in their favour, and also because, in many cases,
the jurisdiction of the block and revenue authorities does not cover
forest villages. The condition of the tribals living in the forest
villages is, therefore, very precarious.
After the enactment of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980,
State governments faced problems in taking up non-forestry developmental
activities relating to infrastructure for improving socio-economic
conditions of people living in the villages located in the forests
areas. This matter was taken up with the Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MoEF) on various issues of tribal-forest interface,
including eviction drive in States leading to harassment of tribal
community.
At
the instance of this Ministry, the Ministry of Environment &
Forests has come out in January 2005, with a one-time general approval
under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 allowing
diversion of forest lands for providing the basic and essential
developmental facilities to the tribal/ forest villages such as
schools, dispensary/ hospital, electric and communication lines,
drinking water, water/rainwater harvesting structures, minor irrigation
canal, non-conventional sources of energy, skill up-gradation/ vocational
training centres, power sub-stations, communication posts and police
establishments like police stations/ outposts/ border outposts/
watch towers, in sensitive areas (identified by Ministry of Home
Affairs).
The Ministry has urged all the State governments, to use this
opportunity for comprehensive planning and implementation of work
to improve the infrastructure in the tribal villages so as they
too have excellent infrastructure facilities and substantially improved
access to basic services, viz. healthcare, education, drinking water,
sanitation, electricity, irrigation, markets, livelihood, etc.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has released a total amount
of Rs. 19,181.00 lakh was released to the States of Assam, Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Orissa and West Bengal
during the year 2005-06 for the development of 1832 villages, as
per details given below:
(Rs in lakh)
Sl No. State Amount Released
No. of Villages Covered
1. Assam
4059.00 373
2. Chhattisgarh 4359.00 343
3. Gujarat 1979.00 199
4. Jharkhand 129.71 21
5. Madhya Pradesh
6190.65 679
6. Mizoram 202.50 27
7. Orissa 157.14 20
8. West Bengal 2104.00 170
Total
19181.00 1832
An
amount of Rs. 220 crore has further been provided in the Budget
of 2006-07 to cover the remaining forest villages.
Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship
The
UPA Government, through its Common Minimum Programme, focuses on
creating facilities which may encourage ST students to undergo higher
education like M.Phil and Ph.D etc., which will help them in getting
jobs requiring higher educational qualifications like those of lecturers
in universities/colleges and similar other assignments.
In compliance thereof, a new scheme entitled Rajiv Gandhi
National Fellowship Scheme, to provide fellowships for M.Phil and
Ph.D courses for ST students, was conceived by the Ministry. The
scheme has been approved by the Cabinet for implementation from
the financial year 2005-06 through the University Grants Commission.
An amount of Rs. 7.95 crore has already been released during the
year 2005-06 to give fellowships to approximately 667 ST students.
Details of the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Tribal
Affairs towards the development of the Scheduled Tribes during the
two year period of UPA Government, which are still in the process
of advance stage of completion
The
Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005
The tenurial and
access rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes who, are the poorest
of the poor, and who had been living in their ancestral habitat
for ages in symbiotic relationship with the ecosystem, had not been
adequately recognised so far due to faulty reservation processes
in the past, resulting in historical injustice to these forest dwelling
Scheduled Tribes. The Hon’ble Prime Minister had accordingly mandated
this Ministry on January 19, 2005, to formulate a comprehensive
Central legislation to redress this historical injustice done to
the tribal communities and for clear assertion of their legal rights
on land. As per this mandate, the Ministry drafted a
Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 in a
record time and introduced the said Bill in the Lok Sabha on December
13, 2005.
Some of the salient features of the Bill are given below:
Ø
Scheduled Tribes living in forests for generations are integral
to very survival and sustainability of Forests and are inseparable
with the eco-system, including wildlife, and cannot survive isolation
is recognised by the Bill.
Ø
Rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes, which were not
recognized during the process of consolidation of Forests since
colonial period as well as in Independent India, will be recognised
legally.
Ø
With the conferment of right to hold
and live in the forests, they will not be looked upon as “encroachers
of forest lands” and the threat of eviction, which looms large in
their psyche, will be removed.
Ø
With the conferment of ownership
rights over the Minor Forest Produce (MFP) to FDSTs the FDSTs, the
major sources of the exploitation of the STs will be taken care
of.
Ø
Even fruits of Development Schemes,
such as Indira Awas Yojana, which have been denied so far will be
available to FDSTs.
Ø
The Bill proposes to achieve the
twin objective of environmental conservation and justice to the
STs by being in tune with and providing for more stringent checks
and balances than the existing Legislative/Policy frame of the Ministry
of Environment & Forests.
This Bill represents a major paradigm shift in approach towards
addressing the concerns for providing tenurial security, livelihood
and traditional rights to the forest dwelling scheduled tribes who
have been living in forests for generations without a legal protection.
The
introduction of the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights)
Bill, 2005 in Parliament is thus an historic step to recognise the
following rights:
The
Bill also casts upon the forest dwelling tribal communities the
responsibilities of protection, conservation and regeneration of
forests and will result in their greater participation in the efforts
of the Government in this direction.
The Bill, when enacted, would be applicable to all the States/UTs,
except Jammu & Kashmir, and would benefit forest dwelling scheduled
tribes in all these States/UTs.
The Bill has been referred to a Joint
Committee of both Houses of Parliament for examination. The Joint
Committee is expected to submit its report by May 23, 2006.
Programmes for Minor Irrigation Facilities on Tribal Lands
In consonance with the commitment
made by the UPA Government in the National Common Minimum Programme
(NCMP) and considering that STs usually reside in remote, far flung
and often inaccessible areas with undulating terrain where irrigation
facilities are poor, the Ministry initiated a special project to
provide 100 per cent financial assistance to States for taking up
minor irrigation scheme for tribal people. Accordingly, during the
year 2005-06, at the instance of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs,
the Planning Commission had made an allocation of Rs.50 crore over
and above Rs.330 crore under the Article 275 (1) of the Constitution
in the budget (2005-06) of the Ministry exclusively for providing
minor irrigation facilities in the tribal areas of the States.
Based on the proposals received from the States, the amount
of Rs. 5,000 lakh has been released to 8 States, namely, Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal,
Mizoram and Chhattisgarh.
Details are as under:
(Rs in lakh)
|
S. No.
|
State
|
Amount Released
|
|
1
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
720.00
|
|
2
|
Chhattisgarh
|
729.00
|
|
3
|
Gujarat
|
824.00
|
|
4
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
1009.00
|
|
5
|
Mizoram
|
91.00
|
|
6
|
Orissa
|
643.00
|
|
7
|
Tamil Nadu
|
139.00
|
|
8
|
West Bengal
|
845.00
|
|
|
Total:
|
5000.00
|
An amount of Rs. 150 crore has further been earmarked during
2006-07 for creation of minor irrigation facilities on the lands
of STs out of the grants under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution.
The initiative would enhance the productivity of the natural resource
base, mainly in the land of STs which mostly being in undulating
plateau area has not received such focussed funding so far.
Rajiv Gandhi Girls’ Hostel Complex for North East
Recognising the need for adequate hostel facilities for Scheduled
Tribe girls from the North East studying in Delhi University and
its affiliated colleges, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) decided
to construct a 500 seated Girls’ Hostel in the Delhi University
campus. The building and associate infrastructure will be jointly
funded by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of DONER.
The proposed hostel will be for ST and other girl students from
the North East in the ratio of 40:60, respectively. The foundation
stone of the proposed Hostel, which has been named the Rajiv
Gandhi Girls’ Hostel Complex for the North East was laid on
January 1, 2006. The seats for ST girls in the proposed Hostel will
be in addition to 7.5 per cent seats already reserved for ST students
in the existing hostels of the University of Delhi.
‘Janashree
Bima Yojana’ for Primitive Tribal Groups:
Under
the scheme of Development of Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs), this
Ministry has launched an ambitious project of insuring the lives
of heads of each PTG family under the ‘Janashree Bima Yojana’ of
Life Insurance Corporation of India and targeted to cover 500,000
PTG families during the Tenth Plan.
During
2004-05, an amount of Rs. 500 was released to 16 States to cover
100,000 heads of PTG families and during 2005-06, Rs. 1,000 lakh
has been released to 17 States/UT to cover 2,00,000 earning members
of PTG families.
The
following benefits would be provided to those whose lives have been
insured for a period of 5 years at no premium payment from them:
Ø
Payment of Rs.50,000 to nearest kith and kin of life
insured in case of accidental death or permanent disability caused;
Ø
Payment of Rs.20,000 to the nearest kith and kin in
case of natural death;
Ø
Permanent disability due to accident-Rs.50,000
Ø
Payment of Rs.25,000 in case of partial disability,
and
Ø
Educational grant of Rs.300 per quarter for 2 children
of the life insured studying in class IX and above.
Post Matric Scholarship (PMS)
It
has been decided on account payments to the State governments to
the extent of 50 per cent of the Central share of the previous years,
so that the ST students may get the scholarship in time.
Though
the scheme of PMS was revised w.e.f. April 1, 2003, the increase
in rates of PMS ranging from 50 per cent to 100 per cent on its
various components was not followed by an increase in the Budget
allocation. The Government took stock of this and increased the
budget for the distribution of scholarship and arrears, wherever
due. from Rs. 64.50 crore (allocated in 2004-05) to Rs. 229.65 crore
during the year 2005-06.
Grants –in –Aid to State Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation
etc. (STDCCs) for Minir Forest Produce Operations.
The
scheme was launched during 1992-93. This is a Central Sector Scheme
grant-in –aid extended to:
(a)
State Tribal Development Coperative Corporations
(b)
Forest Development Corporations, (FDCs)
(c)
Minor Forest Produce(Trading & Development) Federations.
The funds
under the scheme are available to the State TDCCs/FDCs etc for:
Ø
increasing the quantum of MFP handled by setting off
operational losses, if need be.
Ø
strengthening the share capital base of the Corporation
for undertaking MFP operations
thereby increasing the quantum of MFP presently handled.
Ø
setting up of scientific warehousing facilities, wherever
necessary.
Ø
establishing processing industries for value addition
with the objective of ensuring maximum returns on the MFPs for the
tribals.
Ø
giving consumption loans to tribals.
Ø
supplementing Research & Development (R&D) efforts.
Details
of funds released to the State governments under this Scheme during
last two years are as under:
(Rs in lakh)
|
SlNo.
|
State
|
Year 2004-05
|
Year 2005-06
|
|
1
|
Andhra
Pradesh
|
300.00
|
3000.00
|
|
2
|
Chhattisgarh
|
144.00
|
63.00
|
|
3
|
Gujarat
|
|
70.00
|
|
4
|
Karnataka
|
|
80.00
|
|
5
|
Madhya
Pradesh
|
356.00
|
144.00
|
|
6
|
Maharastra
|
|
373.00
|
|
7
|
Meghalaya
|
|
112.00
|
|
8
|
Orissa
|
|
50.00
|
|
9
|
Tripura
|
|
92.00
|
|
|
Total
|
8000.0
|
1284.00
|
*****
