Delay in tribal museums, land availability for tribal residential schools: House panel flags issues

The Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, chaired by BJP MP PC Mohan, originally made recommendations on demand for grants in a report tabled in March.

In its March report, the House panel appreciated the Centre’s initiative to establish Tribal Freedom Fighters’ Museums, acknowledging the heroic and patriotic deeds of tribal idols who are under-represented in mainstream history. However, it pointed out that slow progress in the construction of eight of the 11 museums sanctioned, and sought a strategy for timely completion.

In its response, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs submitted that the onus of identifying land, tendering, selecting the project management consultant, and civil works lay with the state governments. The ministry added that, though, it was taking steps such as visits to the museum sites to monitor work.

In the report tabled Tuesday, the panel said it was not satisfied with the Centre’s action-taken response.

The panel said it expected the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to at least assure the committee that it will ensure work on four museums scheduled for completion by November 2025 and one by May 2026 is completed within the stipulated timelines.

“The committee would, therefore, like to reiterate this earlier recommendation and desire that the Ministry should meet the targets and the timelines once fixed for establishing the museums to avoid delay and cost escalation,” the committee stated in its report.

It also asked the ministry to consider only those proposals in which the state governments are in a position to readily identify land, float tenders, and select project management consultants when the proposals are submitted.

On Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), the panel said in March that out of the 477 schools, 341 were functional in their own buildings, and recommended that a plan be chalked out to make more schools functional in their own buildings.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs said in its response that it had taken a range of measures, including maximising fund utilisation, coordinating with state governments on land ownership, implementing a school-wise tracker for project completion, and replacing under-performing agencies.

The panel, however, reiterated in its latest report that the tribal affairs ministry needed to address the land availability issue as a priority. It recommended that, in the future, state government proposals to set up EMR schools should be considered only when land availability is ensured.