Day 29 – Q 5.Discuss various schemes launched to promote tribal culture and entrepreneurship. How are they performing? Examine.

5. Discuss various schemes launched to promote tribal culture and entrepreneurship. How are they performing? Examine. 

आदिवासी संस्कृति और उद्यमिता को बढ़ावा देने के लिए शुरू की गई विभिन्न योजनाओं पर चर्चा करें। वे कैसा प्रदर्शन कर रहे हैं? जांच करें।

Introduction:

There are a total of 705 individual ethnic groups notifies as scheduled Tribes in the length and breadth of the country. As per 2011 census. The tribal population of the country is 10.43 crore, constituting 8.6% of the total population. 

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Ministry of Tribal Affairs was set up in 1999 to uplift tribal communities of India which is extremely marginalised simply because of their cultural practises and habitation in faraway areas thereby getting geopolitically excluded.

Schemes to promote Tribal culture:

• Aadi Mahotsav
  • a celebration of the spirit of Tribal Culture, Craft, Cuisine and Commerce, was successfully conducted by the tribal ministry in Delhi. It has been organised in the memory of legendary tribal leader Birsa Munda.
  • The Festival showed exquisite craftsmanship of tribal artisans. This included beautiful sarees, dress materials, jewellery, bamboo & cane products, paintings and hundreds of other items.

• Swadesh Darshan Scheme Tribal circuit
  • Union Ministry of Tourism has inaugurated India’s first tribal circuit project connecting 13 tourism sites in Chhattisgarh under Swadesh Darshan Scheme Tribal circuit project
  • Major components sanctioned under tribal circuit project in Chhattisgarh includes developing eco log huts, craft haats, souvenir shops, open amphitheatre, tribal interpretation centres, workshop centres, tourist amenities centres, viewpoints, nature trails, solar illuminations etc.
  • These components will improve the existing tourist facilities, enhance the overall tourist experience and help in getting more visitors which in return will increase promotion of tribal culture and job opportunities in the area.
  • Construction of Museums for Tribal Freedom Fighters.

• Tribal Handicrafts
  • TRIFED has setup TribesIndia a chain of showrooms where several categories of handicrafts are being marketed like tribal textiles, tribal jewellery.
  • TRIFED is also working on the capacity building of the tribes

Schemes for Promotion of tribal entrepreneurship

• Van Dhan Scheme 
  • The scheme aims at economic development of tribals involved in collection of Minor Food Produces (MFPs) by helping them in optimum utilization of natural resources and provides them with a sustainable livelihood.
  • Under it, 10 Self Help Groups (SHGs) of 30 Tribal gatherers will be constituted.
  • TRIFED– It is engaged in the marketing development of tribal products and provides marketing support to the products made by tribals through a network of retail outlets.
  • Minor Forest Produce is the main source of livelihood of tribal in the country. Recently the government initiated the fixing of the MSP of the Minor Forest Produce and its range.

• Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana -aimed at the social-economic empowerment of the tribal 
  • It aims at the overall development of tribal people with an outcome-base approach by bringing the tribal population of the country at par with other social groups and include them in overall progress of the nation. 

• Tribal Entrepreneurship Summit
  • India’s first Tribal Entrepreneurship Summit was organised at Dantewada in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The summit is part of 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit being held in India. The event was organized by National Institute of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in partnership with Government of USA.
  • It was organised to inspire, nurture and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in tribal youth. It aims to ensure another step towards tribal-centric sustainable and inclusive development. 

• Stand-Up India
  • Launched in 2015, Stand-Up India seeks to leverage institutional credit for the benefit of women entrepreneurs, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
  • At least one women and one individual from the SC or ST communities are granted loans between Rs.1 million to Rs.10 million to set up greenfield enterprises in manufacturing, services or the trading sector.
    

Performance of schemes

• Under Tribal Sub Plan, 37 central government ministries and departments are required to earmark 2-20% of their total budget outlay for tribal welfare. The ministries identify targeted schemes and then earmark the funds scheme-wise to different states.
• However, 16 of the 37 ministries have spent less than half the amount to date.
• The Centre’s bid to spend an unprecedented allocation of over Rs 39,000 crore for tribal welfare this fiscal hasn’t been going well with almost half of the ministries unable to spend even 50% of the allocations 
  

There are several discrepancies in the implementation of the TSP, including:

• Non-adoption of specific norms for release of funds, 
• Weak programme management, 
• A deficient monitoring system,
• Non-implementation of information programmes.

Minimum Support Price for Minor Forest Produce:

• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has added nine minor forest produce (MFP) items to its minimum support price (MSP) for MFP scheme thereby taking the total number of MFPs covered under the list to 49 
• Extension of the scheme from schedule V states to all over the country.

Skill Development:

An amount of Rs. 165.00 Crore has been released to various states under Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme and Grants for skill development of tribal youth.

Recommendations

• Financial management – strict adherence to earmarking of funds into a separate head at every level should be made mandatory for release of funds.
• Non-lapsable pool for TSP fund
• Central nodal unit for an overview which will facilitate better coordination and efficient implementation of TSP through an online monitoring system.  
• Involvement of the local community in the planning process inputs/ suggestions of the local tribal community should be sought before finalising the plan for implementation of any programme under TSP. 

Conclusion

As more number of tribes are being assimilated into the mainstream, there is an urgent need for effective implementation of these schemes to safeguard tribal culture and uplift their lives socially and economically.