The outreach is part of the Union government’s ongoing year-long celebration of the Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh, which began on November 15, the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, last year.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has rolled out a large-scale outreach campaign for the implementation of its welfare schemes in over 500 districts of the country, aiming to cover 1 lakh tribal dominated villages and habitations. The outreach has been pegged as ‘benefit saturation’ camps, aimed at doorstep delivery of two key flagship schemes – Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN), launched in 2023, and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, which was launched in 2024.
While PM-JANMAN was launched with a focus on particularly vulnerable tribal groups, the Dharti Aaba scheme was launched as an umbrella initiative aimed at implementation of welfare measures, with the convergence of 17 line ministries. Each line ministry has been allocated budget and targets under the scheme.
Construction of hostels, rural electrification, building of homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, livestock support and fisheries support are some of the welfare benefits being implemented through the Dharti Aaba umbrella scheme.
Story continues below this ad
The scheme has been named Dharti Aaba (father of the earth) after anti-colonial tribal leader Birsa Munda. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the scheme during the Jharkhand elections last year. In the Union budget, the scheme was allocated Rs 79,156 crore over five years with a central share of Rs 56,333 crore, and state share of Rs 22,823 crore.
Officially launched on June 15, the outreach campaign will run for a fortnight. Among its focal points are providing basic documentation to tribal communities in the form of Aadhaar cards, Ayushman Bharat cards through enrolment, grant of titles under the Forest Rights Act, and opening of pension accounts as well as Jan Dhan accounts.
Ministry sources said that one of the key objectives of the outreach programme was last-mile awareness on the flagship JANMAN and Dharti Aaba schemes, down to hamlets and the block level. With an outlay for Dharti Aaba provisioned only in this year’s budget, the Centre hopes to popularise uptake of the scheme through the outreach programme.
The outreach is also part of the Centre’s ongoing year-long celebration of the Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh. The Centre began this celebration on November 15, 2024, the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, and the celebrations are a tribute to the contributions of the tribal leader and the tribal community to the freedom struggle.
Nikhil Ghanekar
An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. … Read More
Read more on The Indian Express
