Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, Jan 8: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today directed the Finance Department to earmark a minimum of 10% of the budget in all departments for the promotion of Tribal Affairs. He passed these directions while reviewing the functioning of the Department in a meeting here at the Civil Secretariat.
Farooq Khan, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary Planning, Development and Monitoring Department; Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner/Secretary, School Education & Social Welfare; Abdul Majid Bhat, Secretary, Cooperatives and Tribal Affairs; Sh. Mohammad Saleem, Director Tribal Affairs, J&K and other senior officers attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Murmu passed various directions pertaining to the welfare of Tribal communities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and set a timeline of three months for their implementation.
The meeting was informed that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India has released Rs 30.10 cr in December 2019 as Special Assistance to Tribal Sub-Plan and under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India for the development of Infrastructure and other Tribal welfare initiatives in J&K.
The Lt Governor observed that the promotion of Tribal Affairs required a focused attention and directed the Finance Department for a minimum of 10% of the annual budget in all departments dedicated towards the promotion of tribal welfare schemes.
Stressing the high importance of promoting the interests and wellbeing of the tribal community at the grass root level, he directed the officers to roll out a mechanism for the creation of special posts or some alternative mechanism for looking after the tribal affairs at the District level.
The Lt Governor also reviewed the facilities available in the Tribal Hostels in J&K and directed for providing all the basic amenities to the inmates. He further asked the officers to monitor the enrolment and dropout of the tribal students in educational institutions across Jammu and Kashmir.
Murmu emphasized on enhancing capacity building and skill development among the tribal communities and directed for reviewing of enrolment of Tribal students in ITIs and other skill development institutions. He further asked the officers to lay stress on convergence of welfare schemes for their effective implementation, which may benefit the tribal population. He also directed for construction of bunkers in the shelling prone areas along the International Border and Line of Control.
The meeting was informed that 24 Tribal Hostels (6 Girls and 18 Boys) with 2495 inmates are functional in J&K while 17 other such hostels are under construction. Further, under Prime Minister’s Investment Package (PMIP), 79 new tribal hostels for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been proposed. It was also informed that a total of 11540 ST students have been provided Post-Matric Scholarship during 2018-19.
The meeting was also briefed about various initiatives undertaken for the welfare of Tribal community in the UT of J&K including development of Cluster Tribal Model Villages, establishment of Milk Villages and Milk Chilling Plants, provisions of health facilities, electrification and rural Infrastructure in Tribal areas, pre-Matric scholarship to ST students and Eklavya model Residential Schools for tribal students etc.
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