Implementation of Tribal Sub Plan

Recently erstwhile Planning Commission got a holistic evaluation study conducted through a third party agency on the effectiveness of the TSP strategy in terms of delivery and goods services to the tribal population. The report of the Study was made public during May 2013. The Study, inter alia, reported underperformance of TSP funds in fetching tangible results and for that matter triggering development of tribals. Besides, the Ministry held several consultations with the stakeholders in the Central Governments as well as State Governments and outside experts / agencies to gauge the deficiencies confronting tribal development with the desired pace. In nutshell, besides other things, the prominent reasons for underperformance of TSP funds have been identified as (i) Lack of unified planning, implementation and monitoring mechanism (ii) Lack of effective mechanism to gel central plan TSP funds and State Plan TSP Funds (iii) Scattered financial resources used in a scattered manner (iv) Lack of location specific perspective plan (v) Lack of gap analysis (vi) Weakening of institutions specifically meant for delivery of goods and services to tribal population i.e. Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) / Integrated Tribal Development Projects / Tribal Research Institutes (TRI) and other Micro Projects. (vii) Utilization of TSP funds was more ritualistic than outcome based initiative based on gap analysis in HDI. (viii) Inadequate and insufficient administrative and financial powers with the Tribal Welfare Departments in the States and Ministry of Tribal Affairs at Centre. The erstwhile Planning Commission in consultation with the Ministry has issued revised Guidelines during 2014 for implementation of Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) by the States /UTs and Central Government Ministries/Departments keeping in mind the holistic development of tribal people. The Guidelines, inter alia, reiterate the resolve of the Government for allocation of funds under TSP out of total Plan Outlays not less than the population proportion of STs in State as per 2011 census. The Guidelines further stipulates for non-diversion of funds meant for tribal areas and comprehensive monitoring framework with well-defined indicators, covering provisioning, service delivery standards as well as outcomes. The Guidelines recognizes respective Tribal Welfare Department in the States as the Nodal nodal department authorized to lead the process of TSP development. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has also issued Operational Guidelines for Formulation, Implementation and Monitoring of Tribal Sub-Plan and Article 275(1) grants in the month of March, 2014 for effective implementation of Schemes administered by the Ministry wherein issues related to allocation of funds, priority areas, need for nodal Department in States, judicious utilization of TSP fund, institutionalizing the instruments for ensuring transparency, accountability and social audit have been addressed. The Operational Guidelines have laid special emphasis on strengthening of institutions viz. Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) / Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Tribal Research Institutions (TRIs) through which tribal welfare programmes are implemented in the State. Further provision has been made for appraisal and approval of the proposals received from the States by a Project Appraisal Committee (PAC) consisting of Secretary (Tribal Affairs) as chairman with representatives of Planning Commission, Financial Advisor and representatives of the State as members/invitees. This information was given by Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. Samir/jk

Implementation of Tribal Sub Plan

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