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| The government plans to give nomadic tribals a roof above their heads. |
Ranchi, Aug. 4: The tribal welfare department has decided to allot houses under the Birsa Munda Awas Yojana to nine primitive tribes to save them from extinction.
According to department records, the total population of all the primitive tribal groups is only 1,93,827. While the Hill Khariyas number about 1,554, there are only 5,826 Birhors and 7,210 Birajiyas in the state. The Asuras number 8,841 and there are 9,904 Savars. The Sauriya Paharias have a population of 61121, followed by the Mal Pahariyas with 60,756. The total strength of Korbas is 25733 and that of Pahariyas is 12882.
Sources said the government has decided to provide them with permanent houses, despite recommendations by anthropologists B. Elvin and Kumar Suresh Singh that primitive tribal groups should be allowed to lead their own life. They said most of these tribes still lead a nomadic life and depend on the forests for their livelihood.
The Birsa Munda Awas Yojana aims at providing houses to all the members of primitive tribes for the next 10 years. The list of beneficiaries will be prepared by the micro economic safety organisation (Meso) officers and district welfare officers.
During 2002-03, Rs 3 lakh was released for the construction of 6,538 houses, of which 1,726 have so far been completed. Tribal welfare minister Ramesh Singh Munda said the officials have been directed to complete the remaining houses by August 7.
Sources said the government had initially sanctioned Rs 56,000 for the construction of each house. Later, the amount was raised to Rs 64,600. In the current fiscal, Rs 2 lakh have been sanctioned for the construction of 3,916 houses.
Tribal welfare commissioner N.M. Kulkarni said the average life span of the primitive tribes has gone down. He said the government had been providing them with mobile health services, and had introduced welfare schemes to improve their lives. However, as the tribals kept moving the projects failed. “Once they have a permanent house to live in, they will also start availing of the welfare schemes. The houses will have two rooms each and are far better than the ones provided under the Indira Awas Yojana,” said Kulkarni.
However, a senior official of the department said it was doubtful whether the schemes would ever bear results as their execution depended solely upon deputy commissioners. He said most deputy commissioners are over worked and seldom convene review meetings to monitor the functioning of the schemes.
During 2002-03, the budgetary provision for welfare schemes in Jharkhand was Rs 210.86 crore. Out of this Rs 185.02 crore was sanctioned and released. In the current fiscal, the total budget amount was Rs 211.18 crore, of which Rs 149.61 crore have been released.
“The 2002-03 budget was prepared on the basis of rough estimates. That explains the small gap between the total budget amount under the plan head and the actual amount sanctioned and released. This time we have tried to prepare a more realistic budget”. said welfare secretary Sukhdeo Singh.