Progress picks pace in 400 tribal villages under Integrated Village Dev Scheme

Srinagar: With an aim to ensure focused development in tribal areas and fill infrastructure gap, more than 70 government schemes were converged for implementation in 400 tribal villages under the domain of centrally sponsored Integrated Village Development Scheme (IVDS) for tribal development.
A special grant of Rs 98 crore was provided under Integrated Village Development Plan (IVDP) for filling the infrastructure gap in more than 400 tribal villages, apart from the village plan. The scheme is being implemented by the Tribal Affairs Department in coordination with Rural Development Department and respective district administrations.
Every district formulated Integrated Village Development Plan for all villages having more than 500 tribal populations for addressing multidimensional aspects including water issues, infrastructure issues, agriculture issues, gender issues, health issues etc.
The PRIS along with officials identify various issues including lack of livelihood opportunities, absence of scientific livestock management, poor health care, and improper land use in every village taken up under IVDS. The IVDPs formulated by field teams in coordination with Gram Panchayats are approved by District Planning and Monitoring Committee headed by Deputy Commissioners having members from all line departments. The State Level apex committee headed by Chief Secretary approves the plans after screening and recommendation from Tribal Affairs Department.
The IVDS is focused on building rural capabilities and mechanisms and an end to end strategy which caters to need analysis and implementation of the project, along the lines of a participatory approach,” an official said.
The initiative is to create opportunities for gainful self-employment for rural families’ especially disadvantaged sections, ensuring sustainable livelihood, enriched environment, improved quality of life and good human values. This is being achieved through development research, effective use of local resources, an extension of appropriate technologies and up-gradation of skills and capabilities with community participation.
An official of Tribal Affairs department said that plan formulation and village prioritisation was done on 55 different monitorable parameters in 14 different sectors. These included Health and Nutrition, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Education, Housing, Livelihood, Electric Supply, Road Connectivity, Mobile/Internet Connectivity, Farm and Non-Farm activities, Market Interventions, Skill and Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion, Social Security and Digitisation.
To train the key functionaries for better implementation of the scheme, Tribal Department initiated training programmes for field functionaries involved in the formulation of Village Development Plans.
“More than 70 government schemes have been converged for implementation in selected tribal villages. This year’s annual plan is focused on key infrastructure development in health, education, livestock improvement, youth engagement and Skilling sectors for overall socio-economic development of tribal communities in J&K,” he said.
The government is continuously endeavouring to protect the interests of tribal people, including their land, education and upliftment of their socioeconomic status.
On September 13, Jammu and Kashmir government scripted a historic chapter with Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, handing over individual and community rights certificates to the beneficiaries of Gujjar, Bakarwal and GaddiSippi communities under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
The initiative was hailed as a significant step with the potential to transform the lives of members of tribal communities in J&K where the rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers were recognized albeit to a long delay,
For providing education on modern lines to Tribal children, J&K government started an ambitious project of transforming 200 Schools into Smart Schools in Tribal areas at a cost of Rs 40 crore.
To ensure that Tribal youth excel in professional fields, 500 youth were selected for different professional courses with government aid.