Speech by

Shri Mangubhai Patel, Minister Tribal Development, Forest & Environment

Government of Gujarat At the Conference of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India

April 07, 2016, Venue: India Habitat Centre,

New Delhi

Hon'ble Minister of Tribal Affairs, Hon’ble Minister of State Tribal Affairs, Hon'ble Ministers from States

and my colleagues participating in this Consultation, Secretary of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and

officers from States and Union Territories, Ladies and Gentlemen!

At the outset, I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for organizing this Conference to

evolve strategies for overall development of tribal people and tribal areas. I would also like to thank the

Government for hosting this meet for consultation and convergence of national priorities with that

of State to evolve a comprehensive strategy to empower Tribal people and ensure their welfare.

Gujarat’s Tribal Demography

Gujarat accounts for 8.1% of the Scheduled Tribe population of the country. The tribals of Gujarat,

numbering 89.17 lakh, constitute 14.8% of the state’s population. They are concentrated in the eastern

districts, from Mt. Abu on the Rajasthan border in the north to Dahanu district on the Maharashtra border

in the south. The TASP area constitutes 18% of the state’s geographical area. There are 11 major tribes

in Gujarat; the largest Bhil, constituting 47.89% of the state’s tribal population. The 5 Particularly

Vulnerable Tribal Groups number about 1,44,593 (as per Census 2011).

Macro Fundamentals

The Gujarat economy is characterized by strong macro fundamentals and good performance over the

Eleventh Plan period. This percolates to tribal areas and would result in faster growth in these areas.

Inevitably, there are some weaknesses that need to be addressed and also new challenges that need

to be faced. Progress towards tribal development is difficult to assess, because it is a multi‐dimensional

concept.

Tribal development should result in lowering the incidence of poverty, broad based and significant

improvement in health outcomes, universal access of schools for tribal children, increased access to

higher education and improved standards of education, including skill development. It should also be

reflected in better opportunities for both wage employment and livelihoods, and in improvement in

provision of basic amenities like water, electricity, roads, sanitation and housing. Special attention

needs to be paid to the needs of Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG) population, women and children.

As per a study done on backward (developing) talukas by a state-government appointed committee in

2006, 28 of the 48 backward talukas in Gujarat were TASP talukas. However, this does not imply that

tribals in Gujarat are worse-off than those in other states in the country. Quite contrary, the poverty ratio

among tribals in Gujarat is fairly lower as compared to that at the all-India level. The issue therefore, is

more of relative poverty and the growing disparity, rather than merely of high incidence of poverty

among tribals per se.

Gujarat Model of Development – Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana

The all-round development of the people, and the scheduled tribes in particular, was at the heart of our

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, throughout his thirteen year tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

His comprehensive and successful growth initiatives are, today, acclaimed nationally and world-wide

as the Gujarat Model of Development.

An outcome-based inclusive approach for the tribal people is an important component of the Gujarat

Model of Development. The Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana, or Chief Minister's 10-Point Program, a

brainchild of Shri Narendra Modi, is implemented in mission mode, focussing on integrated, holistic and

inclusive development of tribal communities. The present Chief Minister Smt. Anandiben Patel with her

visionary approach in giving focus on Tribal Development through her Gatisheel Gujarat program

ensuring last-mile delivery and rigorous monitoring of all the development programs in the sectors

below:

1. Employment Opportunities for 5 Lakh Families

2. Quality of Education and Higher Education

3. Economic Development

4. Health

5. Housing

6. Safe Drinking Water

7. Irrigation

8. Universal Electrification

9. All-Weather Road Connectivity

10. Urban Development

As a result of the Vanbandhu initiative, the financial allocation under TSP increased from Rs.5,640

Crore under the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) to Rs.15,000 Crore in the Eleventh Plan (2007-12),

the expenditure against which was Rs.17,200 crore. Buoyed by this, the State Government has allotted

an ambitious Rs.40,000 crore in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) which has been further increased

to Rs. 42,712 crores.

The effective implementation of Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana has doubled the income of almost 7 lakh

tribal families, reduced the gap in literacy level between the tribal and general population from 21.4%

to 15.5%, increased the tap water connection of rural tribal families from 3.9% in 2001 to 56%, covered

each and every of the 5,884 tribal villages of the state with 24*7 power supply, connected all tribal

villages and hamlets with all-weather roads, and implemented a comprehensive urban development

program in the 18 towns in tribal areas. This flagship program, launched by our beloved Prime Minister

on 27th February 2007, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, has been instrumental in improving

the income-level of the tribal populace, in giving them productive and respectable means of

employment, and in providing modern civic infrastructure in tribal areas of Gujarat.

It is a matter of pride for us that this Program has been recognized by Government of India with the

launch of VKY Central Sector Scheme in the year 2014.

Positive approach towards VKY

► Strong Political will

► Setting up of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – D-SAG/EMRS

► Strong Tribal Development Administration at State level as well as district level

► Numerous Private Partners in PPP mode

► Proactive participations of people and non-governmental organizations

► Focussed VKY Approach

► Leading role of Tribal Development Department

Innovative Measures

New Innovative projects undertaken by VKY include:

1. Projects undertaken in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode

a. VTCs and Skill Training

i. Running the program, handholding of trainees

ii. GIZ IS for technical consultancy

b. Agriculture – Agriculture Service Providers providing inputs & services

c. Dairying

i. IDDP through district & village level dairy cooperatives

ii. Integrated Livestock Development Program through JK Trust, BAIF

d. Education

i. Talent pool for meritorious students

ii. Project Management Consultancy through IL&FS EST

e. Financial Inclusion – ATMs in tribal areas through Dena Bank

f. Evaluation – historical & concurrent – through GIDR & agencies empanelled by

Planning Department of State Govt

2. Ekalavya Pattern Schools

a. No. of Eklavya pattern schools increased from 12 in 2007 to 30 in 2016

3. Bio-metric attendance system

a. Transparent & effective mechanism to record attendance of students, teachers, hostel

residents

b. Attendance of students and staff monitored on single Integrated web portal

c. Grant to Institutions released on basis of actual biometric attendance

d. No. of Institutes registered - 7,129

e. No. of students enrolled - 9,32,612

4. Talent pool voucher scheme

a. Encouraging meritorious students to study further in good private schools

b. Fees up to Rs.80,000 per student per year paid by Government

c. Students benefitted in last 3 years – 1,834

d. The Government has spent Rs. 529.36 lakh under this scheme

5. Doodh Sanjivani Yojana for Children suffering from Malnutrition

a. Provision of flavoured milk (200ml) daily to primary school students

b. Currently operational in 28 talukas

c. 7.96 Lakh students have already benefitted

d. Aim of covering all 49 tribal talukas in 2016-17

6. Tap water connectivity

a. More than 8.5 Lakh families (56%) facilitated by 2012

7. Universal electrification

a. Electrification of 1,085 Peta paras

b. 100 Sub-stations created

c. 1,92,123 beneficiaries facilitated for Kutir Jyoti

d. Household Connection to 12,885 Primitive Tribes

e. Energisation of 1,19,582 Pump Sets

New Gujarat Pattern – Delegation of Powers

Genuine delegation of financial authority is the key to effective, result-oriented implementation of any

program at the grass-root level. Gujarat has always adopted the practice of purposeful delegation to

the district and sub-district level in meeting the requirements of the tribal people.

More than Rs. 400 crores of Tribal Sub Plan fund is allotted to the TASP districts in proportion of their

population/area, and the districts are free to spend the money on works/projects of their choice. The

committee to decide the works is chaired by the Guardian Minister and consists of elected

representatives and officers. The committee is totally free to decide on the works to be undertaken with

the allotted funds. Thus, requirements of local nature and gap funding can be met at the district/taluka

level itself, with the administrative machinery having the funds at its disposal for decision and utilization.

This is known as the New Gujarat Pattern, and has been an effective model in empowering the districts

and talukas in speedily fulfilling the local needs of tribal people.

The tribal department has launched special schemes for PTGs, Halpati tribe and Border Villages in the

following sectors – Electrification, Housing, Roads, Drinking Water, Education, Livelihood. The

committee to decide the works to be taken under this fund is chaired by the Secretary, Tribal

Development Department with the recommendations from District Committee headed by the District

Collector.

It can, thus, be seen that Gujarat has taken major steps in genuine decentralization of authority in

utilizing TASP funds.

Forest Rights Act, 2006

Gujarat has been in the forefront in successfully implementing the Forests Rights Act, 2006. 75,457

individual applications have been approved so far and users rights given to them for 1,10,973 acres.

4,597 community applications have been approved and rights given for 10,81,583 acres. In case of

development activities, the number approved is 670 and 911 acres. The area regularized per application

in Gujarat is amongst the highest in the country.

The tribal farmers cultivating forest land for decades were hitherto considered illegal cultivators and,

therefore, ineligible for the benefit of any land-based assistance program/scheme of the Government.

After their lands have been regularized under the Forest Rights Act, the State Government has decided

to converge on the FRA beneficiaries the schemes of all the concerned departments and to give them

the benefit of agriculture based schemes on priority, in order to compensate the tribal farmers for the

lost years. The FRA beneficiaries will be immediately given the benefit of programs such as Wadi

Yojana, land leveling, Agriculture Diversification Program etc.

Strengthening of Institutions in Tribal Areas

The administrative structure and personnel hold the key to the success of planning in tribal areas.

Gujarat Government has restructured the administrative set up of tribal areas to suit their special

requirements. A unified and single line authority has been set up for implementation of the tribal sub

plan, so that not only is the plan implemented purposefully but there is proper coordination in

discharging protective, regulatory and developmental functions.

The tribal department finalizes the sectoral outlays in consultation with the line departments, and directs

them to prepare schemes in priority areas. This department controls all the grants under TSP, monitors

the performance of all departments in implementing TSP, and releases grants accordingly. State-level

committees are constituted under the chairmanship of Minister and Secretary of tribal department for

monitoring the performance of all line departments under TSP. At the state level, the Commissioner,

Tribal Development is the super prime scale IAS Officer to oversee the overall implementation of VKY

and TSP and monitor the project administrators. He has to coordinate with all heads of the departments

regarding TSP and VKY monitoring progress.

At the district level, the committees are headed by the Prabhari (Guardian) Minister of the district and

the District Collector. The block level committee is headed by the Project Administrator, TSP. Each of

the 14 tribal districts has a Project Administrator, TASP who are the senior-most state service officers.

The TASP area accounts for 79% of the tribal population of the state. The dispersed tribal population is

taken care of by the Panchayati Raj Institutions at the district and taluka level. Gujarat has evolved a

pattern of administrative setup in tribal area in a manner that the existing Government and Panchayati

Raj machinery is utilized to an optimum level.

Tribal Research and Training Institute

The Gujarat Tribal Research and Training Institute is established in PPP mode, in collaboration with

Gujarat Vidyapeeth. The Institute is housed in the campus of the Vidyapeeth, and the Vice Chancellor

of the Gujarat Vidyapeeth is the chairman of its Advisory Committee. This is a unique model of

establishing and running a TRTI. The institute conducts research on culture, tradition, language, needs

and other issues related to the tribal population.

The Gujarat TRTI has done yeomen work in the field of tribal demography and culture. It is a very active

organization, has a large number of publications to its credit, and is lately doing extremely useful work

in FRA related training and information dissemination. The tribal museum set up by TRTI within its

premises is worth a visit.

Education and Development

In Gujarat, the rate of growth of literacy rate in 2011 (10.17%) is greater than that observed in 2001

(7.85%). Yet, illiteracy rate is a matter of huge concern in tribal areas. Low literacy rates and high

incidence of school drop-outs are the two main challenges that need to be tackled urgently in tribal

areas.

Quality Education and Higher Education receive major emphasis under the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana.

It specifically provides for (a) higher secondary schools for science in each taluka; (b) provision for

enrolling 1000 students in nationally recognized residential schools; (c) Navodaya or Eklavya type

residential schools in each tribal taluka; (d) establishment of 100 additional hostels for college students,

and establishment of colleges to cover remote and left out talukas; and (e) establishment of excellent

academic units, including engineering and medical colleges, polytechnics and nursing colleges.

The key initiatives of the tribal department to further education and development are (i) Biometric

Attendance in 7,129 schools and hostels in 8 tribal districts, covering 932,612 students and teachers,

monitored on single integrated web portal, with the grant being released to institutions on the basis of

actual biometric attendance; (ii) Talent Pool Voucher Scheme, encouraging meritorious students to

study in good private schools, with State Government paying the fees up to Rs.80,000 per student per

year; and (iii) Six Samras Hostels, which are mega hostels with capacity of 2,000 students each,

equipped with state-of-art facilities, in the major educational campuses of the state.

Gujarat has partnered with NGOs and experts in its ambitious education initiatives in tribal areas. 10 of

the 30 EMRS schools are run through good non-government institutions. One Sainik School is entirely

funded by the tribal department on the EMRS pattern of Government of India. The Eklavya Society is

running 85 EMRS, LLGRS and Model Day Schools has engaged IL&FS ETS as project consultant.

School infrastructure exceeding Rs.450 crore has been built through the IL&FS ETS.

Professional participation and Livelihood enhancement

Engaging with non-government organizations, professionals and experts for better delivery of livelihood

and other programs is a guiding principle of the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana. The Gujarat Government

has partnered with NGOs and professionals in agriculture programs (leading NGOs as agriculture

service providers, John Deere India Limited, and others), livelihood programs (district dairy

cooperatives, BAIF, JK Trust and others), vocational training (GIZ IS, Maruti Suzuki, Central Institute of

Plastic Engineering & Technology, Indo German Tool Room, Larsen & Toubro, Entrepreneurial

Development Institute, Atul Limited, SEWA Rural, and others).

A good example of the success of Gujarat Government’s skill development initiatives in tribal areas is

that 34 tribal youth, after six-months training in CIPET in Plastic Product Manufacturing, are working in

the Gulf with remuneration of over Rs. 4 lakhs p.a.

Another innovation to enhance livelihood effort has been in the area of Financial Inclusion, where the

tribal department of Gujarat has partnered with Dena Bank to provide Biometric ATMs in backward tribal

talukas. 3,27,092 ATM accounts have been opened in tribal blocks of Sabarkantha and Aravalli district

under this project. Account holders are also provided with in built overdraft limit of Rs.2,000.

This project won the Financial Inclusion and Payment Systems (FIPS) Award in 2013, which was

given away by the Union Minister of State for Finance.

Suggestive measures

1. Need for Jawahar Navoday Pattern (JNV) pattern for EMRS schools

The per student funding provided by the Central Government for the JNV’s is roughly Rs. 85,000 –

Rs. 1,905 crores for approximately 2 lakh students studying 589 schools. On the other hand, the per

student funding for EMRS is only Rs.42,000 which is not sufficient for the proper functioning of these

schools.

The EMRS’s in Gujarat are currently facing a problem of having well qualified and experienced

teachers, especially for the higher secondary education. The major reason for the lack of good

teachers can be attributed to the unwillingness of teachers in joining these schools due to the

combined factors of remote locations, low remuneration and temporary nature of appointment.

Teachers are more interested to join institutions such as the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV)

and other Government run schools wherein the staff (teaching as well as non-teaching) are hired on

a permanent basis and the remunerations are based on standard Government pay scale systems.

An increased amount of funding based on the JNV pattern would greatly help towards solving the

problem of availability of good quality teachers as well as towards carrying out other administrative

works such as arranging sports competitions, educational trips for children, repair and maintenance

works for buildings, etc.

2. Government of Gujarat proposes to increase in recurring grant for Post-Matric Scholarship

Tribal children in Gujarat have given a tremendous response to the Post-Matric Scholarship program

with thousands of children availing the benefits each year. In the year 2015-16, the State had

estimated an expenditure of Rs. 15,000 lakhs under the scheme which increased to Rs. 20,000

lakhs due to the increase in demand for the benefit offered under this scheme.

The number of beneficiaries is only going to increase further with each passing year and therefore

it is requested that the Central Government increase the allotment under this novel scheme thereby

encouraging tribal children to take up higher education.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Gujarat has made notable strides in the overall development of its tribal

population and tribal communities. Their quality of life, education and health parameters, and other

socio-economic indicators, have improved substantially over the last few decades, but more particularly

during the last decade. More efforts, however, are required for the overall development of PVTGs and

improving education amongst all tribal communities.

Sir! The many successful initiatives undertaken by Gujarat in grass-root development over the last

decade under the leadership of our visionary Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has amply

demonstrated that economic betterment is the first and foremost desire of the Nation. Let us strengthen

the hands at work and together assist in uplifting the yet relatively backward section of our country’s

populace.

Jai Hind…