Modi launches tribal welfare scheme; releases ₹18,000-cr farmer payouts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched PM PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) Development Mission, a ₹24,000-crore scheme to ensure holistic development of an estimated 28 lakh tribal population. Modi also released the 15^th PM-Kisan instalment of ₹2,000 each to over 9 crore farmers across the country.

At a function in Jharkhand on the occasion of Jan Jaatiya Gaurav Divas, Modi released ₹18,610 crore, including ₹16,220 crore towards 8.11 crore farmers, as the 15^th instalment for the August-November period, which was due since August 1. Sources said that about ₹2,390 crore arrears from previous instalments were also released on Wednesday.

“If a farmer applies for inclusion under PM-Kisan, his first instalment is counted on the date of application even if it is verified late, and there are instances where some farmers have received three instalments at one go,” said a source.

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Timing of the release

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has questioned the timing of the release of PM Kisan instalment two days before the next phase of polling in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. In a post on social media platform X ), Ramesh queried whether the delayed release of payment was deliberate.

He also cited previous release dates for the August-November period, namely August 1 in 2020, August 9 in 2021, and October 17 in 2022. “It is being released two days before polling in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, 10 days before in Rajasthan and 15 days before in Telangana,” Ramesh posted.

In August 2019, the PM-Kisan instalment of ₹15,310 crore for the August-November period was released to 7,65,48,863 farmers.

After releasing the instalment on Wednesday, Modi said the government has so far released over ₹2.75-lakh crore since the scheme’s launch in February 2019. He said “Modi has made a direct link with farmers without any intermediary” and farmers in agriculture and allied sectors are benefiting from the scheme.

PM JANMAN

Announcing the PM PVTG Development mission, the Prime Minister said under the PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN), the government would reach out to tribal groups and primitive tribes most of whom still dwell in the forests. He said that 75 such tribal communities and primitive tribes with lakhs of population who reside in more than 22,000 villages in the country have already been identified. “Earlier governments did the work of connecting the figures, but I want to connect the lives, not the figures. With this goal, PM JANMAN has started today,” Modi said.

Speaking at the same event, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said it is unfortunate that historians have not given a place to tribals till date. “Today, a special announcement has been made for the primitive tribes. The upliftment of primitive tribes is the responsibility of all of us. If primitive tribes do not survive, our existence will be at stake,” he said. Soren also appealed to Modi to come up with an action plan for the tribal people who get displaced when projects are undertaken in their habitat.

Jharkhand has also become one among the few States where 100 per cent rail electrification has been completed, Modi said.

The Prime Minister also announced that four pillars -- women power or Nari Shakti, farmers, youth and neo-middle class and poor are to be strengthened if India is to be made a developed country by 2047.

Launching the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’, which culminate on January 26 next year, he said the government will go to every village of the country in mission mode and will make every poor and deprived person a beneficiary of government schemes.