“Tribal Affairs Budget Soars 73.6% to Rs. 13,000 Crore”

In the Union Budget 2024-25, the overall outlay for the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is about Rs. 13,000 crore, marking a significant increase of 73.60% over the previous year’s Revised Estimate (RE).

Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan

In a landmark announcement in the Budget, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan for improving the socio-economic conditions of tribal communities. This initiative aims to provide saturation coverage for tribal families in tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts, covering 63,000 villages and benefiting 5 crore tribal people.

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Jual Oram said, “We are grateful to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman for the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan. This initiative is a testament to the Government’s commitment to the integrated socio-economic growth, infrastructure development, and generation of economic opportunities for the upliftment of tribal communities across India.”

Increased Allocations for Tribal Development

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs serves as the nodal Ministry for the overall policy, planning, and coordination of programs for the development of Scheduled Tribes. Its programmes and schemes support and supplement the efforts of other Central Ministries, State Governments, and voluntary organizations by providing financial assistance and addressing critical gaps based on the needs of Scheduled Tribes. To meet these objectives, the budget allocation for the Ministry has seen a substantial increase from Rs. 4,497.96 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 13,000 crore in 2024-25, an increase of approximately 189.02%.

Under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), now known as the Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes (DAPST), 42 Ministries/Departments allocate funds ranging from 4.3 to 17.5 percent of their total scheme allocation each year for tribal development projects in areas such as education, health, agriculture, irrigation, roads, housing, electrification, employment generation, and skill development. The DAPST fund allocation has increased about 5.8 times since 2013-14, from Rs. 21,525.36 crore (Actual Expenditure) in 2013-14 to Rs. 1,24,908.00 crore in BE 2024-25.

The Government’s focus has been on the overall development of STs, aiming to bring them on par with other communities in the country.