The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal Ministry for overall policy, planning and coordination of programmes for development of ST’s. To this end, Ministry of Tribal Affairs has undertaken activities that follow from the subjects allocated under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.

This is year saw considerable progress in digital mechanisms and online monitoring systems especially for scholarship schemes and expenditure of funds for tribal welfare. Tribal medicine emerged as another priority area along with tribal research. Expansion of Eklavya Model Residential Schools was stepped up this year while empowerment of tribals through schemes like Van Dhan Yojana and Aadi Mahotsavs also remained on the forefront. Affirmation of tribal rights and their role in forest development was another another important highlight this year.

Out of the total budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to the tune of Rs. 6847.89 crore, a total of Rs. 5160.97 crore (i.e. 75.37%) has already been spent on various schemes.

TRANSFORMATIONAL INITIATIVES w.r.t SCHOLARSHIP SCHEMES

Selection process for scholarship schemes through dedicated portals:Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing 3 Central sector Scholarship schemes, the selection process is transparent, merit based and managed through dedicated portals in line with the resolve of the Government towards digital India.

The applications for the academic year 2019-20 are under verification and final merit list will be prepared by January 2020.

Integration with digi-locker:During the year, both Fellowship and Overseas Portals have been integrated with Digi Locker.  The student registers on Digi-locker and Scholarship Portal with same Log-IN ID and Password. All documents available on Digi-Locker are automatically fetched and visible on application form.  In case some document is not available on Digi-locker, student has option to upload it manually in application form. This has prevented uploading of fake and fraudulent documents and has made verification process easy.  

Integration of universities with fellowship portal:There are 331Universities where 4794 tribal Scholars are pursuing fellowship programs. All such Universities have been integrated with Fellowship portal through "Verification Module", wherein the registered Nodal officer of University can view documents available on Digi-locker and documents uploaded by Scholar and can approve or reject application digitally.  It has resulted in time saving and checks fraudulent verification.  There is also a facility to monitor applications pending with Universities and Ministry of Tribal Affairs continuously follows up with Universities to expedite verification.  

Grievance redressal and communication mechanism:For faster communication and grievance redressal, all stake holders, i.e Students, Universities, Canara Bank (Authorised Bank for disbursal) and Digi Locker have been registered with "Communication Module" of portal. This not only helps in speedy grievance redressal but all stakeholders can be contacted instantly through Bulk messages and Mails. All officers in hierarchy can monitor the pendency of query/grievance. It is ensured that all queries are resolved in 24 hrs.   FAQ are updated based on thread-based query.  Students are also provided continuous handholding through User Manual, Video Clipping, Phone Helpline, emails, Remote Access by Help Desk. About 2500 queries pertaining to Top Class students were received and resolved by emails also.

Tribal talent pool:Ministry is funding 4794 research scholars for doing MPhil and PhD in Fellowship Scheme, wherein tribal scholars from all over India are studying in select Universities. In order to get connected with Tribal Talent, harness their strength by understanding their areas of interest and empowering them to develop as entrepreneurs, researchers and make them aware about various other schemes of Govt of India for their welfare, Ministry has chalked out a unique initiative with Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). AIst interactive 3-day workshop for researchers was organized in Delhi from 3^rd to 5^th December, where 57 students from 7 Universities like JNU, DU, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Jamia Milia participated.  The workshop had interactive session with Officers of Ministry, Corporate, NGO; Technical Sessions,Group Discussions  and field visit to Rewadi (digital Village) village in Haryana. The program is aimed to evaluate quality of research projects taken by students, improve their research skills, understand issues concerning students, know their area of interest and aspirations; and capacity building.  Similarprogrammes have been planned in coming months in different Universities all over India where such scholars are studying.  Based on these programs, Ministry plans to select 500 tribal scholars who would be invited in National Level Workshop in Delhi after the completion of program in another 6 months. 

Affirmative action:The Top-Class Students Scholarship Scheme provides scholarship to 1000 students each year.   Up to 2017-18, there were not enough applications and all 1000 slots were not filled. It was only in 2018-19 for the first time, about 2400 students applied, out of which 1400 students could not receive scholarship. On the initiative of PMO, meetings on “affirmative action” were held by Secretary,Ministry of Tribal Affairs with CII, FICCI, Assocham and DICCI.  FICCI could connect Ministry of Tribal Affairs to interested Corporates who have offered to help 25 students pursuing Medical courses. Many Corporates and NGOs have also shown interest to support and act as mentor for such talent and offered to give Internships to interested Scholars. Many Civil Societies and Corporates have also offered partnership with MoTA to work together for welfare of tribals in areas of Livelihood, Talent pool, Tribal healers, Tribal Culture & Festivals and are keen to become part of "Affirmative Action".  

Scholarship through DBT:The funds are directly transferred to fellowship student Bank account by Canara Bank through PFMS (DBT mode) and in account of Top-Class students by theMinistry.   To ensure students are regular in their studies and are engaged in research activities, they have to file quarterly continuation certificate verified by University for release of next instalment.

DBT portal for post matric:As mandated by DBT Mission- Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the first Ministry to develop DBT-Portal (dbttribal.gov.in) for Post Matric Scholarship. The portal has facilitated data sharing, eased communication and improved monitoring mechanism which expedited budget release process. Ministry of Tribal Affairs could utilize its entire budget of Rs. 2000 cr. by releasing funds available in BE to States in September 2019.

The States have been given facility to share beneficiary data online through Web services, Excel/CSV file or through Manual Entry of Data depending on IT capability of State. As different States/UTs have Portals on different platforms, using different databases and different format, a 31 field common format has been designed for Data sharing by States.  As the Portal was rolled out in June 2019, data of about 45 lac beneficiaries has been uploaded by States for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19 through "Data Sharing Module". During the year, 9 states/UTs which were processing Scholarships manually have been brought on National Scholarship Portal, including J&K, Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar, Daman Diu, Dadra-Nagar Haveli, Goa etc. 

In DBT Portal, the States have been given facility to upload queries, documents Utilization Certificate, Statement of Expenditure online. All important notices and letters are sent through portal and has facility of sending Bulk messages in order to have better communication with states. The "Communication Module" has substantially reduced time earlier taken through physical mode.

The Portal has facility to generate various MIS reports like State wise, Institute wise, gender wise, Stream wise beneficiaries report for monitoring.  These e-initiatives have resulted in paradigm shift from manual paper-based UC Based monitoring to Data Based online monitoring.There is Standardization of data collection process and Data sharing is mandated for release of funds.There is mapping of funds released and their utilization.However,States need continuous hand holding, persuasion and efforts for loading complete and correct data.

Data analyticsand MIS reports:   Centre for Data Analytics (CEDA), under NIC has been entrusted with task of analysing data captured on all 4 Scholarship Portals. In 2 years there is data bank of 45 lacs Students getting scholarship from CS and CSS schemes.   ''State Wise Data Analysis Reports" are shared with states online on DBT-TRIBAL Portal and regular meetings are held with States through regular VCs, State visits by MoTA Officers and vice versa. Standardisation of Data and getting clean and correct data is a mammoth exercise, which would need constant follow up by a dedicated team.   The database has capability of generating various MIS reports like State wise, Institute wise, gender wise, Stream wise report for monitoring and coordination with universities and students. 

PRADHAN MANTRI VAN DHAN YOJANA

Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY) is a Market Linked Tribal Entrepreneurship Development Program for forming clusters of tribal SHGs and strengthening them into Tribal Producer Companies has been launched with participation from all the 27 States from the Country.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs approved the Van Dhan Scheme Guidelines on 26.02.2019 while the scheme is to be implemented by TRIFED. Nearly Rs 100 cr have been sanctioned this year for setting up 676 VDVKs in 18 States covering 200,740 beneficiaries for livelihood generation .

TRIFED has also conducted two National level advocacy workshops and 5 State level advocacy workshops TRIFED is also developing a robust web-based IT platform and mobile application for data collection, tracking, and monitoring of all the activities under PMVDY.

In Nagaland, the Longleng VDVK in Longleng District have begun the value addition and processing work in Hill Grass to make Hill Grass Brooms.In Maharashtra, the Malegaon VDVK &Resod VDVK from Washim District has initiated processing & value addition of Marking Nut. In Chattisgarh, the Birgudi VDVK in Dhamtari District and Gotiya VDVK in Jagdalpur District have started working in Sal leaves & Tamarind processing and value addition respectively.

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Photo: Processing and value addition to minor forest produce at Van hankendras

MINOR FOREST PRODUCE

The number of MFPs notified have been revised from 23 to 49 under Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’.

STREAMLINING  FUNDING OF NGOs

Ministry is funding about 250 NGOs for 350 projects mainly on Health and Education in deficient service area, LWS areas, Border areas.  In order to bring transparency and efficiency in release of funds to NGOs, the process of inviting applications, verification and release of funds is through a dedicated NGO portal ( https://ngograntsmota.gov.in.). Each NGO can now track status of its application. In order to ensure NGOs utilize funds for the given purpose only, funds are monitored through EAT Module.  On the portal NGOs have been given facility to upload queries, documents and grievance through Communication Module. Various Regional Workshops are also organized.  Some of these 'e-governance initiatives for ST Welfare Schemes'  were launched on 12th June, 2019 at Ambedkar Bhavan, New Delhi by Minister for Tribal Affairs.

Ministryhas also initiated process of grading of NGOs on basis of defined criteria.  Those NGOs whose performance would be below mark would be given time to improve. In case they do not confirm to standards defined by MoTA, their grants may not be renewed.  A 3 day workshop was organized in Delhi to train these NGOs on use of EAT Module for financial transparency and were asked to share their best practices.

Ministryhas given a research and evaluation project to PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) to study the implementation of STC under 330 schemes of Central Ministries / Departments to understand the relevance thereof. The study is likely to be completed by January, 2020.  Based on the outcome of the project, STC MIS portal will be modified to track end use of funds to tribal beneficiaries to know whether benefit was in cash or kind and Infrastructure created in tribal areas with allocated funds.

16. Ministryis contemplating to bring in legislation for enactment of STC Act to regulate the STC funds being utilized by Central Ministries / Departments in order to fetch optimum results for the benefit of STs and ST dominated areas. The draft concept Note for STC Actis under consideration of NITI Aayog. 

HEALTH, WATER AND LIVELIHOOD OF TRIBALS

Ministryhas taken unique initiative to solvewater problems and Livelihood problems of the tribal areas.  Action Research project has been given to SECMOL-LADAKH, wherein they would establish Ice stupa in 50 villages and which will solve problem of drinking water and water required for agriculture. SECMOL will also plant trees through community participation.   Himmotthan Society, Uttarakhand, which is managed by Tata Foundation has been given project on sheep rearing, Packaging of Apricot and Peas as these are perishable items and locals do not get remunerative price for their products.  

 Ministry has prepared a Health Action Plan to mitigate the gaps in health infrastructure and other health services in the tribal dominated areas. The draft health plan is under consideration of NITI Aayog.

A one day National Workshop on Tribal Enterprise with focus on Honey, Bamboo & Lac was held on 08/08/19 in New Delhi with the objective to improve the production of the 3 very important products from forests to ensure maximum returns and to build better livelihood opportunities for the tribals.

TRIBAL HEALERS AND TRIBAL MEDICINES

Tribals have vast traditional knowledge of treating diseases with locally available medicinal plants.  In order to protect this knowledge, which is fast vanishing, Patanjali Research Institute has been given pilot project for research on Tribal Healers and Medicinal Plants in Uttarakhand.  Similar projects have been given to AIIMS-Jodhpur, Parvara Institute of Medica Science and Mata Amritamai Institute for Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Kerala.

TRI Uttarakhand has been made nodal TRI for coordination of research works being conducted for tribal medicine by various CoEs and TRIS so as to create a centralized knowledge hub on the subject. MoTA intends to entrust subjects to other TRIs also for PAC India coordination and management of centralized information system on the subject.

TRIBAL RESEARCH, CULTURE AND MUSEUMS

Ministry has mooted the proposal for setting up of National Level Tribal Research Institute to act as a knowledge hub and repository of information related to STs. The NTRI is to spearhead research and evaluation studies on tribal issues and to provide handholding support to State TRIs in their functioning.  NITI Aayog has provided in-principle approval for the NTRI.

State Tribal Research cum Cultural Centre and Museum was inaugurated on 21/08/19 at Dehradun, capital city of the State. Built at a cost of Rs. 12 crore released by Ministry of Tribal Affairs, this imposing 2 storied centre is expected to play a major role in propagation of rich tribal culture and traditions of Uttarakhand besides research activities.

TRI Uttarakhand has been made nodal TRI for coordination of research works being conducted for tribal medicine by various CoEs and TRIS so as to create a centralized knowledge hub on the subject. MoTA intends to entrust subjects to other TRIs also for PAC India coordination and management of centralized information system on the subject.

As a part of the resolve of the Government to construct Freedom Fighter Museums in States where tribals lived, struggled against the Britishers and refused to bow down so that the coming generations may know how our tribals made sacrifices for the pride of mother India. Till last year, Ministry of Tribal Affairs had sanctioned Tribal Freedom Fighter Museum in the States of Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala. During current year MoTA has sanctioned Projects for setting up of Tribal Freedom Fighter Museum at Manipur and Mizoram.

Ministry has given a project to IIPA for conducting workshops for TRIs to assess the need and course of action for revamping of their functioning towards tangible outputs.

The Ministry has provided financial assistance for the organization of tribal festivals in 14 States across the country including Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, Pawl Kut Festival in Mizoram, SamakkaSarakkaMedaramJatrra in Telangana.

EKLAVA MODEL RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

Programme to establish 462 new EMRS across India launched by the Prime Minister India on 12^th September, 2019 at Ranchi, Jharkhand.55 EMRSs have been made functional this year with an enrolment of 4833 new students. Cumulatively 284 schools have become functional with an enrolment of 72839 students as on date.

Second edition of the National EMRS Cultural Fest was organized at Udaipur, Rajasthan from 28^th to 30^th November, 2019 to exhibit the rich tribal culture and heritage.

National EMRS Sports Meet, 2019 has been organized at Bhopal, MP, which saw the participation of EMRS students from 21 States across the nation. The event was held from 9^th to 13^th December, 2019 to showcase and encourage the tribal students in various disciplines of sports.

 Ministry of Tribal Affairs organized an event to felicitate the students of Eklavya Model Residential School, Kalsi, Uttarakhand State who were invited at Rashtrapati Bhavan to perform in a function being held in honour of Freedom Fighters on 09/08/19.

TRIBAL EMPOWERMENT

TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited) under the  Ministry of Tribal Affairsstrives to promote economic development of the Tribal communities of the country through marketing development and sustained upgradation of their skills and products.

The recently launched flagship scheme of tribal empowerment , PMVDY is being implemented by TRIFED.

 In collaboration with TRIFED, M/o Tribal Affairs organised a National Tribal Festival “Aadi Mahotsav” atDilliHaat, INA, New Delhi from 16^th November to 30^th November 2019 to disseminate rich tribal culture, heritage and traditions of the region. Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah inaugurated the festival. Further, funds have been sanctioned to TRIFED for organizing similar festivals at 20 different locations nationwide including at Leh in the Union Territory of Ladakh where it was organized on 17/08/19.

Some of the other important activities taken up by TRIFED for empowerment of tribals include opening new outlets of TRIBES India, procurement of tribal products, sale of tribal products through countrywide exhibitions, promoting domestic and international sales through e-commerce, tribal artisan melas among others.

Click here for Details of activities of TRIFED

TRIBAL FOREST RIGHTS

Complete withdrawal of draft amendment IFA, 2019 by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (M/oEFCC) on the pursuance of Ministry of Tribal Affairs. M/oEFCCstated that the tribal rights will be protected fully and they will continue to be the important stakeholder in forest development.

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NB/SK/jk/Tribal Affairs-Year End Review- 2019/30-12-2019