Notwithstanding Nagada throwing open the underbelly of Odisha’s acute malnutrition in the tribal belt, lessons were hardly learnt by the State Government as an analysis by the Unicef shows how since 2014-15 to 2016-17 Odisha was not only poor in provisioning nutritional allocation for tribals under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) but also was the poorest in underutilisation of what was earmarked.
According to the Unicef study titled “Towards a nutrition-sensitive Tribal Sub Plan (TSP)” released recently, since Odisha has around 22.9 per cent tribal population the TSP earmarking by line departments should have been of the same proportion. But the Unicef analysis for the period 2014-17 shows that the TSP earmarking by two vital departments, Rural Development and Food & Civil Supplies, have been abysmally lower at 13.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the TSP earmarking by two other key line departments like School & Mass Education and Health & Family Welfare have been around 21 per cent only. Only the Women and Child Development Department has earmarked 24 per cent of the Plan Budget for period 2014-17 for the TSP.
A still worse story unravelled by the Unicef study is that as per the final expenditure account available for the year 2014-15, notwithstanding the lesser allocation a whopping 25.5 per cent of that amount earmarked for TSP remained unspent. While the School & Mass Education Department topped the laggards’ list with an unspent proportion of 35 per cent of the TSP allocation, the Departments of Health & Family Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Women & Child Development followed closely with unspent proportions of 29.6, 28.8 and 22.3 per cent, respectively. The Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department failed to spend around 19 per cent of the Rs 545cr under the TSP, reveals the study.
Moreover, the big loophole the Unicef study brings out is in Odisha TSP funds are not routed through the Tribal Development Department, despite the State claiming special status tag owing to its large tribal population, which the Unicef outlined as the mega factor behind poor utilisation.
The Unicef study has, therefore, suggested that Odisha adopt the Maharashtra model, where the unspent proportion has been the lowest in country.
The Unicef study has further noted that the departments implementing schemes in the State that affect the basic causes of under-nutrition like alleviating poverty (Rural Development, Panchayati Raj), food security (Civil Supplies) and nutritional entitlements (W&CD) have experienced a decline in TSP earmarking in the last two years of 2015-16 and 2016-17, respectively, which the study noted as of a big concern when the gap of under nutrition proportion of tribal population vis-a-vis the general population as per NFHS-4 has been around 10 per cent.
While the Tribal Department refused to give any explanation as it is not the nodal department and so have no knowledge about the TSP implementation, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, however, criticised the State Government over the consistent dip in the TSP earmarking despite Nagada, Kashipur and its ilk making national headlines last year. “This shows the State Government is only paying lip service to tribal development,” Oram observed.