The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs is now working to develop 36,428 villages with at least 50% tribal population and 500 STs across the country into ‘model tribal’ villages, Minister of State (MoS) for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh told Lok Sabha on Monday.
She added that these efforts were part of the existing Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme (SCA to TSS), which has now been renamed to the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojna (PMAAGY), for implementation from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Ms. Singh said that this project is meant to cover as many as 4.22 crore tribal people in the country, which comprises around 40% of the total ST population in India.
Of the target number of villages, during 2021-22 and 2022-23, a total of about 16,554 villages have been taken up, Ms. Singh said, adding that an amount of ₹1,927 crore had been released to states and that the Village Development Plans for 6,264 villages had been approved so far.
This project will entail preparing Village Development Plans, maximising coverage of Central and State schemes among families and individuals in these villages, and improving infrastructure in sectors like health, education, connectivity and livelihood.
“The main objective of this scheme is to achieve integrated socio-economic development of selected villages through convergence approach,” the Minister of State said.
She added that the scheme will now look at filling gaps in road connectivity, telecom connectivity, schools, Anganwadi centres, health sub-centres, drinking water facilities, drainage and sold waste management, for which each village will be allocated ₹20.38 lakh.
“Besides, States / U.T.s are encouraged for convergence of resources as Central/State Scheduled Tribe Component (STC) funds and other financial resources available with them for saturation of gaps in the villages identified under PMAAGY,” the Minister said.
