Centre has launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) for welfare of tribals. launching the scheme on the occasion of the meeting of the Tribal Welfare Ministers of States/UTs, the Union Tribal Welfare Minister Jual Oram said that the scheme been launched on pilot basis in one block each of the states of AP, MP, HP, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Under the scheme centre will provide `10 crore for each block. These blocks have been selected on the recommendations of the concerned states and have very low literacy rate. Oram said this scheme mainly focuses on bridging infrastructural gaps and gap in human development indices between schedule tribes and other social groups. He said VKY also envisages to focus on convergence of different schemes of development of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments with outcome oriented approach. Initially the blocks having at least 33 per cent of tribal population in comparison to total population of the block will be targeted.
Oram informed the meeting that his ministry has taken up initiatives for strengthening of existing institutions meant for delivery of goods and services to tribal people ie Integrated Tribal Development Agencies/Integrated Development Project and creation of new ones wherever necessary. He said that specific funds allocated to the states for this purpose should be utilised judiciously with a view to build the institutional mechanism more robust by way of strengthening these institutions.
Referring to the situation where Minor Forest Produce (MFP) is more often than not determined by the traders instead of self-sustained process of demand and supply. The minister said his ministry has taken note of the situation and has implemented a scheme to ensure that such forest dwellers are not deprived of their due. Under the scheme maximum selling price for MFP is being implemented in schedule V States initially. He said a web-based portal has also been developed which indicate current price of MFPs on real time basis across different mandis of the States. 12 MFP products have been included in the programme namely tendu leave, bamboo, mahuwa seeds, sal leaf, sal seed, lac, chironjee, wild honey, myrobalan, tamarind, gums and karanji. The minister also referred to the Forests Rights Act as a landmark legislation to recognise the pre-existing rights of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers and informed that out of 37.69 lakh claims filed by the intended beneficiaries about 14.57 lakh individual rights title and more than 22,200 community forest rights titles have been distributed as on June 2014.
Oram informed that approval for recognising the Vishva Bharati, Shanti Niketan as the other centre of excellence in the filed of tribal language and literature has been given.