Lok Sabha Question No. 3096 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-15
Subject: Schemes of Tribals during COVID-19 Pandemic
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Arvind Dharmapuri

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS)

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3096

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.03.2021

## SCHEMES OF TRIBALS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

3096.   SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI :

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has introduced any new schemes for the development of Tribals across the country during COVID -19 pandemic;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) details of the funds allocated to these new schemes, State and UTs wise;
- (d) whether the Government has any mechanism to deliver these schemes to the tribals living in extremely remote areas; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to (e):      No any new scheme was introduced by Ministry of Tribal Affairs during COVID -19 pandemic.  However, The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has taken up the following proactive measures to lessen the adverse effects on tribal community during the Covid-19 pandemic
-  On request of this Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs vide Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 16/04/20 issued guidelines aiming to relax the provisions of lockdown for Collection, harvesting and processing of Minor Forest Produce(MFP)/ Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) by STs and other forest dwellers in forest areas across the country.
-  The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs wrote letters to Chief Ministers of 15 States to sensitize respective State Nodal Agencies for undertaking procurement of Minor Forest Produce (MFP)  at  Minimum  Support  Price  (MSP)  in  right  earnest.  These  States  include  Uttar Pradesh; Gujarat; Madhya Pradesh; Karnataka; Maharashtra; Assam; Andhra Pradesh;  Kerala;  Manipur;  Nagaland;  West  Bengal;  Rajasthan;  Odisha; Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
-  Amid COVID-19 situation, MoTA revised the minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce and also added 37 new items under the MFP list taking the total number of MFPs under the scheme to 87 while providing a fillip to the Income generating activities of tribals through MFP Procurement. During 2020-21, the State Government procured MFPs worth

Rs. 157.51 crores to provide immediate livelihood support to tribal MFP gatherers. Statewise details of MFP procurement is enclosed as Annexure 1 .

-  The Ministry disbursed an amount of Rs. 1986.31 crores to 35.2 lakh tribal students under Pre and Post-matric scholarship scheme through DBT during 2020-21 amid the pandemic situation to provide essential support for continuation of education. The State-wise funds released and number of beneficiaries is as per Annexure 2 .
-  The  Ministry  also  disbursed  an  amount  of  Rs.  1539.93  crores  to  States  under  major schemes  viz Special Central Assistance to Tribal  Sub-Scheme  (SCA  to  TSS), Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), Minimum Support Price to Minor Forest Produce (MSP to MFP)  and Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution for various activities related to welfare and development of Scheduled Tribes including livelihood support as detailed at Annexure 3 .
-  TRIFED was asked to coordinate with States to ascertain the problems being faced by tribals  in  disposal  of  MFPs,  quantum  of  MFPs  available  with  States,  strategy  for procurement along with plan for storage, value addition and sale of MFP and TRIFED also organised a Webinar in association with UNICEF wherein members of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras were made aware about COVID-19 and related health issues.
-  State Governments took various steps to shut down 'haat bazars', where traders from urban  areas  visit  during  weekly  markets  and  also  ASHA  workers  are  on  the  job  to create  awareness  on  sanitation  and  hygiene,  social  distancing  practice  among  the PVTGs and other tribal areas.
-  The State/UT Governments   were   requested   by   the   Ministry for conducting awareness in tribal areas through grassroots level service providers (i.e. ASHA, AWW, ANM) on social distancing, wearing of masks and hand wash etc.
-  Ministry  vide  letter  No.  08/02/2020-Livelihood  dated  22.12.2020  to  Tribal  Welfare Department  of  all  States/UTs  requested  the  support  of  state  officials  for  vaccine administration including generating awareness on Covid-19 vaccination among the tribal communities and their mobilization.

Annexure 1 referred to in reply to part (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question for answer on 15.03.2021

Values of MFPs procured by States during 2020-21*

| Sl. No.   | States                 |   Value of MFP (Rs in lakhs) |
|-----------|------------------------|------------------------------|
| 1         | Chhattisgarh           |                     11375.3  |
| 2         | Gujarat                |                       345.89 |
| 3         | Jharkhand (JHAMCOFED)  |                         7.91 |
| 3         | Jharkhand (JASCOLAMPF) |                       402.87 |
| 4         | Maharashtra            |                        31.59 |
| 5         | Andhra Pradesh         |                        96.09 |
| 6         | Madhya Pradesh         |                        96.1  |
| 7         | Odisha                 |                      3032.62 |
| 8         | Rajasthan              |                         5.92 |
| 9         | West Bengal            |                        28.44 |
| 10        | Manipur                |                         1.2  |
| 11        | Nagaland ( DUDA)       |                        12.4  |
| 12        | Uttar Pradesh          |                         0    |
| 13        | Kerala                 |                         3.8  |
| 14        | Karnataka              |                        41.54 |
| 15        | Assam                  |                        34.79 |
| 16        | Tripura ( TRPC Ltd.)   |                         0    |
| 16        | Tripura (MARKFED)      |                         0    |
| 17        | Tamil Nadu             |                         0    |
| 18        | Mizoram                |                         0    |
| 19        | Telangana#             |                       235.19 |
|           | Total                  |                     15751.7  |

Note : #Telangana State procured MFPs from State /Own Fund.

*Procurement as on date.

## Annexure 2 referred to in reply to part (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question for answer on 15.03.2021

## State-wise fund disbursement and beneficiary data under scholarship scheme of MoTA for 2020-21

|        |                      | Pre-matric                    | Pre-matric                                             | Post-matric                   | Post-matric                                             |
|--------|----------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| Sl.No. | Name of the State/UT | Fund Released (Rs. In lakhs)* | Beneficaries (Estimated As per Proposal by States/UTs) | Fund Released (Rs. In lakhs)* | Beneficiaries (Estimated As per Proposal by States/UTs) |
| 1      | Andaman & Nicobar    | 12.33                         | 450                                                    | 13.29                         | 700                                                     |
| 2      | Andhra Pradesh       | 1433.81                       | 63653                                                  | 6039.35                       | 181921                                                  |
| 3      | Arunachal Pradesh    | 0                             | 0                                                      | 5712.96                       | 24000                                                   |
| 4      | Assam                | 0                             | 0                                                      | 5413.54                       | 0                                                       |
| 5      | Bihar                | 0                             | 55198                                                  | 708.22                        | 19513                                                   |
| 6      | Chhattisgarh         | 1614.55                       | 149574                                                 | 4336.77                       | 158892                                                  |
| 7      | Dadar & Nagar Haveli | 234                           | 5548                                                   | 1688.14                       | 0                                                       |
| 8      | Goa                  | 41.35                         | 3475                                                   | 458.18                        | 6412                                                    |
| 9      | Gujarat              | 2198.84                       | 0                                                      | 22977.64                      | 0                                                       |
| 10     | Himachal Pradesh     | 91.87                         | 3534                                                   | 0                             | 5121                                                    |
| 11     | Jammu & Kashmir      | 0                             | 11470                                                  | 0                             | 27839                                                   |
| 12     | Jharkhand            | 0                             | 114609                                                 | 0                             | 83374                                                   |
| 13     | Karnataka            | 0                             | 62126                                                  | 0                             | 129094                                                  |
| 14     | Kerala               | 116.56                        | 11220                                                  | 3285.25                       | 16663                                                   |
| 15     | Ladakh               | 42.27                         | 3450                                                   | 738                           | 8200                                                    |
| 16     | Madhya Pradesh       | 5429.34                       | 350865                                                 | 12344                         | 350000                                                  |
| 17     | Maharasthra          | 0                             | 111939                                                 | 18149.52                      | 157070                                                  |
| 18     | Manipur              | 0                             | 0                                                      | 2184.19                       | 50000                                                   |
| 19     | Mizoram              | 167.86                        | 17000                                                  | 3446.82                       | 47000                                                   |
| 20     | Nagaland             | 60.75                         | 3000                                                   | 3226.37                       | 43373                                                   |
| 21     | Odisha               | 6944.96                       | 196355                                                 | 19095.97                      | 180109                                                  |
| 22     | Puducherry           | 1.63                          |                                                        | 19.56                         |                                                         |
| 23     | Rajasthan            | 3126.9                        | 202588                                                 | 25557.03                      | 315315                                                  |
| 24     | Sikkim               | 9.41                          | 414                                                    | 553.83                        | 5317                                                    |
| 25     | Tamil Nadu           | 241                           | 13471                                                  | 3328.99                       |                                                         |
| 26     | Telangana            | 0                             | 6000                                                   | 27297.83                      | 142167                                                  |
| 27     | Tripura              | 82.13                         | 12627                                                  | 4804.98                       | 26092                                                   |
| 28     | Uttar Pradesh        | 0                             | 0                                                      | 2218.67                       | 19782                                                   |
| 29     | Uttrakhand           | 138.24                        | 7117                                                   | 0                             | 7164                                                    |
| 30     | West Bengal          | 788.22                        | 41438                                                  | 2256.42                       | 68804                                                   |
|        | Total                | 22776.02                      | 1447121                                                |                               | 2073922                                                 |
|        |                      |                               |                                                        | 175855.5                      |                                                         |

## Annexure 3 Annexure 3 referred to in reply to part (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question for

## answer on 15.03.2021

## Release of funds to States during 2020-21 under major schemes of MoTA / Grant as on 28.02.2021

(Rs. in lakh)

|   Sl. No | State/ UT         |   Article 275 (1) Grants |   SCA to TSS |   PVTGs |   MSP to MFP |
|----------|-------------------|--------------------------|--------------|---------|--------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh    |                  2055.55 |      3205.8  | 1245.51 |         0    |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh |                  4894    |      4465.5  |    0    |         0    |
|        3 | Assam             |                  4592.37 |      3361.09 |    0    |         0    |
|        4 | Bihar             |                     0    |       994    |    0    |         0    |
|        5 | Chhattisgarh      |                  8484.43 |      8769.06 |  989.32 |         0    |
|        6 | Goa               |                     0    |       724.26 |    0    |         0    |
|        7 | Gujarat           |                  5940.04 |      9358.36 |  552.2  |         0    |
|        8 | Himachal Pradesh  |                  1161    |      1367    |    0    |         0    |
|        9 | Jharkhand         |                  8993.12 |      6743.55 | 1136.06 |         0    |
|       10 | Karnataka         |                  3305.68 |         0    |  438.46 |         0    |
|       11 | Kerala            |                     0    |       459.15 |   88    |         0    |
|       12 | Madhya Pradesh    |                  4279.78 |         0    | 2188.11 |         0    |
|       13 | Maharashtra       |                  4573.16 |         0    |  753.67 |         0    |
|       14 | Manipur           |                     0    |         0    |    0    |         0    |
|       15 | Meghalaya         |                     0    |         0    |    0    |         0    |
|       16 | Mizoram           |                  1909.71 |      1236.22 |    0    |        91.5  |
|       17 | Nagaland          |                  1717.38 |      1515.5  |    0    |         0    |
|       18 | Odisha            |                  4685.24 |      9010.42 | 1202    |         0    |
|       19 | Rajasthan         |                  9011    |      5910.5  |  968    |         0    |
|       20 | Sikkim            |                   516    |         0    |    0    |         0    |
|       21 | Tamil Nadu        |                     0    |       377.47 |  551.08 |       259.91 |

| 22.   | Telangana     |   2517.00 |   3451.00 |   1460.50 |   0.00 |
|-------|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| 23.   | Tripura       |    201.74 |   1173.3  |    231.43 |   0    |
| 24.   | Uttar Pradesh |    927.43 |    508.83 |     82.04 |   0    |
| 25.   | Uttarakhand   |      0    |    757.8  |    295    |   0    |
| 26.   | West Bengal   |   4041.14 |   3746    |    519.4  |   0    |
|       | Total         |  73805.8  |  67134.8  |  12700.8  | 351.41 |

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