The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri Jual Oram, and Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Member, NITI Aayog, today jointly released two important publications of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs — the “National Framework for Strengthening of ITDAs and ITDPs” and the “Operational Guidelines for Strengthening of ITDAs and ITDPs.” The two documents mark the culmination of a comprehensive, consultative and evidence-based national exercise aimed at strengthening Integrated Tribal Development Agencies and Projects (ITDAs/ITDPs), the principal field-level institutions driving tribal development across the country.

The publications were released in the presence of Smt. Ranjana Chopra, Secretary, Tribal Affairs, Shri Manish Thakur, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and other senior officers of the Ministry.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister noted that ITDAs/ITDPs have historically served as a critical bridge between government programmes and tribal communities, and that their role has grown even more significant with the scale of interventions under the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA) and PM-JANMAN.

Dr. Balasubramaniam noted that the principles of ranking, real-time data-driven monitoring and convergence that delivered saturation of outcomes in under-developed districts and blocks now stand embedded in the ITDA/ITDP reform architecture. He observed that evidence-based administrative attention can transform lagging regions, these publications seek to replicate that model within the tribal development ecosystem, using ITDAs as the delivery vehicle for saturation of entitlements at the last mile.

The exercise was undertaken under the overall guidance and vision of Secretary, Tribal Affairs, Smt. Ranjana Chopra, whose emphasis on evidence-based, field-driven institutional reform shaped the design of the entire consultative process. Smt. Chopra’s consistent direction to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and build context-specific, accountable

field institutions provided the strategic anchor for the Ministry’s roadmap for strengthening ITDAs and ITDPs across the country.

The Ministry had initiated this exercise in April 2026, covering 214 ITDAs/ITDPs across 17 States/UTs, through a standardised assessment involving Project Officers, State Tribal Welfare Departments and Tribal Research Institutes. Designed as a bottom-up, consultative exercise rather than a desk-based study, it included State-level workshops, field visits and direct consultations, allowing ground-level challenges and successful practices to shape the national roadmap. The exercise culminated in the Evidence-Weighted ITDA Diagnostic Scoring Framework, assessing institutions across 15 parameters spanning five institutional domains.

To operationalize this exercise on the ground, structured consultative workshops were conducted across States/UTs in April and May 2026, led by Dr. Varnali Deka, Director, DAJGUA Division and Shri Jafar Malik, Deputy Secretary, EMRS. The officers engaged directly with all ITDA/ITDP Project Officers and State Tribal Research Institutes to understand institutional status, collate ground-level data, followed by detailed validation exercise to ensure that the diagnostic exercise remained firmly rooted in field realities. These findings were then analyzed to create a national framework, roadmap and a set of operational guidelines.

This exercise reached a major milestone on 3rd June 2026, when the Ministry convened the National Conclave on Strengthening of ITDAs and ITDPs at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, graced by the Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu.