Shah: Under Modi govt, funds for tribal welfare have increased to `78K crore

Bhopal: Reaching out to tribals who constitute more than 21 per cent of Madhya Pradesh population, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the Narendra Modi government was committed to their welfare and pointed out it had allocated Rs 78,000 crore for various schemes and programmes targeted at the community after assuming office in 2014.

He also said the Modi government has resolved to construct houses for each and every individual by 2022- end.

This is a government of the poor, Scheduled Tribes, Dalits and Backward Classes. During the Congress government's time, only Rs 21,000 crore was provided for the welfare of (tribal) people, but after Prime Minister Modi came to power in 2014, funds for tribal uplift were enhanced to Rs 78,000 crore, Shah said.

The home minister was speaking at `Van Samiti Sammelan', a programme where bonus was distributed to collectors of forest produce such as tendu leaves (used to wrap bidis - an Indian version of cigarette) and forest societies.

On the occasion, he also unveiled a plaque announcing the change of status of 827 `forest villages' into `revenue villages'. There was a demand that these areas be declared revenue villages to ensure their development as there are restrictions on undertaking projects in forest areas.

Terming the decision as historic, the Union minister said it fulfilled a long-pending demand. Around Rs 123 crore was distributed as bonus to 12 lakh tendu leaf pluckers, bamboo growers and other forest produce societies.

According to an estimate, there were around 35 lakh tendu pluckers in Madhya Pradesh.

Tendu (diospyros melanoxylon) leaf collection is one of the major economic activities of tribals in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Tendu leave collections generate 150 million person days of employment during the agricultural lean season.

This was the second tribal outreach by Shah in just over 6 months in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, where Assembly polls are due in 2023 and the ruling party appears keen to woo the indigenous people, who form a major chunk of voters.

On September 18, Shah had addressed 'Gaurav Utsav', an event organised in honour of tribal icons and erstwhile Gondwana empire ruler Shankar Shah and his son Raghunath in Jabalpur district.

Shah's programme on Friday was held at Bhopal's Jamboree Ground, the venue where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a mega tribal gathering on Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, the birth anniversary of revered tribal icon Birsa Munda on

November 15.