CLAIMS

There has been a three fold increase in the budget of Tribal Affairs Ministry in last 10 years, a 5.5 fold increase in Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes. In last 10 years, states with PVTG population were allocated over Rs. 25,000 crores.

There was a 21-times increase in budget allocation for Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) Scheme in last 10 years. Number of EMRS increased to 402, and number of students enrolled in EMRS increased from 34,365 in 2013-14 to 1,32,275 in 2023-24.

Over 30 lakh Tribal students received various scholarships under the Ministry every year and over Rs. 18,000 crores worth of scholarships have been distributed in last 10 years.

Over 148 lakh toilets were built under Swachh Bharat Mission in the last decade.

Socio-economic development in tribal areas has been a major focus of the government. Over 200 NGOs working in areas of tribal health, education and livelihood received over Rs. 900 crores under over 250 welfare schemes, in last 10 years.

TRUTH

Welfare Schemes

The allocation for the Tribal Special Scheme (TSS) was only 2.7 per cent in the 2023-24 budget (which should be 8.6 per cent in proportion to the adivasi population) and 2.5 per cent in the 2024-25 interim budget. This has been the pattern in all the years under the BJP government.

Even this meagre allocation is not spent. In 2023-24, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs did not spend 39 per cent of its allocations.

Allocations made for the ‘Welfare for Scheduled Tribes’ are being diverted for general projects of the government.

Areas of social welfare that are important for adivasis, such as the NREGA, public distribution system, education and health, have seen grossly inadequate allocations. In the 2024-25 interim budget, only 86,000 crores has been allocated for NREGA while more than 2 lakh crores are required to ensure 100 days work to job card holders and those seeking work.

Sanitation

Government’s own survey (NFHS) shows that 32 per cent adivasis do not have access to any toilet whatsoever.

Livelihood

Since 2021-22, no allocation has been made in the budget for the purchase of Minor Forest Produce at Minimum Support/Fair Price.

Education
Expenditure on tribal education has fallen from 0.08 per cent of total budgetary expenditure in 2016-17 to 0.053 per cent in 2023-24. A large number of schools in adivasi areas have either been closed or merged with other schools.

In Jharkhand, 4,600 schools were closed under the SATH-E (Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital – Education) project. In 2019, Tripura government decided to close down 961 schools in name of merger. In 2022, Andhra Pradesh government announced closure of Classes 3-5 from 5,900 primary schools, and merger of Classes 1-2 with Anganwadis.

Until 2015, about 70,000 schools were run by Tribal Welfare Departments in various states. By 2022-23, the number of such schools has fallen to less than 40,000.

Instead of providing decent schooling facilities for all, the focus of the central government has shifted to a few model Eklavya Schools (EMRs). Of the 740 EMRs that the government planned to set up, only 401 are functional. Instead of admitting 3.5 lakh students to EMRs, only 1.35 lakh students are able to study in EMRs.

In 2023-24, 59 per cent of the budgetary allocation for the EMRs remained unspent. At present most of the EMRs are understaffed. Of 39,000 positions for teachers and staff, only 10,000 have been filled.

According to the government there are around 15 per cent villages where tribal population is more than 25 per cent, who do not have any school.

In the existing schools in tribal areas, there are severely under-staffed and lack basic facilities. In many hostels, food is inadequate and of poor quality; in some students have to cook their own food, clean and do other chores.

With no access to online education during the Covid period, many adivasi children were forced to drop out of schools and join the workforce. In many areas, incidence of child marriages increased significantly.

The National Educational Policy 2020 has launched a vigorous assault on pluralistic culture and the syncretic traditions of adivasis to impose a hegemony of Hindutva culture among the adivasis. The Eklavya Schools and the Ekal Vidyalayas are also being used to promote RSS’s hindutva agenda through changes in curricula and extra-curricular activities. The Ekal Vidyalayas are sponsored and run by the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in the name of promoting quality education.

Communal polarization

This has been a key focus of activities of the BJP and RSS in tribal areas. It is regularly resorted to for electoral gains and facilitate corporate grab of land and mineral resources.

Government funds have been given to Sangh Parivar organisations in adivasi areas to further the Hindutva agenda by propagating Hinduisation of selected adivasi groups, and targeted adivasis that do not identify themselves as Hindus. Attempts are made to impose the Brahmanical caste order on the tribals.

Consistent efforts are made to undermine or erode the cultural practices and traditions of the tribal communities in favour of a uniform conception of Hinduism.

A key demand of the divisive campaign is to deprive Christian adivasis of benefits of reservations and to bring the land belonging to Christian adivasis outside the coverage of protections granted by the Schedule V of the constitution. This will enable the corporates to easily exploit the mineral resources in areas predominantly inhabited by Christian adivasis.

The BJP agenda of communal polarisation has taken a dangerous turn in Manipur, where a deep divide has been created between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo hill tribes. The government started illegal evictions of tribals terming all of them illegal immigrants from Myanmar without due process of verification.

Over the last 10 years, BJP central government has handed over vast forest lands to private players. While forest land is being handed over to corporates for various projects, 38.36 per cent of claims for individual forest rights under the FRA have been rejected and 10.39 per cent are still pending – in other words almost 50 per cent of claimants have been deprived.

To sum, the BJP Government’s rule was a period of all-round attack not just on land, forests and livelihoods of adivasis but also their culture and traditions. Communal polarisation of adivasis has been at the top of Sangh Parivar’s agenda, and its dangerous implications are already seen in states like Manipur and Chhattisgarh. While adivasis are deprived of even the most basic amenities, access to education, medical facilities or decent employment, corporate loot of their land and mineral resources has been allowed unhindered under the present government.

SAVE TRIBAL RIGHTS AND LIVELIHOOD!  DEFEAT BJP!

Published by Communist Party of India (Marxist)