The Tribal Ministry is contemplating to provide more autonomy to Tribal Research Institutes in the States, so that they can offer PhD degrees and recruit experts while carrying out quality research work in tribal studies. TRIs are to have a greater role for making policies for tribals.
According to sources, more autonomy is being planned for the TRIs in terms of academic and financial matters so that they can recruit domain experts for research work and have adequate physical infrastructure.
The ministry further intends to set up a national-level apex body to coordinate activities of TRIs across the country to train manpower, share best practices and disseminate information. It was also suggested that one TRI in each region of the country will be selected to promote and coordinate the work of TRIs in the region.
However, research done by TRIs will also be subjected to peer review to ascertain its quality. The reports of TRIs will be available in public domain as well, informed the sources.
Meanwhile, the National Training Resource Centre (NTRC) in Odisha has been designated as nodal institute to coordinate activities of TRIs, work as body of knowledge and research, support evidence-based policy, planning and legislations, capacity building and disseminate information amongst others.
Earlier, the Tribal Minister Jual Oram had written to the Chief Ministers, pointing out that TRIs, which were constituted for research and documentation of socio-cultural and linguistic aspects of tribal life, need to be strengthened and more relevant. While funds are released by the Ministry for the TRIs, their release is delayed due to numerous factors.
The posts also require to be filled up to clear vacancy backlogs. The Minister had further pointed out that in cases when a project is approved by the Centre, it is redundant and time consuming to seek approval of the State Government as the same had been sanctioned in consultation with the respective State Governments.