• The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN), which focuses on 11 critical interventions for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the scheme on Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas in Jharkhand’s Khunti. 

• The total outlay for the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) has been pegged at Rs 24,104 crore, of which the central share will be Rs 15,336 crore and the states will contribute Rs 8,768 crore.

• Over 28,16,000 (28.16 lakh) tribal people from 220 districts in 18 states and Andaman & Nicobar Islands will benefit from this scheme. 

• Those tribals who have not yet benefited from government of India schemes so far will be the beneficiaries under this scheme.

• The beneficiaries have been identified from among 75 tribal communities with a scattered habitation.

Main targets of the scheme:

i) To provide 4.90 lakh pucca homes at a cost of Rs 2.39 lakh per house.

Construction of 8,000 kilometres of roads at a cost of Rs 1 crore per kilometre.

ii) Piped water supply for all Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) habitations.

iii) Community water supply in 2,500 villages/habitations with a population of less than 20 households.

iv) A thousand mobile medical units with medicine cost for 10 districts at Rs 33.88 lakh per mobile medical unit.

v) 500 hostels at a cost of Rs 2.75 crore each.

vi) Vocational education and skilling centres in 60 Aspirational PVTG block at Rs 50 lakh per block. 

vii) Construction of 2,500 Anganwadi centres (at Rs 12 lakh each).

viii) Multipurpose centres (at Rs 60 lakh each).

ix) Last-mile electricity connection for 57,000 households.

x) 0.3 KW solar off-grid system.

xi) Solar lighting in streets.

xii) Installation of mobile towers in 3,000 villages. 

• The ministry of AYUSH will set up Ayush Wellness Centres, according to existing norms, and AYUSH facilities will be extended to PVTG habitations through mobile medical units.

• The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship will facilitate skill and vocational training in PVTG habitations, multi-purpose centres and hostels, according to suitable skills of these communities.

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)

• Scheduled Tribe communities live in various ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from plains and forests to hills. Tribal groups are at different stages of social, economic and educational development. 

• While some tribal communities have adopted a mainstream way of life, at the other end of the spectrum, there are certain Scheduled Tribes, 75 in number known as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) who were earlier termed as Primitive Tribal Groups, whose characteristics have been covered under the Section on the Scheme for Conservation and Development of PVTGs.

The criteria followed for determination of PVTGs are:

i) A pre-agriculture level of technology

ii) A stagnant or declining population

iii) Low literacy

iv) A subsistence level of economy.

• The PVTGs, like other tribal groups, are eligible for the benefits of all the schemes of the government of India and state governments that are available to the general population, as well as schemes under Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) of states and central government.

• The Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Mission to improve the socioeconomic conditions of these groups was announced in the Union Budget for 2023-24.

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