For saturation of tribal welfare schemes, Cabinet clears Rs 79,156 crore for PM Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan

“The Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan envisions saturation of critical gaps in social infrastructure, health, education, livelihood, through different schemes of the Govt of India by convergence and outreach and ensure holistic and sustainable development of tribal areas and communities based on learnings and success of PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan,” a government release said.

The scheme will consist of 25 welfare components under six broad categories – household and community infrastructure, connectivity, health, education, electrification and economic empowerment. These components, for instance the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and many more will be implemented by concerned line ministries, the government release stated. Providing water connections and promoting homestays are some of the other components under the household infrastructure category.

The health category will consist of implementing Ayushman Yojana, provision of mobile medical units and sickle cell disease diagnosis among others. The education and training category will consist of improving government and residential school infrastructure, electrification category will consist of electrification coverage to unelectrified villages and solar rooftop promotion.

“The tribal villages covered under the Abhiyan would be mapped on PM Gati Shakti Portal with the gaps identified by the concerned department for its scheme-specific requirements,” the government release added. The best-performing districts will be awarded based on the physical and financial progress, the release said.

Besides the targets under the six categories, the Abhiyan has also introduced new schemes to promote livelihood and generate income amongst tribals and forest-dwelling communities. These schemes are – tribal homestay, sustainable livelihood forest rights holders, improving the infrastructure of government schools and hostels, providing advanced facilities for diagnosis of sickle cell disease and tribal multipurpose marketing centres.

As part of the sustainable livelihood for forest rights holders scheme, 22 lakh patta holders under the Forest Rights Act would be in focus. The government will aim to expedite the process of recognizing and securing forest rights to enable them to maintain and conserve forests. There will also be a special focus on expediting pending claims under the Forest Rights Act, the government release said.