Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey informed Rajya Sabha that to preserve, document and promote tribal heritage, including tribal art forms, languages, oral traditions and indigenous knowledge systems, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides financial assistance to 29 Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), including the Tribal Research Institute, Jharkhand, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme "Support to Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs)". TRIs function under the administrative control of the respective State Governments/UT Administrations and implement approved Annual Action Plans with financial support from the Ministry. The TRI, Jharkhand undertakes activities such as documentation of tribal languages, folklore, customs and traditional knowledge, organisation of cultural programmes, strengthening of tribal museums and publication of research. The Ministry has also developed digital initiatives for documentation and showcasing tribal cultural resources from Jharkhand through TribeX (erstwhile Adi Sanskriti) digital platform for the preservation and promotion of tribal heritage. Under the Ministry's TribeX initiative, the tribal art forms of Jharkhand, namely Sohrai Painting, Dokra Craft, and Jadupetia Chitrakar, have been included as short-term certificate courses. Further, the Ministry also developed AI based translation tool “Adi Vaani” which supports the preservation and wider accessibility of Jharkhand's tribal languages, including Santhali and Mundari, through AI-enabled text and speech translation between tribal languages and Hindi/English.

The implementation of constitutional safeguards and statutory provisions relating to Scheduled Areas, including the provisions of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, is primarily the responsibility of the State Government. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides policy guidance, advisories and capacity-building support, while Tribal Research Institutes undertake research, studies and documentation to support evidence-based policy formulation and effective implementation.

Financial assistance is provided by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to Tribal Research Institutes under the scheme "Support to Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs)" for approved activities relating to research, documentation, preservation and promotion of tribal culture, establishment and strengthening of tribal museums, training, publications and dissemination of tribal knowledge. Funds are released to the State Government/Tribal Research Institute based on approved Annual Action Plans, availability of funds and fulfilment of prescribed conditions. Assistance is not released as a separate component exclusively for tribal cultural preservation. Details of the projects/activities sanctioned to Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) are available on the Ministry’s portal: https://tribal.nic.in/Display_Apex_Minutes.aspx

As on date, no such proposal is under consideration of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

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