Special Article: Development of tribals is the priority of Chhattisgarh government

In Chhattisgarh, the Vishnu Dev Sai government has given priority to issues like education, health and employment to ensure the participation of the tribal community in development. The dream of holistic development is coming true in the tribal dominated areas. The way health, road, communication and security network is being strengthened in the remote areas of the state, the tribal community is getting the most benefit from it. While this is bringing quality in the standard of living of the tribal society, this wind of good governance is also helping in defeating the problem of left wing extremism in the state. In these areas, the PM Janman Yojana run by the Central Government and the Niyyad Nella Nar Yojana of the state government are proving to be game changers. 

One third of Chhattisgarh’s nearly 3 crore population is from the tribal community. To remove the backwardness of these communities, the Say government has put special focus on education, health, employment and security. Apart from this, new efforts are being made to reach the schemes of the central and state government to them. A new environment is being created by the schemes being run for the social, economic and cultural upliftment of the tribal community. The Say government has worked on all these issues in the last 10 months. Whether the issue is housing, drinking water, electricity or roads, work is being done rapidly on all the basic needs of the tribal community.

The state government’s Niyad Nella Nar (Your Good Village) scheme is proving to be an innovative initiative for public welfare. Under this scheme, 96 villages falling within 5 km radius of new camps established in Maoist affected areas are being selected and basic resources like housing, hospital, water, electricity, bridges, schools etc. are being provided under 53 schemes of 17 government departments and 28 community facilities. On the initiative of the Chief Minister, students of Maoist terror affected districts of Chhattisgarh will get interest free loan for technical and vocational education. Students of the remaining districts will be provided loan at 1 percent interest rate. The maximum limit of education loan for interest subsidy has been kept at Rs 4 lakh.

Security and development have been made the key mantra to stop left wing extremism in tribal areas, and meaningful results are visible. Along with providing the benefits of government schemes to the people living in these areas, they are also being provided all the necessary facilities. During the last 10 months, 195 Maoists were killed in encounters. 34 forward security camps were established. In the near future, it is proposed to establish 30 new camps through redeployment in South Bastar and Maad.

Under the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Special Health Assistance Scheme, an amount of Rs 20 lakh is being provided to poor families in the state for the treatment of serious diseases. Moving forward on the path of prosperity through health, the Chhattisgarh government is making hospitals in tribal areas fully equipped. The Chhattisgarh government has decided to provide free ration to 68 lakh poor families for 5 years, for which a provision of Rs 3400 crore has been made in the budget. The tribal community is also getting its benefits.  

Under the PM Janman Yojana launched by the Central Government, work is being done at a fast pace to provide basic facilities in tribal settlements. There is a provision of 20 crores for the development of families of backward tribal groups in the state. There is a provision of 2 crore 72 lakhs in the supplementary fund for the operation of 57 mobile medical units in these areas. There is an additional provision of 3 crore 76 lakhs for the electrification of PVTG.

In Chhattisgarh, the tribal community is mostly settled in forest areas. Road network is being expanded in these areas. The central government is also building an economic corridor from Raipur to Visakhapatnam under the Bharat Mala project. Tribal areas will also get direct benefit from this. The country’s largest steel plant has also been started by the central government in Nagar Nar, which has given new impetus to the development of Bastar region. 

To increase direct connectivity to the tribal areas of the state and Ayodhya Dham, the Chief Minister has demanded to declare the total 282 km route from Raigarh-Dharamjaygarh-Mainpat-Ambikapur-Uttar Pradesh border as a national highway. This route passes through four districts of the state and is the main route connecting the religious city of Ayodhya to the state of Chhattisgarh. This route has got the green signal from the Government of India. 

The central government is starting the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Unnat Gram Abhiyan to give priority to the tribal society and accelerate the socio-economic development of tribal families. 5 crore tribal people from 63,000 villages across the country will be the beneficiaries of this scheme. Tribal society, which is about 30 percent of the population of Chhattisgarh, will get direct benefit. Similarly, an increase in the agriculture budget has been made and an allocation of Rs 1.52 lakh crore has been made for the areas related to farming. New high-yielding and climate-friendly varieties of 32 agricultural and horticultural crops have been released for the farming of farmers. 10,000 bio-input resource centers will be established to promote natural farming, the tribal-dominated areas of the state will also get the benefit of this.  

There is abundance of tendu trees in tribal dominated areas. A large number of people of the community get employment by collecting tendu leaves. In view of this, the state government has increased the rate of tendu leaf collection from Rs 4000 to Rs 5500. More than 12 lakh families have benefited from tendu leaf collection work. Soon the government is also going to start Charan Paduka distribution scheme for tendu leaf collectors. 

The state government has sanctioned Rs 131 crore 52 lakh for the construction of hostels and buildings of 36 colleges. This will strengthen the infrastructure of 36 colleges of the state and will help in improving the educational environment. Most of the colleges of tribal dominated areas have been included in this approval. The number of seats in the Tribal Youth Hostel of New Delhi has been increased from 50 to 185. 

Now more than three times more seats will be available in this hostel for the candidates of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Class who wish to prepare for the Civil Services of Union Public Service Commission while staying in New Delhi. Technology institutes will be built in Jashpur, Bastar, Kabirdham, Raipur and Raigarh of the state on the lines of IIT. Chhattisgarh Higher Education Mission is also being established in the state.

It has been decided to provide primary education in local dialects. This will prove to be an important step in increasing access to education in tribal communities under the new National Education Policy. School children’s books are being prepared in 18 local languages ​​and dialects. In the first phase, courses are being prepared in Chhattisgarhi, Sargujiha, Halbi, Sadri, Gondi and Kudukh.

PM Shri scheme has been started in 263 schools of the state, under which these schools are being developed as model schools. Under this scheme, modern subjects like robotics, artificial intelligence will be taught in schools along with local languages. PM Shri School is also upgrading schools in tribal dominated areas, due to which children of these areas are also getting modern, knowledge based and skill based education. 

75 Eklavya Adarsh ​​Residential Schools are being run to provide better education to the children of the tribal community. Apart from this, 15 Prayas Residential Schools are being run for the children of the Maoist affected area. In these schools, brilliant students are being prepared for the All India Medical and Engineering Entrance Examination. Certainly, under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai, who comes from the tribal community in Chhattisgarh, the state is creating new dimensions of all-round development of the tribal society.