In a bid to harness the maximum potential of rural masses, the Modi Government has joined the Tribal Affairs and Rural Development Ministeries to Promote Sustainable Livelihood Among Tribal Women Self Help Groups.
Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Rural Development signed a Joint communication to promote sustainable livelihood opportunities among tribal women self-help groups in rural India.
Secretary to Ministry of Tribal Affairs Mr Deepak Khandekar, and Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development Mr N.N. Sinha signed a Joint communication for leveraging each other’s strengths to propel the rural economy and jointly promote sustainable livelihood opportunities among tribal women Self Help Groups (SHGs) under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).
In a press release by the PHD Chamber of commerce mentioned the key features of the joint communication. The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development has built an extensive network of women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in India, including 8.9 lakh ST SHGs. The programme provides institutional supports, livelihood services, access to credit and market through its SHGs.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides grants to the States based on prefixed criteria through a number of initiatives such as Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Schemes (SCA to TSS), Grant-in-Aid under Proviso to Article 275 (1) of Constitution of India to the States having notified STs, Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) to the States / UTs having notified PVTGs etc.
· Since the initiatives of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and objectives of DAY-NRLM deeply complement each other, the Ministries have decided to come together to improve the economic opportunities available to tribal women. To take this convergence initiative forward, the series of activities will be carried out by both the Ministries to synergize the efforts to fetch tangible results.
· Activities by Ministry of Rural Development will include: identification and mapping of tribal women SHG members and their individual livelihood assets; mapping of common tribal community assets; development of the comprehensive proposal for the economic development of PVTGs through the strengthening of their traditional livelihood and occupations; convergence of GPDPs and CCD plan of OVTG habitations; assistance of SHGs to identify tribal households for enrolment under Van Dhan Yojana; and capacity building and credit access support to tribal communities through SHGs
· Activities by Ministry of Tribal Affairs will include: planning support to SRLM to finalize the State Annual Action Plan and inclusion of the plan in its Livelihood Annual Action Plan; promotion of livelihood opportunities among women identified by SRLM through avenues such as Mess Management, Outsourcing works of EMRS schools like housekeeping, cleaning and other activities in the EMRSs and Ashram Schools; augmenting the creation of individual as well as common livelihood assets as per beneficiaries identified by SRLM; implementing proposals for PVTG in coordination with the SRLM; inclusion of tribal SHGs / PG with the majority of members from tribal households in Van Dhan Yojana and providing marketing support to produces from SHGs and PGs through its marketing network.
Recently under the guidance of NITI Aayog, all such schemes numbering more than 300 were examined in consultation with respective Ministries, to deliberate how MoTA and sectoral ministries can collaborate and work together for tribal welfare.
As per STC mechanism, MoRD is spending about Rs. 20000 cr on tribal welfare in 3 main schemes namely Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) which has STC component of Rs 4700 Cr, National Rural Livelihood Mission- Program, STC Component of 1284 cr and rest of expenditure is under MNREGA, which is a demand-based scheme. Both MoTA and RD have developed a robust IT system and has developed a mechanism to share data amongst themselves. On the basis of data of Anatodya Mission provided by RD, MoTA has done Infrastructural gap analysis of 1170000 villages (available on tritribal.gov.in) with population more than 50% and States have been asked to use this data for making plans in SCA to TSS and 275(1) schemes. The present collaboration between RD and MoTA is part of such a collaborative mechanism, which will go a long way in the socio-economic development of STs across the country and strengthen the STC mechanism. There is a vast scope of expanding such mechanism with other Ministries like Agriculture, Health, Education, MSME and Food Processing to achieve the real objective of STC mechanism.