Odisha expands jurisdiction of unique tribal development programme to 23 districts

The Naveen Patnaik government has expanded the jurisdiction of the Special Development Council (SDC), a unique targeted intervention in tribal areas, from nine to 23 districts.

The Naveen Patnaik government has expanded the jurisdiction of the Special Development Council (SDC), a unique targeted intervention in tribal areas, from nine to 23 districts intending to directly touch the lives of 84 lakh indigenous people.

Tribal community constitutes 22.8% of Odisha’s total population. The State is home to 62 tribes, and 13 of them were identified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group — one of the most diverse tribal inhabitants among all States in the country.

The announcement of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is seen as a systematic attempt of the regional party to strengthen its base in tribal-dominated areas.

The BJP has, for long, tried to identify itself with the tribal population in the country through different Sangh Parivar interventions such as Ekal Vidyalaya and Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA). The BJP has been emphasising on forging a Hindu-tribal synergy. After the election of Droupadi Murmu as President of India, the BJP had tried to create a perception that tribal interest and identity were priorities for the party.

“The SDC has been designed in such a way that we can directly improve the lives of tribals in the State. Though 50% of the funds made available to us can be spent for infrastructure, the remaining 50% can be earmarked for sports, culture, skill-training, livelihood promotion and information, education and communication,” said Pradip Majhi, advisor to SDC.

Mr. Majhi said the SDC was a unique programme in the country to assert tribal identity. “The government does not interfere in plan formulation, implementation, monitoring and execution. Majority of the programme proposals come from villages and the SDC makes fund allotment,” he pointed out.

The Odisha CM said the SDC would help preserve culture and tradition of even small tribal groups. The SDC was formed in 2017 covering nine tribal-dominated districts. The programme was dubbed unique in the country to preserve unique culture and heritage of 62 tribes. More than 60,000 projects have already been completed in 117 blocks. The addition of 55 new blocks in 14 new districts has widened the purview of SDC to 23 districts.