MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS
( SHRI P.R. KYNDIAH)
(a) to (f) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.101 FOR 29th NOVEMBER, 2005
REGARDING DEVELOPMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN TRIBAL AREAS
As the tribal areas are generally remote, inaccessible and characterized by hilly and difficult terrain, the
infrastructure like roads, communications, health, education and drinking water, etc. in these areas is generally
not at par in comparison to the rest of the areas of the country.
To bridge the critical gaps in infrastructure viz. roads, bridges, irrigation, communications, health, education,
drinking water, etc. in the tribal areas, Government of India provides grants under the Article 275 (1) of the
Constitution to the State Governments. To focus on the infrastructure development, since 2000-01, the grants to
the States are now being released against the specific projects in critical areas identified by the respective
State Government. To increase the pace of development, new guidelines have been issued in the year 2002. In
addition, Government has launched Bharat Nirman for infrastructure development in rural areas with respect to
irrigation, road, rural housing, rural water supply, rural electrification and rural telecommunication connectivity,
and tribal areas have also been included in the same.
Government of India provides grants to State Governments under the Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Tribal Sub
Plan (TSP) for income/ employment generation as well as for infrastructure incidental thereto, and also under the
Article 275 (1) of the Constitution for filling the critical gap in the infrastructure in tribal areas for accelerated
socio-economic development of Scheduled Tribes and Tribal Areas of the country.
