As per the forest right act all the tribal who possess the ownership rights of the forest lands can avail the benefits of a wide range of government schemes, said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during the Gujarat tribal advisory committee headed by him.
The tribal of the state should not only avail the land rights but also get hold of the benefits offered by government schemes to empower themselves and thereby they can play their roles in the development. The state government is always committed to help them out, said Mr. Modi. He further appealed to the officials to play rather pro-active roles for the same.
In this tribal advisory committee, tribal welfare and forest minister Ganpat Vasava, minister of state Jashvantsinh Bhabhor, MLAs, chief secretary and all the senior secretaries made representations on various subjects related to all-round development and empowerment of the tribal communities in Gujarat.
The state government has prioritized the tribal welfare matters and the works worth Rs. 40,000 crores are under implementation under the five-year second phase of (2012 to 2017) Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana in 43 talukas of the eastern tribal belt of Gujarat.
The new generation of the schedule tribes is extremely aware of higher education and bearing this in mind, the state government has decided to provide the coaching classes to the tribal students in every tribal talukas so that they can crack the entrance test for pursuing medical education.
With the successful implementation of Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana, there are new 33 I.T.I, three engineering colleges, two science and agricultural colleges and four polytechnic colleges have been started up in the entire tribal areas of Gujarat. In this year, there are new seven Eklavya Model Residential Schools and seven Girl residential schools have also been started. During the first five years of Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana, the works worth Rs. 17,200 crores for infrastructural facilities, development and empowerment have been completed against the total budget of Rs. 15000 crores, which were oulined during the meet.
In 2001, the tapped potable water connections were just 3.9% in the tribal houses, which are now increased by more than 43%. Moreover, new 64-electricity sub-station has also been started for the tribal areas. In this meeting, it has been informed that the water management project worth Rs. 3850 crores in the eastern tribal belt from Ambaji to Umagam will surely enrich the tribal lands.
Earlier, the annual income limit for the tribal families in order to recieve benefits of various schemes including housing was Rs. 11,000 and Rs.24,000 in rural and urban areas. This has been increased to Rs. 27,000 and Rs. 36,000 respectively.
