MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI MAHADEO SINGH KHANDELA)
(a) The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements two Centrally Sponsored schemes namely
(i) Hostels for ST girls and boys
(ii) Establishment of Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub Plan Areas for creation of educational infrastructure for ST students in the country including Kerala. Apart from these schemes under the Special Area Programme of grant under Article 275(1) of the Constitution, funds are also released by the Ministry to State Government to bridge the gap in infrastructure in critical area such as education, health, forests, forest villages, drinking water, electrification communication, rural marketing agriculture, animal husbandry, sports promotion, food processing etc. as per the felt need of the people of the area in the State.
(b) The Ministry receives proposals every year from State Governments/UT Administrations.
(c) The submission of proposals by the State Governments is an ongoing process. The release of grant-in-aid is considered on receipt of complete proposals from State Governments/UT Administrations which inter-alia includes utilization certificate and physical progress report of the pervious releases and availability of funds under the schemes of Hostels for ST girls/boys and Establishment of Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub Plan Areas. However, the grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution, State Governments submit proposals on the basis of their annual allocation and funds are released subject to receipt of complete proposals, utilization certificates and physical progress report of previous releases.
(d) Statements indicating funds released and utilized by the State Governments during last three years and the current year are at Annexure I-III.
(e) The Ministry has no proposal to launch any new project/scheme in the near future for providing all infrastructure facilities including health sanitation, child and mother care centres and banking services in tribal dominated areas.
