# Ministry of Tribal Affairs

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA) is an Indian Government ministry charged with overall development of Scheduled Tribe communities of India by providing them education, scholarships, grants to create more health infrastructure in tribal communities, preservation of Tribal Culture & languages and direct cash transfer schemes to economically backward tribal families.

## History

The ministry was set up in 1999 after the bifurcation of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (India) to have a more focused approach on the integrated socio-economic development of the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the most underprivileged of the Indian Society. Before the formation of the ministry the tribal Affairs was being handled by different ministries which were:
* As a Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs known as Tribal Division since after independence up to September 1985.
* Ministry of Welfare: From September 1985 to May 1998.
* Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment from May 1998 to September 1999.

## Functions of the ministry

* Tribal Welfare-Planning, Policy formulation, Research and Training.
* Tribal development including scholarships to STs.
* Promotion of voluntary efforts in development of STs.
* Administrative Ministry with respect to matters concerning Scheduled Areas.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the Nodal Ministry for overall policy, planning and coordination of programmes of development for Scheduled Tribes.

## Organisations

Ministry has one Commission, One Public Sector Undertaking and one Co-operative Society under its administrative control, namely :
* National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)
* National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC)
* Tribal Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED)

## Cabinet ministers

The Minister of Tribal Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India.
| No. | Portrait | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | Prime Minister |
| No. | Portrait | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | From | To | Period | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | Prime Minister |
| 1 | | | Jual Oram (born 1961) MP for Sundargarh | 13 October 1999 | 22 May 2004 | 4 years, 222 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vajpayee III | | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| 2 | | | Paty Ripple Kyndiah (1928–2015) MP for Shillong | 23 May 2004 | 22 May 2009 | 4 years, 364 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan I | | Manmohan Singh |
| 3 | | | Kantilal Bhuria (born 1950) MP for Ratlam | 29 May 2009 | 12 July 2011 | 2 years, 44 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan II | | Manmohan Singh |
| 4 | | | V. Kishore Chandra Deo (born 1947) MP for Araku | 12 July 2011 | 26 May 2014 | 2 years, 318 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan II | | Manmohan Singh |
| (1) | | | Jual Oram (born 1961) MP for Sundargarh | 27 May 2014 | 30 May 2019 | 5 years, 3 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | | Narendra Modi |
| 5 | | | Arjun Munda (born 1968) MP for Khunti | 31 May 2019 | 9 June 2024 | 5 years, 9 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi II | | Narendra Modi |
| (1) | | | Jual Oram (born 1961) MP for Sundargarh | 10 June 2024 | Incumbent | 237 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi III | | Narendra Modi |

## Ministers of state

| No. | Portrait | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | Prime Minister |
| No. | Portrait | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | From | To | Period | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | Prime Minister |
| 1 | | | Faggan Singh Kulaste (born 1959) MP for Mandla | 22 November 1999 | 22 May 2004 | 4 years, 182 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vajpayee III | | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| 2 | | | Rameshwar Oraon (born 1947) MP for Lohardaga | 6 April 2008 | 22 May 2009 | 1 year, 46 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan I | | Manmohan Singh |
| 3 | | | Tushar Amarsinh Chaudhary (born 1965) MP for Bardoli | 28 May 2009 | 19 January 2011 | 1 year, 236 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan II | | Manmohan Singh |
| 4 | | | Ranee Narah (born 1965) MP for Lakhimpur | 28 October 2012 | 26 May 2014 | 1 year, 210 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan II | | Manmohan Singh |
| 5 | | | Mansukhbhai Vasava (born 1957) MP for Bharuch | 26 May 2014 | 5 July 2016 | 2 years, 40 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | | Narendra Modi |
| 6 | | | Jasvantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor (born 1966) MP for Dahod | 5 July 2016 | 30 May 2019 | 2 years, 329 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | | Narendra Modi |
| 7 | | | Sudarshan Bhagat (born 1969) MP for Lohardaga | 3 September 2017 | 30 May 2019 | 1 year, 269 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | | Narendra Modi |
| 8 | | | Renuka Singh Saruta (born 1964) MP for Sarguja | 31 May 2019 | 7 December 2023 | 4 years, 190 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi II | | Narendra Modi |
| 9 | | | Bishweswar Tudu (born 1965) MP for Mayurbhanj | 7 July 2021 | 9 June 2024 | 2 years, 338 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi II | | Narendra Modi |
| 10 | | | Bharati Pawar (born 1978) MP for Dindori | 7 December 2023 | 9 June 2024 | 185 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi II | | Narendra Modi |
| 11 | | | Durga Das Uikey (born 1963) MP for Betul | 10 June 2024 | Incumbent | 237 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi III | | Narendra Modi |

## Initiatives
### Van Dhan Samajik Doori Jagrookta Abhiyaan

Amidst the COVID-19 crisis in May 2020 the TRIFED, a cooperative body under Ministry of Tribal Affairs registered under Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act launched this scheme in order to educate the tribals in COVID related safety measures. Nationwide and state specific webinars were organised in order to bring awareness on the issue. The Ministry also revised Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor forest products (MFP) to be procured from the tribals under MSP for MFP scheme meanwhile promoting door to door procurement and sale through mobile vans. The program was launched in association with UNICEF.

### Swasthya portal

Ministry of tribal affairs launched the Swasthya portal, which will act as one stop solution for matters related to health and nutrition status of the Scheduled Tribes. The Ministry's centre of excellence for knowledge management in health and nutrition will manage the portal and it will be hosted on National Informatics Centre cloud.

### Going online as leaders program (GOAL)

The Ministry had partnered with Facebook to launch "GOAL" program which aims at training 5000 tribal youths through digital education in order to make them emerge as the village level digital young leaders of their community. The scheme includes distribution of mobile phones for the promotion of digital literacy and to narrow the digital divide among various section of population.

### ALEKH

It is an e-newsletter launched by the Ministry in order to showcase the efforts of various stakeholders which are involved in improving the health and wellbeing of tribal population. It will be launched on quarterly basis.