'Need to monitor govt schemes for Denotified Tribes'

An evaluation of the work carried out for these communities would also give the welfare board more clarity on the way ahead, it transpired during the meeting. 

NEW DELHI: There is a need to monitor the government schemes for denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, according to members of the social welfare board for the communities.

This was at the first meeting held on Tuesday since the welfare board was constituted in March. The board is headed by senior RSS leader Dada Idate and has two other members. The announcement of the board came during the Budget presentation in February. 

The agenda in Tuesday’s meeting included formulating and implementing welfare and development programmes as would be required for the communities. The other area of concern was to thoroughly identify the areas where the communities are located.

“It was discussed that representations from different ministries would help the welfare board in the deliberations. In the next meetings, in addition to representation from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the board would also invite participation from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in order to have an integrated approach,” said a person acquainted with the meeting.      

During the meeting, it was also deliberated that there was a need to assess and identify the gaps in the communities accessing existing programmes and the rights they were entitled to. An integrated approach was required where different ministries and implementing agencies should come together to ensure that the ongoing programmes meet the special requirements of DNTs, NTs and SNTs. 

An evaluation of the work carried out for these communities would also give the welfare board more clarity on the way ahead, it transpired during the meeting. 

According to the Idate Commission report, the population of the denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes (DNT/NT/SNT) would be around 15 crore. The Commission had observed being impoverished, most denotified and nomadic tribes are unaware of their rights and entitlements, the Commission had observed. 

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