Lok Sabha Question No. 190 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-03
Subject: Tribal Development Schemes
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Thomas Chazhikadan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.190

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2020

## TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES

## 190: SHRI THOMAS CHAZHIKADAN

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  any  inter-ministerial  mechanism  to  speed  up  the  implementation  of  tribal development schemes and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether primary infrastructures like roads, power lines, community health centers, drinking water projects are badly affected due to stop memos issued by forest departments in the country;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  any  plan  to  settle  such  disputes  as  early  as  possible  by  establishing  interministerial committee; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)to(e):  Scheduled  Tribe  Component  (STC)  /  Tribal  Sub-Plan  (TSP)  isthe  dedicated  source  of  fund  for  tribal development across the country including infrastructures like roads, power lines, community health centers, drinking water.  41 Central Ministries including Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change have been mandated to earmark Tribal Sub-Plan funds in the range of 4.3% to 17.5% of their total Scheme allocation every year for tribal development. Since 2017 Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has been given mandate for monitoring of STC funds of  Central  Ministries  based  on  the  framework  and  mechanism  designed  by  NITI  Aayog.  Accordingly,  an  online monitoring system has been put in place with web address stcmis.gov.in.   The framework captures data directly from Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and gives inputs to see through expenditure vis-a- vis allocations. Besides, Nodal Officers have been designated in the line Ministries / Departments for coordination and monitoring. Meetings with nodal officers were held on 04.08.2017, 13.04.2018, 25.06.2018, 12/13.07.2018, 29-30.11.2018, 7 th & 12-13.6.2019 and on 5 th & 7-8.11.2019 under the chairmanship of Secretary(TA). In these meetings, besides other things,  it  has  been  reiterated  to  the  Ministries  /  Departments  that  STC  funds  should  be  expended  in  full  for  the development of Schedule Tribes (STs) and ST dominated areas. Details of budgetary  allocation and expenditure during 2017-18 and 2018-19 is as under:

(Rs. in crore)

| Year    |   Budget Estimate |   Revised Estimate | Actuals   |
|---------|-------------------|--------------------|-----------|
| 2017-18 |           30962.5 |            31292.2 | 30018.27  |
| 2018-19 |           37802.9 |            39545.5 | 32792.54* |

* as per stcmis.gov.in

For the schemes of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, following steps are taken to monitor progress of work:

- i. Review of physical and financial progress of projects / activities by the Project Appraisal Committee (PAC) of the Ministry while considering the Annual Plan of the States.
- ii. Mid-term review meeting with States are held under the chairmanship of Secretary(TA),.
- iii. Utilization  Certificates  and  Progress  reports  regarding  the  status  of  implementation  of  schemes  are obtained.
- iv. Officers  while  visiting  States/UTs  also  ascertain  the  progress  of  implementation  of  various  schemes/ programmes of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
- v. Regional Conferences are convened at times to deliberate upon the issues concerning tribal development.

So  far,  Ministry  of  Tribal  Affairs  has  not  received  any  formal  information  from  the  States  stating  blockade  of Ministry's sanctioned projects due to stop memos issued by forest departments.