Union Tribal Minister Jual Oram has promised to give 60 tribes of the country ST status soon.Addressing a meeting at Chandikhol on Sunday, Oram said the NDA Government is determined to give ST status to all the tribes which were not included by the previous Governments.“large numbers of tribal people of Sabar tribe in the State are deprived of many benefits as they were wrongly described as Soora. The Government will soon include them in the ST list,” he added.
The Minister further informed the Government has given in-principle approval to recognize the Vishva Bharati and Shanti Niketan as the other centres of excellence in the field of tribal language and literature. Besides, it has also approved another proposal to establish a National Research Centre at the Tribal Research Institute, Bhubaneswar to promote research activities on subjects or issues for socio-economic and cultural development of States, Oram added.
Informing about the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana launched last year for welfare of tribals, Oram said the scheme is being launched on pilot basis in one block in several States, including Odisha. Under the scheme, the Centre provides Rs10 crore for each block for development of various facilities for tribals.Around 5,000 tribals were present in the meeting, organised by the Nilamasdhaba Adibashi Sangha.
