new DElhi, Nov 14
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a Rs 24,000-crore scheme aimed at holistic development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) on the occasion of ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ on November 15 in Jharkhand. The scheme will focus on the delivery of 11 interventions under nine ministries for 75 PVTGs. The mission was first announced during the budget 2023-24 and is being launched ahead of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Both the states have a significant tribal population, with the Census 2011 pegging the ST proportion in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh at 21.1% and 30.6% respectively. The PVTGs are the more vulnerable groups among tribal communities and they usually have distinctive culture, live in geographical isolation, and are shy of contact with other communi The scheme is meant to saturate the scattered, remote and inaccessible habitations of the PVTGs with facilities such as roads, telecom connectivity, electricity, safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, and sustainable livelihood opportunities. The 75 PVTGs, with a population of about 28 lakh, live in 22,544 villages across 18 states and Union Territories in India.
The norms of certain schemes will be relaxed to cover these remote habitations. In addition to the 11 interventions, saturation of other government schemes such as PMJAY health insurance scheme, the Sickle Cell Disease Elimination programme, TB Elimination programme, 100% childhood immunisation, PM Surakshit Matrutva to ensure free of cost antenatal care to all women, PM Matru Vandana Yojana for cash benefit to mothers, PM Poshan, and PM Jan Dhan Yojana. The government’s tribal push comes in the midst of the ruling BJP’s desperate attempts to woo the tribal votes in the poll bound Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
In 2018, the BJP had faced a huge setback in the tribal-dominated areas of all these states. Madhya Pradesh and parts of Chhattisgarh are voting on Friday and the polling in Rajasthan is on November 25.
Although 20 of the 90 Assembly seats, including the tribal-dominated Bastar region have voted already, 17 ST reserved seats are going to vote on November 17.
In 2018, when the BJP lost the Assembly elections to the Congress, it had won only 16 of the 47 seats reserved for the STs; and nine of 18 in Rajasthan. In Chhattisgarh, of the 29 ST seats, the BJP could win only three. The BJP at the organisational level has launched a massive programme to reach out to the tribal communities — choosing Droupadi Murmu as the first tribal woman President was one such effort — and the government has also prepared projects and honoured local icons in the tribal-dominated areas. Party president J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah have been frequently visiting the tribal areas in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh since last year. The RSS too has been pitching in.
Outfits affiliated to the Sangh have been working in tribal-dominated regions, and with their narrative of alleged conversion of community members and outreach to residents in these poorly developed areas, they have been trying to forged a “Hindu identity” among them.
