The death of 16 tribals in June in Chaparai hamlet near Rampachodavaram of East Godavari district exposed the pathetic state of tribesmen but students of the social and tribal welfare educational institutions scaling Mt. Everest is a major achievement in the year.
Stark realities came to fore with the deaths of the tribals attributed to lack of communication and connectivity. The tribal welfare department then took initiative to provide road access to about 2,500 hamlets under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS).
Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare Minister Nakka Ananda Babu told The Hindu that the government was taking many initiatives to improve the conditions in tribal hamlets like drinking water facility in 1,057 ST colonies with ₹156 crore this year. It also launched the ‘Aadivasi Arogyam’ scheme for providing qualitative medical services for children studying in tribal welfare educational institutions. Under the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP), ₹2,237 crore has been spent against the allocation of ₹3,529 crore for various schemes, he says.
“Scaling of the Mt. Everest by Dubi Bhadraiah, R. Sundar Raju, GP Hari Prasad, G. Suresh Babu, S. Eswaraiah and Sandhya Bai is one of the notable achievements of the departments. The journey to conquer the world’s highest peak is a compelling story of grit and determination,” he says.
Mr. Ananda Babu said the government had allotted ₹33 crore to cover 300 students under the Ambedkar Overseas Vidhya Nidhi. Also, rolling cut off in respect of minimum percentage of 60% in educational institutions was introduced to benefit more number of students. As many as 700 students were sponsored to pursue civil services examination under the NTR Vidyonnnathi scheme, he said.
The Minister said the museum of Alluri Seetharama Raju would be established in Visakhapatnam shortly. The Ambedkar Smruthi Vanam project was being taken to a logical conclusion. A 125-feet tall statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar would come up in Amaravati. The government elicited opinions and suggestions on the designs. The Smruthi vanam would come up in 20 acres at a cost of ₹97.69 crore. A memorial library, hall, park, Buddha dhyana Kendra, open air theatre, multi purpose convention hall etc were part of the project.
