Union Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan; earmarks Rs 79,156 cr for tribal communities

New Delhi [India], September 18 (ANI): The Union Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, approved the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan with an outlay of Rs 79,156 crore to improve the socio-economic conditions of tribal communities.
This programme, aimed at 63,000 tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts, will benefit more than five crore tribal people across 549 districts and 2,740 blocks.
"India has an ST population of 10.45 crore as per the 2011 census and there are more than 705 tribal communities, spread across the country, living in remote and hard-to-reach areas," the Cabinet stated.
The Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan envisions saturation of critical gaps in social infrastructure, health, education, and livelihood, through different schemes of the government of India by convergence and outreach and ensuring holistic and sustainable development of tribal areas and communities based on the learnings and success of PMJANMAN (Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan).
The program aims to ensure holistic and sustainable development in these areas, based on learnings from the successful Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PMJANMAN).
The mission comprises of 25 interventions, which will be implemented by 17 line ministries.
The mission has a special focus on 22 lakh FRA patta holders residing in forest areas and in convergence with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare (MoAFW), the Department of Animal Husbandry, the Department of Fisheries and Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the benefits of different schemes will be converged and provided.
Improving the infrastructure of government residential schools and hostels, the tribal residential schools and hostels target remote tribal areas and aim to develop local educational resources and promote enrolment and retention.
The Abhiyan aims to improve the infrastructure of Ashram schools/hostels/tribal schools/government residential schools for upgradation on the lines of PM-Shri Schools.
"The interventions are aimed to expedite the process of recognising and securing forest rights, empowering tribal communities to enable them for maintenance and conservation of forests, and also providing them sustainable livelihoods through the support of government schemes. The Abhiyan will also catalyse that the pending FRA claims are expedited and training of all stakeholders and officers at block, District and state level will be given by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Panchayati Raj," it added.
Tribal Multipurpose Marketing Centre (TMMC) for Effective marketing of tribal products and for improving marketing infrastructure, awareness, branding, packaging, and transportation facilities 100 TMMCs will be set up to enable the tribal producers to get the right price for their produce/ products and facilitate the consumers in buying tribal produce/products at right price directly from the tribals.
Moreover, the designing of these TMMC as an aggregation and value addition platform will also help in minimising post-harvest and post-production losses and retention of product value.
The programme also plans to improve the infrastructure of government-run schools and hostels in tribal areas and advance the facilities for diagnosing sickle cell disease in states where it is prevalent, the government said.
The Abhiyan has been planned based on the learning and success of Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN), which was launched by PM on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on November 15, 2023, with a budget of Rs 24104 crore focusing on the PVTG population. (ANI)