In the last 15 years, the upliftment of the tribal community gets new wings in Madhya Pradesh
Wednesday - November 10, 2021 11:59 pm ,
Category : MADHYA PRADESH
Bhopal 10 November 2021: It was a day of great pride for the entire tribal community when the portals of the Chief Minister's residence were opened to them. This took place at the Chief Minister’s Adivasi Chaupal. This opportunity was nothing short of a dream come true for them. This would have been their first visit outside of their village Majra tolé. For the first time thousands of tribal families from Mandla to Jhabua were visiting Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. This was the time when the vast tribal community realised that Madhya Pradesh - their home - belonged to them. It goes without saying that in the last one and a half decades, the tribal community in Madhya Pradesh has been bestowed with the honour of being the pride of this state. Under the leadership of Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Madhya Pradesh government has shown its concern for the tribal community, while making persistent efforts to make them a part of the mainstream.
Today, as we prepare to celebrate the esteemed Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, it is an appropriate time to talk about the status of the tribal community, whether after independence or after the creation of a new Madhya Pradesh. In its aim to improve the status of the tribal community, the Shivraj government has increased the budget of the Tribal Affairs department by 948%. While this budget was only ₹746.60 crore in FY 2003-04, it has been increased to ₹8085 crore in 2020-21.
The Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas being celebrated in the memory of Bhagwan Birsa Munda is dedicated to all tribal warriors. Along with the brave martyrs like Bhima Nayak, Tantia Mama, Khajya Nayak, Sangram Shah, Shankar Shah, Raghunath Shah, Rani Durgavati, Badal Bhoi, Raja Bhabhut Singh, Raghunath Mandloi Bhilala, Raja Dhillon Shah Gond, Raja Gangadhar Gond, Sardar Vishnu Singh Uikey, Madhya Pradesh also pays tributes to all those warriors who have been lost in the pages of history. We recognize the heroes of the tribal areas quite well, but it is because of the valour and sacrifice of these tribal heroes living in the forests that today we all are enjoying this freedom. It is the sole responsibility of the society to remember such bravehearts and teach the future generations of their devotion to inculcate a sense of patriotism among them. As we celebrate the 75th year of India’s freedom struggle, the Madhya Pradesh government is also organizing such events in the lands of the tribal warriors to ensure that the youth of today understand and know about the many sacrifices made by these warriors.
In order to inspire the people by the ideals and sacrifices of these great tribal heroes, the Badal Bhoi Tribal Museum complex is being constructed at Chhindwara. The construction cost of this museum will be around ₹30 crore. A memorial is being constructed in Jabalpur at a cost of ₹5 crore to commemorate the sacrifices made by Raja Shankar Shah-Raghunath Shah. Similarly, a culture museum is being set up for the Bharia Tribe at Chhindwara, Baiga tribe in Dindori and Saharia tribe at Sheopur to conserve and promote the cultures of these special backward tribal communities. The concept of these cultural museums is unique and is possibly being established for the first time in the country. There are about 50 community buildings being constructed for the social works of special backward tribes.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Government has earned its reputation as a sensitive Government. CM Chouhan has focused his attention on the following five sections as a priority: women, children, farmers, tribals and elders. In more than a decade and a half, efforts have been made to not only make these sections happy by formulating a number of schemes but also to connect them with the mainstream of the society. The previous Governments have never put the tribal community on their priority list. After 2005, the Shivraj Singh Government has made tremendous efforts towards the welfare of the tribal community. This community has been gifted with exceptional natural abilities. They hold the valuable gift of art in them and are full of talent, but were kept behind closed doors before the Shivraj Singh government came into power and brought them out for the world to behold.
Education opens the door to development and the Shivraj Singh government was the first to make proper arrangements to provide education for the tribal community. Today many of the children from the tribal community who had never seen a school, or had discontinued their education after studying till 3 or 4 classes, are pursuing degrees in engineering and medical sciences. They are even pursuing further studies across the seven seas, and bringing fame to the state. When there was no provision for coaching classes for these tribal students until 2011, the Shivraj Singh government started free coaching classes for UPSC examinations. In the first year, 60 students were provided with coaching facilities and in view of the interest shown by the students, the Government increased the number of seats to 100.
Similarly, a scheme was launched to provide scholarships to students of this community to pursue overseas education. Initially, there was a provision to provide 10 scholarships, which was increased to 50 scholarships.The Government also provides scholarships to pursue PhD. the government has made the process to study from class I to even PhD quite simple by providing scholarships to help these students pursue their goals.
Under the Pratibha Yojana, an incentive of ₹50,000 is provided to students enrolled in reputed government institutions from JEE, IIT, AIIMS, NDA, CLAT to NLIU, to create the interest of the students from tribal communities towards education. Additionally, an amount of ₹25,000 is provided as an incentive for NEET Medical College, JEE NIT, IHM, NIFT and FDDI. The New Aspiration Scheme of Shivraj Singh Government has introduced coaching facilities at four divisional headquarters of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior to enable preparation for National Competitive Examinations. Each of these centres provide coaching to 200 students for engineering, 100 for medical and 100 students for CLAT examinations. Along with providing education for classes XI and XII, the government is also providing two years of training with a residential facility through reputed coaching institutes. Computer skill centres are being set up at Chhindwara, Shahdol, Mandla, Shivpuri and Sheopur in the state for the youth from the special backward tribes.
The Shivraj Singh Government is committed to giving the rights to the tribal community. With respect to this, the Forest Rights Act, 2006 is being implemented effectively. Out of 6 lakh 24 thousand 889 claims received so far, 2 lakh 63 thousand 916 claims have been accepted and provided with their rights. 33,852 claims were validated by re-examining the families whose claims had been rejected.
These figures and facts indicate that the Government of Madhya Pradesh is committed towards the welfare of the tribal community. It is a community that is harmonious with nature and teaches us that one can lead a life of contentment and happiness even with little. We must recognise that tribal communities do not exploit nature, but protect it. Every moment of their lives is associated with water, forest and land, hence they worship nature as god. The tribal society lives with simplicity, and therefore, is the pride and identity of Madhya Pradesh.
The previous governments did not allow the tribal society to grow and develop. Their art was never promoted in the society, due to which the tribal community, which had always been self-sufficient, started feeling helpless. In the last decade, the Madhya Pradesh government understood the pain of this society and developed several new projects to make them self-reliant. Moving in-step with the Modi government, the Madhya Pradesh government provided the tribal community with an opportunity to grow by creating concepts like ‘local to vocal’ and ‘one district, one product.’ The tribal community of Madhya Pradesh engages in farming, collection of forest produce, animal husbandry, fisheries, handicrafts such as bamboo crafts, wood crafts, soil crafts and metal crafts. The Madhya Pradesh government has announced that forest produce and forest medicines will be promoted under the ‘Devaranya Scheme’ and forest produce will be procured at MSP. The Madhya Pradesh government not only informed the world about the art skills of the tribal community but also provided access to markets so that their products could get a fair price.
The revolutionary decision of the Madhya Pradesh government is to free the tribal community from moneylenders and it is also a priority for the Government to relieve them of unnecessary burden of debt. The Amount of Interest has been fixed in the Madhya Pradesh Scheduled Tribes Moneylenders Regulations, 1972, making it more effective as now moneylenders will be required to obtain licences and penal action will be taken against those who charge more than the prescribed interest amount. With a view to providing maximum facilities to tribal families, the State Government is launching the "Ration Aapke Gram" scheme. This is an innovative scheme that will provide support to tribal families.
The Shivraj Singh Government is constantly striving to raise the standard of living of the tribal community in Madhya Pradesh, and to provide them with adequate opportunities to become self-reliant. The efforts made, in the past decade and a half, to connect the tribal community with the mainstream of society have shown a positive impact, especially among the tribal youth – Window to News
