Tribal Affairs Minister highlights achievements in 11 years of NDA government
At the event to launch the booklet, Mr. Oram responded to questions on the ₹72,000 crore Great Nicobar Island infrastructure project, saying that complaints about the alleged violation of forest rights, and the controversy over the process of procuring the gram sabha's consent for forest diversion was 'under examination'.
'Whatever documents have been submitted are under examination. It cannot be said what stage it is at right now,' Mr. Oram said, responding to questions.
It was not immediately clear which aspects were under examination. 'There are multiple aspects on these issues — one is whether gram sabha was held, whether their recommendation was received, and whether process was followed. Another aspect is the Environmental Impact Assessment. Our Ministry's purview deals with just the process of gram sabha, and other aspects are dealt with by other Ministries,' Mr. Oram said.
The infrastructure project on the Great Nicobar island has been mired in controversy since it received preliminary clearances in 2022. Soon after the project was said to have secured the consent of local tribespeople, the Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar withdrew the consent it was said to have granted. The National Green Tribunal, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes had subsequently also raised concerns over due process for the consent procedure and the environmental impact of the project.
Speaking on the achievements of the Tribal Affairs Ministry in the past 11 years, Mr. Oram said that the booklet was 'thorough' but 'it is important for me to mention this progress'. He added that a lot of the Ministry's initiatives, especially in planning health interventions, were initiated when he became the first Union Tribal Affairs Minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and later when he took the position again in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term. 'This work has been continued through the years by my fellow colleagues as well,' Mr. Oram said.
In the booklet on the achievements, the government begins with the declaration of Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh from November 15, 2024 to November 15, 2025, which is being marked with national and State-level events. This was a top promise in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto for marginalised sections ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Going through the booklet, the Minister then proceeded to speak on the PM JANMAN programme, which is a basic scheme saturation package that brings housing, healthcare, nutrition, road connectivity, power, and drinking water interventions to 75 PVTG communities across 19 States and Union Territories across the country. The Ministry added that, under the package, 4.35 lakh houses had been sanctioned, of which 1.04 lakh houses had been completed.
Electrification of over 1.4 lakh households had been sanctioned, of which electrification of 1.05 lakh had been completed. The Ministry said that other interventions, including setting up the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, business training sessions, mobile medical units, and multipurpose centres, had also been initiated. Further, '596 villages saturated with interventions', the Ministry said.
The Minister also spoke about the Dharti Aba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, a scheme saturation package designed on the lines of the PM JANMAN package to saturate ST villages with 25 interventions by involving 17 line Ministries. The Ministry also went on to highlight the Eklavya Model Residential School scheme, which has been revamped and centralised in the past half-a-dozen years.
The Ministry's booklet also spoke of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act or FRA. It spoke of having 'achieved a remarkable 412.71% increase in the distribution of Community Forest Rights titles, thereby strengthening tribal self-governance'. According to the text of the Act, the burden of implementing the legislation falls on the respective State and Union Territory governments.
Apart from this, the booklet outlines other schemes of the Ministry, including scholarships it administers for ST students, the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana, promotion of tribal-made products through the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, a mission for 'Tribal Health Enhancement', support to Tribal Research Institutes, and special attention given to tribal freedom fighter museums.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
a few seconds ago
- Hindustan Times
PM Narendra Modi says economy strong, seeks self-reliance in tech
India is the world's fastest-growing major economy and is rapidly moving towards becoming a global leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Bengaluru on Saturday, days after US President Donald Trump described the country's economy as 'dead' amid escalating trade tensions between the two nations. PM Narendra Modi with Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and Union minister Manohar Lal during a Metro ride in Bengaluru on Sunday. (ANI) Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating the 19-kilometre Yellow Line of the Bengaluru Metro, Modi said India was on track to become one of the world's top three economies as he credited the country's economic momentum to the central government's 'reform, perform, transform' approach. 'India is currently the fastest-growing major economy in the world. In the past eleven years, India's economy has risen from the 10th position to the top five globally and is rapidly progressing towards becoming one of the top three economies,' he said. The PM's endorsement of the country's economic growth came after Trump, on July 30, announced 25% punitive tariffs on Indian goods entering America for purchasing Russian oil. A day later he again targeted India, saying, 'I don't care what India does with Russia… They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.' On August 6, he signed an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods. India has called the American actions 'unfair, unjustified and unreasonable' and said it will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests. In his address, Modi also called for the country to accelerate its self-reliance in the technology sector as he pressed for a stronger 'Tech Atmanirbhar Bharat'. 'Indian tech companies have made their mark on the global stage. They have built software and products for the world. The time has come to give greater priority to the needs of India. We must move forward in manufacturing new products,' he said. The statement was in line with his August 2 remarks in which he called on citizens to adopt the spirit of 'swadeshi' and support locally made products, stressing that true service to the nation lies in promoting indigenous goods amid global economic uncertainties. The additional 25% tariffs, due to take effect on August 27, will put Indian exporters at a significant disadvantage compared to their rivals in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam – which face tariffs of between 19% and 20%. In his speech, Modi said that the country's rapid pace of development was linked to its economic growth as he focused on the rise of the country's exports. 'Before 2014, India's total export was $468 billion, but today it is $824 billion. We used to import mobile phones but now we are among the top five exporters of mobile handsets. Our electronic export before 2014 was $6 billion, which has gone up to $38 billion dollars,' Modi said. He added: 'These achievements give strength to our concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). We will march together and build a developed India.' Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Ashwini Vaishnaw were also present on the occasion. During his visit, the PM also laid the foundation stone for the Bangalore Metro Phase-3 project and flagged off three Vande Bharat Express trains as he underscored the country's growing infrastructure footprint across sectors by highlighting the increase in the number of metro rail services, railway lines, airports, AIIMS and IITs. This was the first time Modi visited Bengaluru since Operation Sindoor, India's military action against terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation to April's Pahalgam attack, in which 26 civilians were killed. Modi credited the success of the operation to indigenous defence technologies. 'A key factor in the operation's success was 'Make in India' in defence, which had immense contribution from the youth of Karnataka and Bengaluru,' he said. I congratulate the youth of this state,' he said, adding that Pakistan, which 'came to defend the terrorists', was forced 'to its knees' within hours. Praising the city's global standing, he called Bengaluru 'a city that has become a symbol of the rise of the new India… A city that has put India's flag on the global IT map. If there is anything behind Bangalore's success story, it is the hard work and talent of its people.' Siddaramaiah, who spoke before Modisaid the state has been spending more than the Centre on Bengaluru's metro network, even though the project is meant to be jointly funded. 'Works for the Bengaluru Metro started in 2005 when Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, and the agreement was to take up works in a 50:50 fund ratio. However, the state's contribution to building the metro is high,' he said, urging the Centre to match Karnataka's funding model with that of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In response, Modi called for cooperation over political rivalry. 'Whether it is the central government or the state government, all are committed to serving the people,' he said.
Hindustan Times
a few seconds ago
- Hindustan Times
Haryana IAS officer Rajesh Jogpal gets community & social impact award
Haryana IAS officer, Rajesh Jogpal has been honoured with the community and social impact award for his outstanding contribution to innovative governance in urban sustainability. The award was presented on August 9 in New Delhi during the second Sustainable Agriculture Summit and Awards-2025. The award was presented to Jogpal who is registrar of Cooperative Societies by Union minister of state, agriculture and farmers' welfare, Ram Nath Thakur, Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale and minister, public works, Delhi, Parvesh Sahib Singh. An official spokesperson said that the summit organised by Sustainability Matters and IndiAgri brought together agricultural leaders and innovators from across the country to deliberate on the future of climate-smart farming. Haryana IAS officer, Rajesh Jogpal has been honoured with the community and social impact award for his outstanding contribution to innovative governance in urban sustainability. (Representational image)
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Indian Express
‘It needs reconstitution': Sharma quits as Cong's foreign dept head
Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma on Sunday resigned as the chairman of the party's foreign affairs department to help in its reconstitution and enable bringing in a younger leadership. After tendering his resignation, Sharma said the department was not being consulted on important issues related to foreign affairs. The former Union minister led the department for around a decade. 'As I have conveyed earlier, both to CP (Mallikarjun Kharge) and Chairperson CPP (Sonia Gandhi), in my considered view, the committee needs to be reconstituted to bring in younger leaders of potential and promise. That will ensure continuity in its functioning. Expressing my gratitude to the party leadership for having entrusted me with this responsibility, I am submitting my resignation as Chairman DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) to facilitate its reconstitution,' Sharma said in his resignation letter to Congress president Kharge. Sharma, a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), has been the Congress's most prominent face on international affairs for almost four decades. He also played a pivotal role in the negotiations of the Indo-US nuclear deal. He was also instrumental in institutionalising the India-Africa partnership in a structured manner and convening the first India-Africa summit. Sharma had travelled to South Africa, Egypt, Qatar and Ethiopia as a member of the all-party delegations that went abroad to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following Operation Sindoor. Sharma had also articulated India's position to the world after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. He was a prominent member of the G-23 group of Congress leaders who wrote to then party president Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking organisational reforms in the party. In his letter, Sharma said the DFA has, over the last few decades, been actively engaged in building and strengthening the Congress's relations with like-minded political parties across the world, which share the values of democracy, equality and human rights. He said the Congress has built strong relations with major political parties in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and Latin America. Speaking to The Indian Express Sunday evening, Sharma said he had conveyed it to the party high command that there was a need to reconstitute the department. 'Some people of the department have moved away, and some have other assignments. It is time for change and bring in the next generation of people. My services will remain available to share my experience in anchoring the new team,' said Sharma. 'The department is a very important one. When you take any decision concerning foreign affairs, there has to be consultation and what is to be spoken. Similarly, if there is a delegation going abroad, or if there is a debate in Parliament, there should be consultation with the department about the party line. For some time that has been missing. We have seen the BJP has been very aggressive,' said Sharma.
