Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government is committed towards providing economic empowerment, enhanced livelihood opportunities, education and skill development to the tribal population which will lead to their true development, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while addressing the Tribes Advisory Council on Thursday.
The state government has been taking many sustained interventions to achieve these goals, he added.
Odisha is unique and blessed to have 62 schedule tribes including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups, which constitutes 22.85 per cent of the total population of the state.
“We shall continue our efforts to ensure that every tribal child gets the best possible education. This will prepare them to face the challenges of life. Considering the role of education in social development, our government has started a number of initiatives in this regard which have started yielding good results,” the CM said.
Besides, all ST students from Odisha, studying in national level institutions are provided 100 per cent assistance to take care of their entire cost of education apart from the scholarships, by the state government from 2014-15 onwards.
He also said, “The development of tribal areas and the welfare of the tribal people, preservation and promotion of their cultural heritage has always been a goal held very close to my heart, and now my government seeks to fulfill this through the unique Special Development Councils in nine tribal dominated districts.”
The councils are empowered to take decisions to preserve, and promote their culture, sports and other developmental needs, the CM informed.
“With the distribution of 4.15 lakh individual rights covering an area of 6.14 lakh acres and 6,336 community rights over an area of 3.28 lakh acres under Forest Rights Act, our state continues to be the best performer in the entire country,” Patnaik said.
Odisha Government has successfully implemented “Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme” (OTELP) which is in operation since 2004.
This successful model has been upscaled as ‘OTEL PLUS’, covering additional 2,695 villages benefitting 1.42 lakh households, he added.
