The Ministry of Tribal Affairs had decided to set up three apex tribal research institutes for undertaking research on ground and to suggest application oriented projects for tribal development. These institutes to be set up at Orissa, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will also suggest action plans for the promotion of culture and language of tribal communities, conduct research and evaluation studies. Briefing the Members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry here today, Shri P.R. Kyndiah, Minister for Tribal Affairs said that his Ministry is actively considering 100% Central government’s funding for setting up these institutes.
Highlighting his Ministry’s initiatives for tribal welfare, Shri Kyndiah said efforts were being made to reorient the functioning of the 18 tribal research institutes already working in the various parts of the country. Now onwards, only those research studies would be allowed at these centres, which would have direct impact on the life of tribals. The institutes would also be asked to suggest activities creating economic opportunities direct or indirect for the tribals. Experts would be involved to suggest projects to promote traditional art and craft of tribals.
Participating in the discussion, Shri Rameshwar Oraon, Minister of State for Tribal Affairs stressed the need for strengthening existing tribal research institutes, he said that these institutes should work in fields to study tribal issues closely and suggest effective measures for inclusion in Government’s programmes and policies. He said that libraries at these centers to be strengthened to provide rich study material for research in tribal related issues.
Participating in the meeting, Members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee were of the view that Tribal Research Institutes should open their branches in tribal dominated pockets and their activities should be linked with the practical projects for economic and social development of the tribal people. Members also suggested there should be strict monitoring to see whether tribal welfare funds were being used genuinely. They also suggested speedy implementation of the Forest Rights Act. The meeting was attended by S/Shri Giridhar Gamang, Baliram Kashyap, Baju Ban Riyan, Rajesh Kumar Manjhi and V. Kishore Chandra S. Deo (all Members of Parliament).
Ashram Schools in tribal areas is another central govt. scheme. However, as the following PIB shows, Orissa has not been taking advantage of it in recent years. (Orissa did take advantage of it in the past.) Its not clear if this is because Orissa decided to focus more on the Ekalavya Vidyalayas as in case of the Ekalavya Vidyalayas the funding is 100% from the central govt. while in case of the Ashram Schools the funding is 50% central and 50% state. In any case, here is the recent PIB on Ashram Schools.
Ministry releases grants to the States for construction of Ashram School in Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) Areas, boys and girls hostels and Post Matric Scholarship is a continuous process. The grant-in-aid is released only if the proposals are complete in all respects including availability of land free of cost, confirmation about availability of matching share in the State budget, Utilization Certificate for grants released in previous years and physical progress reports in respect of proposals sanctioned in previous years and the availability of funds.This was stated by the Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri P.R. Kyndiah in a reply to a question by Shri M.A.M. Ramswamy in Rajya Sabha today.
The scheme-wise and year-wise funds released to States/UTs including Karnataka during last three years are as follows:
Grant in aid released under the scheme of Ashram Schools in TSP Areas
S.No.
Name of State/UT
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
Amount
Amount
Amount
1.
Gujarat
86.49
200.00
156.52
2.
Madhya Pd.
300.00
200.00
624.01
3.
Karnataka
77.51
150.00
400.00
4.
Maharashtra
86.00
50.00
256.71
5.
Chattishgarh
0
0
112.76
Total
550.00
600.00
1550.00
Grant released under the scheme of Boys/Girls Hostel to various State Govt. during the last three years.
Despite India’s "political triumph of democracy", deprived sections of the society continue to remain marginalised. One of the major reasons has been wide spread illiteracy among these sections. Literacy is an important indicator of human development index. The literacy rate for Scheduled Castes (SC) in 1991 was 37.4 per cent as compared to 57.7 per cent for others. Expressing concern over the plight of those living on the fringes of social spectrum, the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, "Independence is incomplete without social justice". It may not be out of place to mention that these marginalised sections constitute a sizable portion of our population. According to the 1991 census, the Scheduled Castes comprise 16.73 per cent. The Other Backward Castes (OBCs) constitute 52 per cent and the Minorities 18 per cent of the country’s total population.
Dr.Bhim Rao Ambedkar believed that education is everybody’s birthright and should be available to the poorest of the poor. Education is the stepping stone towards social, economic and political empowerment. In pursuance of this, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has accorded top priority to radical improvement in literacy rates among the weaker sections. It has taken several major initiatives during the last five years in this direction. Lauding these efforts the Prime Minister said at the National Convention of Minorities , "It is good that you are focusing on education. Education is an investment for development, for progress and for a better future".
Towards Self-Reliance
To meet the emerging challenges, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has embarked upon schemes to promote merit among the SC/ST students right from the beginning. One of them is the Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Scholarship Scheme for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students launched early this year to encourage merit and excellence among them from the school level. Under this scheme more then Rs.1.25 crore would be distributed as scholarship to 458 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students having secured highest marks in 26 Education Boards/ Councils in the country each year. The Social Justice & Empowerment Minister, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, described it as a historic initiative for generating self-confidence and self-reliance among SC/ST students.
The other scheme provides for upgradation of Merit of SC/ST students through cent per cent Central Assistance to the States/UTs for arranging remedial and special coaching for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students studying in class IX to XII. While remedial coaching aims at removing deficiencies in school subjects, special coaching is provided with a view to preparing students for competitive examinations for entry into professional courses like engineering and medical.
To enable them to pursue higher studies abroad, the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme to seventeen meritorious SC and ST students has also been improved. The rate of maintenance allowance has been enhanced to US $ 7,700 per annum or Pound Sterling 5,000 per annum per candidate. The scheme also provides for US $ 500 per annum for meeting various contingency expenses besides air passage, visa fee, equipment allowance and incidental expenses charged by the institution and insurance premium.
Many students belonging to the weaker sections find it difficult to compete for entry into institutions of higher learning or for employment. Consequently, the reserved quotas for them in technical and professional courses remain under-utilized. Therefore, NGOs, universities and institutions of repute are provided 90 per cent central assistance in running coaching and allied assistance programmes to prepare such students for competitive examinations.
Initiative
For their higher education, the Central Government is running a post-matric scholarship scheme for the SC students. They are also provided financial assistance. The amount varies from Rs. 90 to Rs. 425 per month for pursuing studies beyond matriculation in recognised institutions. There are other incentives also like reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees and study tour charges. The coverage under this scheme has grown at a much faster rate than that of the growth rate in the SC population. More than 93 per cent of SC students in the country are now covered under this scheme. An estimated number of over 46 lakh students have benefited from this scheme since 1999-2000.
The Central assistance under the scheme is normally provided to State /UT governments on 50:50 basis over and above the committed liability. The annual committed liability of the States during the Ninth Plan under the scheme was Rs. 231 crore. It would be Rs.390 crore per annum during the Tenth Plan as per existing pattern. The Centre is actively considering to revise the rates of maintenance allowance and other norms of the Scheme in view of the rising cost of books, school fees and food.
Yet another scholarship scheme at the pre-matric level has become popular with the children of the families engaged in occupations like scavenging and leather tanning. The number of beneficiaries increased by nearly 42 per cent during the first three years of the Ninth Plan.
The implementation of the scheme of hostels for SC boys and girls has been stepped up since 1998-1999. During the last 4 years 285 hostels were sanctioned for the boys and 183 for girls. These hostels are meant to enable the SC students pursue their studies in a congenial atmosphere. To encourage mixing among students, these hostels are allowed to accommodate non-SC students upto 10 per cent.
Two new schemes are on the anvil to boost quality education among the Scheduled Castes. These include provision of assistance to the SC students for pursuing studies in residential public schools. Under it meritorious students with family incomes of less than Rs. 1 lakh per annum would be financially assisted in getting quality education. The assistance would help them in fully meeting boarding, lodging fees and cost of study material charged by the management. It would be subject to a ceiling of Rs. 80 thousand per annum per student from Class VI to XII.
Another scheme in the pipeline envisages setting up of residential schools for SC/ST students studying between Class VI and XII. One residential school would be set up in districts where the literacy rate of the SCs is much lower than the general category. Such residential schools numbering 125 would be set up in the country with the establishment of 25 schools in each year under the Tenth Plan. The enrollment target in these schools stipulates admission to at least 30 per cent SC/ST girl students and 3 per cent disabled SC/ST students.
Yet another scheme on the anvil is to provide Bridge Education for Children living in city slum or street children. Under the scheme children between the age group of 6-10 years would be provided educational material and nutrition in the shape of one glass of milk and 2 biscuits per child per day.
Schemes for Disabled
There are about 10 million children with disabilities in the country according to the National Sample Survey Organisation Report, 1991. Reportedly being considered less productive even by their own families, they often require special learning aids and financial support besides encouragement from the scommunity to get proper education.
The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has started the Scheme of National Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities since the last financial year. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to students with disabilities for pursuing higher and technical education. To begin with 500 scholarships have been made available under the scheme. The amount of award varies from Rs.1000 per month for post-graduate courses to Rs.400 for graduate level professional courses. The awardees are also reimbursed the course fee upto Rs.10,000 per year. They are supported with financially for acquiring special aids and appliances for pursuing their studies.
The Ministry has also been providing a new thrust to not only encouraging new enrolments in schools and preventing drop-outs among the weaker and deprived sections but also imparting them with quality education. It is a new approach to tackle the problem rooted in history.
With the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a time-bound programme for imparting elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010, it is expected that all gender and social gaps would be bridged. Coupled with the provision of facilities for quality education the deprived people would be able to compete with the rest of the country’s population on a level platform. It would also create an urge among them for achieving excellence and make themselves equal partners in the country’s march towards a better future. (PIB Features)
*Contributed by Shri M.L.Dhar, Information Officer, PIB, New Delhi
The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Bill to set up a tribal university in Madhya Pradesh was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday by Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.
To be set up an estimated cost of Rs. 60 crore during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the university will have its headquarters in Amarkantak and will be a Central university.
Though headquartered in Amarkantak, it will have a number of regional centres and campuses in the tribal areas, particularly in the Indian heartland.
According to the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ attached to the Bill, Amarkantak was chosen because there was no Central university specifically catering to the population in the tribal concentrated areas of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. This is in contrast to the other area of high tribal concentration — the North-East .
While the proposed university is aimed at facilitating and promoting avenues of higher education and research facilities for the tribal population of the country, it will take in students from other sections of society also.
… Besides providing access to higher education to the tribals of Central India in particular, it will promote research in tribal art, culture, tradition, language, medicinal systems, customs, and forest-based economic activities.
My observations: The budget sounds too low. With that fixed some of the regional centers and campuses should be in Orissa.
Thousands of tribals in Orissa’s poverty ridden Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) districts may soon have access to better higher education with a central university being planned there.
The human resource development (HRD) ministry Monday said it was weighing a state government proposal to set up such a university in the region.
‘Orissa being one of such states (without a central university), its request for establishment of a central university in the tribal-dominated KBK region shall receive due consideration,’ Minister of State for HRD D. Purandeswari said.
‘Further, a bill for setting up a central tribal university is in the process of being introduced in the current session of parliament,’ Purandeswari informed the Rajya Sabha.
The proposed university shall have power to establish its regional centres in areas inhabited by tribals.
The HRD ministry had earlier said there was a proposal for setting up 16 central universities in states where there was no such university.
Often various sundry organizations oppose various industries that are coming up just for the heck of it. A better approach would be to make sure the industry does not adversely affect them and then convince the industry to do positive things for the area. The later includes setting up of engineering colleges and necessary infrastructure like township, roads, parks, playgrounds, schools, medical facilities etc. Finally such an approach is being taken by the Koshali Ekta manch vis-a-vis Vedanta and Kalahandi. Despite the fact that Vedanta is in the process of making a world class university near Puri, they should listen to this demand, if only to give value to this general approach. Moreover, making an engineering college, of the kind made by most private trusts in Orissa, does not cost much. One can start it with an initial budget of 10 crores and then it can become self -sustaining through student fees. So Vedanta should seriously consider this. Also, people in other areas where industries are coming up, or have come up should take a similar approach. For example, the people in Paradip and Kujanga, rather than being hostile to POSCO should negotiate with POSCO to establish a medical college & hospital and a top-notch engineering college like POSTECH in Korea, that was established by POSCO. Same with respect to the Tatas in Kalinganagar; people in Kalinganagar should negotiate with the TATAs to establish an engineering college and a medical college in Kalinganagar. The Mittals should be asked for the same in Patana, Keonjhar area; RSP/SAIL should be asked for the same in Rourkela; MCL+NTPC should be asked for the same in Talcher area and NALCO for the same in Anugul and Damanjodi.
Following is an excerpt of a Pioneer report that triggered the above thoughts.
Bhawanipatna: A meeting of the Koshali Ekta Manch has decided that a memorandum would be submitted on August 24 to Vedanta Alumina limited in order to establish an engineering college in Kalahandi. … Manch leaders Jagannath Mund, Govind Chandra Rath and Padma Kishore Pujari were present at the meeting.
Following is Lalit Patnaik’s report and pictures on it.
Dear Friends,
On behalf of Agami Odisha, me and Dillip Sabat has been deputed to participate in the mass rally for demand of KBK university. Our President sri Dhiren Ray wished us good luck in the departing moment.
We have to travel 700 KM to reach Malkangiri from Bhubaneswar. 350 KM by Train up to Vizaynagaram, and subsequently by Bus another 225 Km through Ghat up to Jeypore and rest 125 Km through deep jungle to Malkangiri. We reached their in the early morning hours to be received by Malkangiri MLA Mr Nimai Sarkar and his associates. We proceeded to Dandakaranya Guest House and found Police in the nook and corner of Malkangiri town, the last one of Orissa before Chattishgarah. The town is Naxal infected and it needs courage to live there, for Police as well as for People.
Mr Sadan naik, MLA of Kodinga came along with his associate by 11 am and our rally started at 11.30 am from bus stand arena. I was really surprised to see the large gathering of students( Young men and women ) of not less than 1250 in number. There were around 250 Intellectuals, business men and retired old persons. The rally was led at three places, front one by Intellectuals, the middle one by the women students and the last one by Men students. the slogan of KBK University is our demand reverberated the high walls of Malkangiri Mountain and almost entire town was by the side road watching the marathon rally of nearly 1 Km long. The rally moved for 2 hours and culminated at Collector’s Office. Collector rushed to his office from a meeting some where else so as to receive our Memorandum to the President of India. Even after handing over of memorandum, the students were in no mood to disperse but went on giving slogans for their right to have a University around KBK. The people were aghast since long, because the nearest University of Berhampur is 500 Km away from their place.
Sincerity of their demand was well visible from the eyes of those boys as well as girl students. After wards, the president of their college walked close to me and expressed his thanks to Agamee odisha for taking up their cause. In return I assured him to carry their message to the Swabhimani odiya all over the world, to support in their endeavor to get an Central funded University at KBK.
They are struggling for their right to higher education, amidst the chaos of Naxalisim. They are not demanding their land to be annexed to Chattisgarah, a very close by State, nor are they demanding for more food or money but are only asking for a Central University, which we all should fight and get it for them, is not it. Are they not real swabhimani Odiya’s ?.
While staying 700 Km away from the capital, they are reciting the song of Mother Odiya, day in and day out.
KISS, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences is made and run by the promoters of KIIT University. Hindu has a very nice article about it. Following are some excerpts.
A sister concern of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), KISS is a working dream that trained the tribal children to be self-reliant, resourceful and empowered to tackle the challenges of life.
For the visiting media team from Bangalore, KISS was an education in looking beyond urban-centric development. From the well-stocked library, hostel and computer centre to a medical facility that insured every child, KISS is also a home away from home. The institute ensures that the children have enough exposure to their tribal culture, heritage and tradition. …
Today, there are children here from most of the 52 tribes of Orissa, including 13 primitive tribes. This year, we added 700 more tribal children to reach the strength of 5,000,” he informed.
…
For 22 of the brightest from KISS students, Dr. Samanta had reserved free engineering seats in KIIT, five per cent of the total intake.
“This year, the BCA and BBM courses were opened for them. The tribal students will leave this organisation with a job.” As the KIIT Deemed University Chancellor assured this, he was working on an expansion plan: a project to add another 5,000 children to India’s biggest residential tribal school in the next three years.
Following are excerpts from a Pioneer report on this.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday met the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs PR Kyndiah in New Delhi and urged him to sanction Rs 12 crore as central share on a priority basis for the establishment of tribal hostels in the State.
Kyndiah, while acknowledging the excellent performance of the State in setting up tribal hostels, assured that all possible help would be given by his Ministry for this purpose.
It may be noted that the State Government has given a proposal for sanction of 50 per cent share of under the centrally sponsored scheme for Girls hostels for scheduled tribes for 276 hostels last year.
Patnaik also held discussion about setting up more Ekalavya Model Residential Schools for Primitive Tribal Group regions and other tribal areas. …
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs provided Rs. 15.90 crores as fellowship to more than 600 Tribal students during 2006-07 for taking up higher studies. The fellowship provided under Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme for pursuing higher studies such as M.Phil and Ph.D at universities, institutions recognized by UGC.
Each year more than 600 students are provided the fellowship for the maximum duration of five years. The scheme is implemented through UGC on behalf of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Financial assistance of Rs. 8000/- per month is provided for initial two years to Junior Research Fellow and Rs. 9000/- per month for remaining period of the fellowship.
Beside this fellowship amount, contingency fund for humanities and social sciences is also provided at the rate of Rs. 10,000/- per annum for initial two years of the fellowship and Rs. 20,500/- per annum for remaining period of the research work. In the case of sciences the Contingency fund is provided Rs. 12,000/- per annum for initial two years and Rs. 25,000/- per annum for remaining tenure of the fellowship. The Government also provides assistance to the host institute for providing infrastructure. Amount of the departmental assistance is Rs. 3000/- per annum per student. An additional assistance of Rs. 1000/- per month is provided for escorts or reader assistance in cases of physically and visually handicapped candidates.
Entire KBK districts are echoing with the demand for a Central University, thanks to the initiative of the intelligentsia of the area.
For last one week, concerned citizens of the KBK districts have been meeting at different forums, while raising their demand for a Central University.
Meetings were organized at Malkangiri, Nawrangpur, Jeypore, Koraput, Sunabeda, which culminated at Koraput on July 29.
The people’s representatives,intelectuals and a number of leaders assembled here to chalk out the future plan.
A well documented presentation … was discussed at length over the status of educational standard of the KBK districts vis-à-vis other parts of the state.
The organizers like Umi Daniel and Saroj Padhi presented the thorough researched document in a lucid manner, which has a long lasting impression on the participants of the workshop. …
Agriculturist Bibhu Mohanty of Jeypore, who improvised "Kala Jira Rice" at Kalahandi on behalf of Swaminathan group, highly appreciated the detailed study …
Lalit M Patnaik of Agamee Odisha harped on the improvement of the poor standards of higher education in the state.
Mr.Patnaik said that “they are not alone rather a large group of intellectuals inside the country and in abroad are behind the struggle to make Orissa the Major Destination of Higher Education”.
The meeting decided that crying over the poverty index is bringing shame to the state.
So the Infrastructure of Progress should be referred rather then the Poverty Index, which in itself is misleading about the progress of our State and it’s Districts.
By taking seven sub-sectors of the infrastructure such as transport, energy, irrigation, banking, communication, education and health, we can really compute the composite development index of infrastructure for different districts of Orissa, said speakers in the meeting.
Daily Pioneer reports on this. Following are some excerpts.
The State Government is working on a proposal to upgrade the six-decade-old Vikram Dev School of Art and Craft at Jeypore as a degree college from the current academic session. From now on, the school will be known as Vikram Dev College of Art and Craft, sources in the Culture Department said…
Culture Secretary Gopinath Mohanty set up a committee comprising Orissa Lalit Kala Akadami secretary Chandramani Biwal, Utkal University of Culture’s officer on special duty Bhawani Charan Biswal and BK College of Art and Craft (BKAC) principal AC Sahoo, to have an on-the-spot assessment of the situation. …
It has recommended introduction of Bachelor’s Degree programme in visual art under the Utkal University of Culture from the current academic year.
The students, who pass out of the institution, would be directly admitted to degree courses while those who were intermediates would be considered for admission after an aptitude test, the committee has observed.
… the students of the Vikram Dev College should be provided stipend, it has suggested.
The committee has advised the faculty members of the institution to run Government-affiliated Sunday Art Schools at Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Jeypore immediately to prepare the students of the KBK region for admission in the institution.
It has also recommended posting of an experienced lecturer of the Government College of Art and Craft of Khallikote as the principal of the proposed degree college to look after teaching and administration in an effective manner. …
The abandoned office of the Irrigation Department in Jeypore town could be allotted to the institution till a permanent campus comes up, the committee has stated.
Pioneer reports on this teaming up to give training to selected children from several Tribal department run schools. Following are some excerpts.
The SC & ST Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI) under the ST & SC Development Department has been organising a number of training programmes for the teachers as well as students of tribal schools to promote effective education among the tribals.
The institute, in collaboration with the Institute of Mathematics and Application (IMA) headed by eminent mathematician Professor Swadhin Pattnaik, identified 47 meritorious tribal students of Class VI from different Tribal Department-run schools and provided them an eight-day-long residential training course from July 17 to 24 to prepare them for the Mathematics Olympiad.
The training programme is considered to be unique and innovative, director of the institute, AB Ota, indicated that more and more such programmes would be held in future in the interest of tribal education.
