Odisha’s Tribal Outreach

Odisha’s Tribal Outreach

News: Recently the Odisha government announced measures for the welfare of tribal Population.

About Odisha’s outreach:
• The LABHA (Laghu Bana Jatya Drabya Kraya) Yojana is a scheme launched by the Odisha government.
• Objective: The main objective of the scheme is to provide a 100% State-funded minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce (MFP)
• Beneficiaries: The scheme is expected to benefit the state’s large tribal population, which constitutes 23% of Odisha’s total population.
• Implementation: Under the scheme, a primary collector (tribal) will be able to sell the minor forest produce at the Minimum Support Price collected at the procurement centres by the Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation Limited of Odisha (TDCCOL).
• These procurement centers will be managed by SHGs and any other notified agencies assisted by TDCCOL. As 99% of primary collectors are tribals and the majority of them are women, the LABHA Yojana will integrate the efforts with Mission Shakti’s Women SHGs (self help groups).

Other initiative:
• The government has also approved the establishment of a Commission for the Preservation and Promotion of the Tribal Languages of the Scheduled Tribes of Odisha.
• The Commission will encourage multilingual education, document and preserve tribal languages, promote the use and protect linguistic rights.
• The Commission will make efforts for inclusion of tribal languages like Ho, Mundari, Kui and Saora in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution

Tribals in Odisha
• Odisha is home to 62 distinct tribes, including 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).
• The Scheduled Tribes in Scheduled Areas constitute approximately 68.09% of the total tribal population in the State.
• It ranks as the third largest concentration of a tribal population, trailing behind Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• There are 21 tribal languages in Odisha.