In the first batch of beneficiaries of the PM-JANMAN package for the development of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), the government has found women who are turning messengers to help the administration take the benefits of the package to the remotest of their community members.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released the first instalment of funds for pucca houses under the the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN). He also interacted with some of these beneficiaries, who included women such as Mankunwari Bai, 41, of the Pahari Korba tribe in Jashpur (Chhattisgarh), who has become a Janman Sangi (volunteer) and is going door to door educating her people about the schemes under the package.
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“Many a time, our people of the Pahari Korba community, get scared when they see administrative officials and surveyors and run away into the forest. I am trying to reach them and spread awareness,” said Ms. Mankunwari, who has been registered for a Kisan Samman Nidhi Card and a Kisan Credit Card under the PM-JANMAN drive.
Ms. Mankunwari added that she chose to become a Janman Sangi after realising the impact of education. “I am educating all three of my children because I know the importance and I want my fellow community members to be aware of their entitlements similarly.”
The PM-JANMAN campaign was launched on November 15, with the objective of providing basic facilities such as pucca houses, power and water connections, by focusing 11 existing interventions of nine Ministries towards 22,000 habitations where an estimated 36 lakh people from PVTG communities reside. The PVTGs are considered the most backward among the Scheduled Tribes.
Documents for all
Parallelly, the package also envisions an information and education campaign, through camps in all PVTG habitations to register the inhabitants for basic documents such as Aadhaar, PM Jan Dhan cards, caste certificates, Kisan Samman Nidhi cards, etc.
The Union Cabinet has approved a plan to spend over ₹24,000 crore on the package over the next three years, of which projects worth ₹4,700 crore have already been sanctioned, including the building of pucca homes for one lakh beneficiary families, for which the first instalment was released by Mr. Modi on Monday.
Twenty-six-year-old Shashi Kiran Birjiya was among these beneficiaries whose plan for a pucca house was approved under the PM-JANMAN package. And much like Ms. Mankunwari, Ms. Birjiya too has been on a mission to make the lives of their fellow community members easier in the Tutva Pani village of Jharkhand’s Gumla district.
Having taken a loan for a photocopier — the first in the village — last year, Ms. Birjiya has now been helping villagers get documents ready so that they can be easily enrolled in the relevant schemes under the PM-JANMAN package.
“Before this, we had to go at least 15 km downhill, through forests to get a simple photocopy. It would take at least one hour to get there and residents would be worried about having to spend on the commute as well,” Ms. Birjiya told The Hindu over the phone.
She added that she had also been speaking with the rest of the villagers to ensure that no eligible person is missed out. “There are 16 families in our village and we have also started getting solar-powered lights now, which is a big relief for us,” she said, adding that her family, primarily engaged in potato cultivation, had also enrolled in the local Van Dhan Vikas Kendra, where they can now sell their minor forest produce at minimum support price.
