November 2, 2024

HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 164 : Model Answer

QUESTION: Critically examine the Tribal welfare Administration in Himachal Pradesh? (8 marks/ 60 words)

Answer:

Out of total 55,673 sq. km geographical area of HP, about 23,655 square kilometer area falls in Scheduled V area, which constitutes 42.49 percent of the total area of the state.

Strategy for Tribal welfare Administration:

Tribal development envisaged a two- pronged strategy to cover both the concentrated and dispersed tribals.

  1. The areas of tribal concentration with 50% or above tribal population were taken up through the setting up of ITDPs. There are 5 ITDPs: Kinnaur, Lahaul, Spiti, Pangi, Bharmour.
  2. For dispersed tribal groups, Modified Area Development Approach (MADA) was devised to cover such pockets of tribal concentration which had a population threshold of 10,000 in contiguous areas, of which 50 percent or more were tribals. In Himachal Pradesh, two such pockets Chamba and Bhatiyat Blocks were identified in Chamba district.

Department of Tribal Development works for the social and economic upliftment of Scheduled Tribes of the state.

There are several schemes of Scheduled Tribes Development Department which include

  1. Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub- Plan,
  2. Grants in Aid under Article 275 (1),
  3. Skill Development for Tribal Communities,
  4. Vocational Training in Tribal Areas (VTC),
  5. Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP,
  6. Institutional Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products / Produce and g) Support through Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) for skill development and marketing of tribal artifacts/ MFPs.

As per the Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011, tribals of HP are better off among Scheduled Tribe (ST) households in the rural areas of India. Nearly 21.37 percent ST rural households have an income of more than Rs 10,000 per month and as many as 42.76 percent tribal households own irrigated agricultural land. Among salaried government jobs too, HP tribals are ahead of other states with 23.72 percent such households with at least one member in a government job.

However, this does not represent the complete picture of the scheduled tribes in Himachal. The state’s tribal areas have a lower literacy rate at 73.64 percent against the state average of 82.80 percent.Owing to their present in the remote and geographically challenging areas (Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba districts) their access to health services is low, which reflects in the poor health infrastructure in tribal areas as well as low health attainments. The remoteness of tribal habitations, while creating barriers in mobility, also pose challenges in the provisioning of basic public services like – primary and secondary health services, school and higher education, banking services- apart from low access to established market.

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