Awareness campaign on tribal welfare schemes to be held in Andhra Pradesh's Palnadu district from June 15
The District Collector P. Arun Babu told The Hindu that these awareness camps would enhance the living standards of the PVTGs in the district, so that they could easily access all the welfare schemes benefits.
According to the 2011 census, there is a total of 7,235 PVTG Chenchu population with 2,143 households in 51 habitations, with a literacy rate of 35.1% in the district.
The campaign is part of the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN), launched a couple of years back by MoTA, designed to uplift PVTG tribal communities by ensuring access to essential services. In the first phase, 51 Chenchu habitations in Veldurthi, Macherla, Durgi, Karampudi, Bollapalli, and Rentachintala mandals will be covered. With coordination from nine government departments, awareness sessions will highlight 11 essential schemes, including housing, drinking water, electricity, LPG connections, road connectivity, mobile medical units, and Anganwadi centres.
The second phase will extend similar benefits to 31 Chenchu habitations in non-PVTG mandals of the district, following Central Government approval.
Additionally, under the Dharati Abh-Janjatiya Grama Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA–JGUA), 17 habitations across five mandals — Macherla, Durgi, Dachepalli, Achampet, and Bollapalli — will be surveyed to identify infrastructure gaps. With coordination from 17 departments, awareness sessions will cover 25 welfare schemes to bridge the development divide.
The District Administration, under Collector P. Arun Babu, will conduct these sessions through the respective Municipal Planning and Development Offices (MPDOs). Tribal residents are urged to attend with necessary documents such as Aadhaar, bank passbook, health card, job card, electricity bill, gas connection details, and land-related documents to resolve grievances and avail benefits effectively.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
15-07-2025
- The Hindu
Contesting the future of forest governance
Recently, the Chhattisgarh forest department issued a letter designating itself as the nodal agency for implementing community forest resource rights (CFRR) under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. CFRR, a transformative provision of the FRA, recognises the right of gram sabhas to manage their customary forests. It seeks to rectify the injustices of colonial forest consolidation which dispossessed local communities and supplanted their traditional management institutions with centralised state control. Not only was this usurpation of the nodal role contrary to the FRA, but the letter violated gram sabhas' statutory authority to implement locally developed management plans in their community forest resource (CFR) areas by insisting on a model plan from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA). This is not required by law. It also prohibited other departments or NGOs from supporting gram sabhas in CFRR management planning. The letter was withdrawn after a spirited grassroots mobilisation by gram sabhas, local elected representatives, and Adivasi rights groups. Still, the persistent attack on gram sabhas' autonomy in managing their forests demands a closer look at how forests should be managed under the FRA. Forest management Historically, forests under government control (excluding wildlife sanctuaries or national parks) have been managed through forest departments' working plans. These plans are rooted in the colonial misnomer of 'scientific forestry', i.e., planning and harvesting to maximise timber production. Ecologists, starting with Madhav Gadgil, questioned this approach, especially since early working plans even included clearfelling natural forests and replacing them with single-species plantations. The decline in India's forests, evidenced by the spread of invasive species and the increase in degraded forest areas, has fuelled doubts about the appropriateness of working plans. But for forest departments, they remain an article of faith to structure their operations and mobilise financial resources. In forest-rich central India, the continuing emphasis of working plans on timber extraction, which restricts communities' access and alters the composition of forests, was met with resistance even before Independence. While working plans have begun to consider restoration and wildlife conservation objectives, they remain products of bureaucratic writ, largely detached from local livelihoods and closed to independent scientific scrutiny. The FRA's radically different vision recognises the integral role of local communities in the 'very survival and sustainability' of forests. CFR management plans are to be developed by gram sabhas to prioritise local needs and address current problems. These plans shall be 'integrated' with working plans by the gram sabha. In other words, working plans will no longer apply in CFR areas, because communities will manage forests with a different objective and at much finer scales. Over 10,000 gram sabhas have received CFRR titles in India, but perhaps less than 1,000 have prepared their CFR management plans. Even their implementation is constrained by the refusal of forest departments to recognise their legitimacy and support gram sabhas. Instead, they have pursued a strategy of attrition, delaying or rejecting CFRR claims, attempting to revoke CFRR titles, and denying funds to CFRR-holding gram sabhas. Their aim to retain colonial power is concealed under arguments that communities lack the ability to manage forests scientifically. MoTA's vacillating responses have not helped. In 2015, it issued guidelines that gram sabhas can use simple formats for their plans, but later came under pressure to alter its stand. A 2024 joint letter with the Environment Ministry required CFR management plans to conform to the National Working Plan Code (NWPC) and even suggested the involvement of foresters in their preparation. This violates the FRA's letter and spirit. Addressing the bogeyman Even according to the NWPC, a working plan should outline 'the purpose with which a forest should be managed so as to best meet the interests and wishes of the owner, and indicate the means by which the purpose may be accomplished.' Yet, the lengthy processes and data-intensive formats that the NWPC prescribes carry the hangover of maximising timber yield. In contrast, forest management by gram sabhas will likely pursue multiple livelihood needs, for which the NWPC provides little guidance. Significant portions of working plans are devoted to cataloguing local conditions, but they abstract their complexities to focus on the forest crop (not ecosystem). A gram sabha's plan need not do the same because these insights are part of their lived experience. The variable impacts of climate change also challenge the linear trajectories of working plans, which need more adaptive responses that gram sabhas offer. CFRR demands shedding historical baggage and embracing new possibilities. The path forward is evident. The Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, launched by the Central government last year, introduced an indicative framework for CFR management plans. While the framework can be improved, it can be achieved through flexible and iterative practice by gram sabhas. MoTA must reject any attempt to derail CFR management through the red herring of NWPC compliance. And forest departments must provide funds and protection when required and discard a timber-oriented science in favour of a different science of a people-friendly forest management. Gautam Aredath, policy analyst at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment; Sharachchandra Lele, distinguished fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. Views are personal
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- The Hindu
In a first, President Murmu sanctions grant for Eklavya school toppers
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, President Droupadi Murmu has sanctioned a discretionary fund to the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) for toppers from the Eklavya Model Residential Schools this year. Officials told The Hindu that the NESTS had disbursed ₹62.40 lakh of this discretionary fund to 823 meritorious students who have secured the highest marks in their respective streams across Eklavya schools in the country. The NESTS, under Ministry of Tribal Affairs, administers over 470 Eklavya schools across the country. Over 1.38 lakh students are enrolled in these schools with at least 85% of them from Scheduled Tribe communities. One official explained that this initiative provided a one-time financial assistance of ₹7,500 each to two top-performing students from each stream — Science, Humanities, and Commerce — in every school that has had students appear for the Class XII board examinations for the academic year ending in 2025. The discretionary fund was sanctioned to NESTS earlier this year, which was transferred through direct bank transfer to the students' account set up by their respective schools within 2-3 weeks of the results being announced, officials said. They added that the selection of meritorious students for receiving this grant had a tie-breaker mechanism as well which had worked in a preference for girl students and was used in one instance where 20 students from 10 EMRSs had secured the same marks. If the tie persisted, Class XI performance would be considered. A statement from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on Monday said that the initiative 'underscores the shared vision of the Hon'ble President of India and NESTS to foster equitable access to quality education, incentivise scholastic achievement, and empower tribal youth to confidently pursue higher education and professional aspirations'. The EMRS programme to run residential schools for tribal children is among the main schemes implemented by the Tribal Affairs Ministry at the Centre and has been a key plank for the current administration to highlight its commitment to reaching Scheduled Tribe communities. The scheme, in existence since 1997-98, has seen major reforms beginning in the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which included sanctioning over 600 new Eklavya schools across the country, and setting up the NESTS as a central administrator of the schools.
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Time of India
Indiramma housing scheme: 13,266 homes sanctioned for Chenchu tribals across Telangana, says minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy
HYDERABAD: The Indiramma housing scheme is not just about shelter-it is aimed at providing dignity and security to the poor and Chenchu tribal communities of Telangana, especially women, in whose names the housing sanction letters are being issued, said revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Speaking at public meetings in Atchampet and Kollapur assembly constituencies, where sanction letters were distributed to 536 Chenchu tribal families, Ponguleti, accompanied by tourism minister Jupally Krishna Rao, emphasised the govt's commitment to uplifting the most marginalised. He announced that a total of 13,266 Indiramma houses will be sanctioned to Chenchu tribals across the state in saturation mode. "Every eligible poor family will now realize their dream of owning a home. The govt is committed to sanctioning houses to all poor families in a phased manner," Ponguleti said. "The Chenchus, who mostly lived in huts and makeshift homes, will finally get permanent houses-a long-cherished dream now becoming reality," he said. Additionally, the govt is offering free sand and other construction-related support, and releases funds every Monday based on the stage-wise progress of construction.
