Lok Sabha Question No. 3633 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-15
Subject: Lifespan of STs People
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Santokh Singh Chaudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 3633

TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.07.2019

## LIFESPAN OF STs PEOPLE

## 3633.  SHRI SANTOKH SINGH CHAUDHARY:

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the people from Scheduled Tribes (STs) have a lifespan that is three years shorter than that of other Indians;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons for their shorter lifespan; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to increase the average age of the STs population, if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRIBAL AFFAIRS (Smt. RENUKA SINGH SARUTA)

(a)to  (b):  Yes,  sir.According  to  the  report  of  the  expert  committee  of  Tribal  Health,    the International  Institute  for  Population  Sciences,  Mumbai  analysed  data  from  the  national Census 2011 to estimate, by indirect methods, the life expectancy for the Scheduled Tribes (STs)  and  non-ST  population  in  India.  These  estimates,  as  published  in  the  Lancet,  2016, show that life expectancy at birth for ST population in India is 63.9 years, as against 67 years for  general  population.  The  reasons  for  shorter  lifespan  include  gaps  in  various  health  and nutritional indicators, education level, poverty level, between ST and non-STs, traditional life styles,remoteness of habitations & dispersed population.

- (c):  The  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  the  average  age  of  the  ST  population include the following:

Under National Health Mission (NHM), support is being provided to States for strengthening  their  healthcare  system  including  for  upgradation  of  existing  and  setting  up new  public  health  infrastructure  based  on  requirements  posed  by  the  States/UTs  in  their Programme Implementation Plans. Under NHM, tribal areas already enjoy relaxed norms for setting  up  public  health  facilities  i.e.,  against  the  population  norms  of  5000,  30,000,  and 1,20,000 for setting up of Sub Centre, Primary Health Centre and Community Health Centre in plan areas respectively, the norms in tribal and desert areas  are 3000, 20,000 and 80,000 respectively. A new norm of 'time to care' has also been adopted for setting up Sub Centres in  tribal  areas  within  30  minutes  of  walk  from  habitation  and  relaxed  norm  for  Mobile Medical  Units  (MMU)  for  tribal  areas;extra  one  MMU  if  it  exceeds  30  patients  per  day against 60 patients per day in plain areas for bringing healthcare delivery to the doorsteps of the population.

All  tribal  districts  whose  composite  health  index  is  below  the  State  average  have  been identified as High Priority Districts(HPDs) and receive more resources per capita under the NHM as compared to the rest of the districts in the State. Out of 256 identified new HPDs, 101 are tribal districts. Further, all the tribal districts which are not covered under HPDs have been  designated  as  special  focus  districts.  These  districts  would  receive  higher  per  capita funding,  relaxed  norms,  enhanced  monitoring  and  focussed  supportive  supervision,  and encouraged  to  adopt  innovative  approaches  to  address  their  peculiar  health  challenges. Technical  support  from  all  sources  is  also  being  harmonised  and  aligned  with  NHM  to support implementation of key intervention packages.

As per the budget announcement 2017-18, 1.5 lakh Health Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres  are  being  transformed  into  Health  and  Wellness  Centres  (HWCs)  for  provision  of comprehensive primary care that includes preventive and health promotion at the community level with continuum of care approach across the country for all population including tribals.

The  Ayushman  Bharat  -  Health  and  Wellness  Centres  (AB-HWCs)  aim  to  provide  an expanded range of services to include care for non - communicable diseases, palliative and rehabilitative  care,  Oral,  Eye  and  ENT  care,  mental  health  and  first  level  care  for emergencies and trauma as well as Health promotion and wellness activities like Yoga apart from services already being provided for Maternal and Child Health including immunization and communicable diseases. So  far,  approvals  for  52,744  AB-HWCs  have  been  accorded  and  as  reported  by  the States/UTs, 19,501 AB-HWCs are operationalized till 1 st July, 2019. The schemes implemented by Ministry of Human Resource Development include,Saakshar Bharat, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), SamagraShikha on Scheduled Tribe

Children, the Right of Children of Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

The  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  is  implementing  major  programmes  namely Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Act  (MGNREGA)  for  wage employment, DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission(DAYNRLM) for livelihoods  promotion  through  self-employment,  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  Sadak Yojana  for  rural  connectivity,  National  Social  Assistance  Programme  (NSAP)  for  social assistance to rural poor.  These programmes are aimed at betterment of rural livelihoods and overall development of rural areas through creation of employment opportunities, infrastructures and providing social assistance to the rural poor including the scheduled tribes and backward categories of the country.

Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  is  also  implementing  a  number  of schemes such as Anganwadi Services under which six services i.e. Supplementary Nutrition, Pre-school  Education,  Health  &  Nutrition  Education,  Immunization,  Health  Check-up  and Referral Services are provided at the AWCs;  Pradhan MantriMatruVandanaYojana (PMMVY) under which cash incentives are given to the pregnant women for first child birth; Scheme for Adolescent Girls under which nutritional support is provided to the  11-14 years out  of  school  Adolescent  Girls,  etc.,  for  improving  the  health  conditions  of  women  and children including those in the tribal areas.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs supplements the efforts of Central line Ministries as well as State Governments for addressing needs of education, health and nutrition, skill development, livelihood etc. of tribals/ tribal areasby way of critical gaps filling. The schemes implemented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs are given at Annexure .

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Annexure

## LIST OF SCHEMES/PROGRAMMES OF THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

|   SI. No. | Name of Schemes / Programmes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Tribal Sub Scheme (TSS)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|         2 | Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|         3 | Scholarships / Fellowship schemes for Scheduled Tribes (STs) Students: a. Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme for ST students b. Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for ST students c. National Overseas Scholarship for ST students d. National Fellowship and Scholarship for Higher Education of ST students |
|         4 | Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|         5 | Grants-in-aid to Voluntary Organisations Working for welfare of STs                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|         6 | Strengthening Education among ST Girls in Low Literacy Districts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|         7 | Grants-in-aid to Tribal Research Institutes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|         8 | Umbrella Programme for Development of Scheduled Tribes - Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana a. Supporting Projects of All India or Inter-State nature: b. Centre of Excellence: c. Tribal Festival:                                                                                                             |
|         9 | Institutional Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products/Produce                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|        10 | Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Mechanism of marketing of Development of Value Chain for MFP                                                                                                                                                                       |
|        11 | Support to National / State Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporations                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |

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