Dear Readers,

Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana has
recently been in the news and could be important for your exams.

Initiated by the Ministry of
Tribal Affairs, the VKY is an important scheme which targets development and progress
in tribal areas, and works towards facilitating better services and
infrastructure in the underdeveloped sectors. This article will look at its
objectives, major agendas, background and implementation.

Objectives

·
To implement schemes aimed at uplifting the
living standards of scheduled tribes of the country, including the
North-Eastern states.

·
To improve the quality of life as well as
education in tribal areas.

·
To bridge the gaps in infrastructure with
special focus on quality.

·
To protect tribal heritage and culture and ‘to
translate the available resources into overall development of tribal population
with an outcome-based orientation’.

·
To design a strategic process which ensures that
all the goods and services, with intended benefits under government programs
are able to reach the tribal population by unifying resources and properly
planned systems.

Major Agendas and Suggested Activities

As part of the VKY guidelines,
the government and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MTA) have come up with a
number of suggested activities and agendas in order to make the process
smoother. Some of these are:

·
Sustainable and qualitative employment.

·
Focus on quality education and higher education.

·
Economic development of tribal localities.

·
Health and housing provisions for everyone.

·
Clean drinking water for all.

·
Customized irrigation facilities as per the
respective terrains.

·
Construction of all-weather roads with good
connectivity to adjacent cities.

·
Promoting sports to tribal areas.

·
Strong institutional framework to carry out the
development goals with the help of sustainability.

Background – What is VKY?

·
The Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana was launched by the
Ministry of Tribal Affairs in October 2014 for the ‘holistic development of
tribal people’, with INR 100 crore allocated to it for the year 2014-15.

·
The scheme has been piloted in one block each of
Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. These have been picked
on account of poor literacy rates and recommendations by the states.

·
The first leg of the program will be aimed at
areas with at least one-third or 33 per cent tribal population.

·
As a part of its focus on education in tribal
population, the MTA has also announced several programs which will facilitate
hostels for ST girls and boys, setting up of ashram schools in underdeveloped
areas and post-matric scholarships.

·
Well-structured and streamlined planning will be
undertaken so that the results can be checked and measured. The assessments of
the Panchayati Raj bodies will especially play an important role in this.

·
The allocated funds will be monitored to ensure
that the target areas are reached. This way, the Tribal Sub-Plan elements of
different Centrally Sponsored schemes and state plans will effectively cover
the tribal people. A Project Implementation Cell (PIC) will be set up at
central government level with MTA.

·
 Jual
Oram, Union Tribal Welfare Minister has also declared that another proposal to
set up a National Research Centre in the Tribal Research Institute,
Bhubaneshwar to boost promotion of research projects on issues for
socio-economic development.

·
Mr. Oram added that the government had granted
approval to recognize Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan as a centre of
excellence in tribal language and literature.

·
He also announced that a web-based portal had
been established to depict the current prices of different food ingredients at
real time across the markets of the states involved. Prices of bamboo, mahua
seeds, lac, chironjee, honey, tamarind, gums, tendu leaves, sal leaf and seed,
myrobalan and karaji have been posted on the portal.

·
Furthering the goals of Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana,
the MTA has sanctioned about 184 Eklavya Model Residential Schools to achieve
and facilitate infrastructure, and to provide quality education to tribal
communities.

·
Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Shri
Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava said that this initiative reflects the Ministry’s
emphasis on employment generation, sustainable livelihood and skill development
for tribal people.

Implementation and Working Framework

·
VKY will be implemented by the respective state governments
but will be supervised by the Government of India.

·
The PIC will serve as the core catalyst unit and
help Tribal Welfare Departments of the states to mobilize the financial
resources allocated for Tribal Development by the Centre, States and other
financial bodies.

·
The MTA has established a Project Appraisal
Committee (PAC) which will be chaired by the Secretary of Tribal Affairs, and
will also have due representation of States/UTs, NITI Aayog and Internal
Finance.

·
The main function of PAC is to approve project
proposals which balance the priorities set by the Ministry and actual
requirements of tribal people on the ground.

·
The implementation would be carried out
primarily by Integrated Tribal Development Agencies and Programs (ITDAs/ITDPs),
which are public organizations established or delivering public goods and
services to Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled localities.

·
A Detailed Project Report with precise cost
estimations for creating capital assets under the schemes, and other elements
would be drawn out after proper consultation with state governments and other
central ministries.

These are the main points in the
Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana which are important for your understanding. If you can
recall these correctly, you will be able to attempt questions pertaining to VKY
easily.

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