A tribal hamlet in Karnataka's Mysuru has received electricity supply for the first time, thanks to the PM-JANMAN scheme which aims to provide basic facilities to particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in the country.
Situated on the fringes of the Hediyala range of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, the hamlet was recently connected to the power grid of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC), the Tribal Affairs Ministry said on March 8.
While nearby villages had power connections, a portion of the tribal hamlet remained without electricity. It took 75 years to provide power supply, according to the ministry's statement.
Muzib, a Gram Panchayat member, said the 20 families have been living in sheds without power for generations.
Though houses were constructed for them 15 to 20 years ago, power supply was not provided for some reason. Despite many requests, power lines were not drawn to fix the issue, he said.
Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said the government has sanctioned projects worth more than ₹7,000 crore in the last three months under the PM-JANMAN scheme which aims to improve the socio-economic conditions of the PVTGs.
Approved by the Union Cabinet on November 29 last year, the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) has a budget of around ₹24,000 crore and focuses on 11 critical interventions through nine ministries to saturate PVTG households and habitations with basic facilities.
India, according to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has 75 PVTGs, characterized by a "pre-agriculture level of technology, stagnant or declining population, extremely low literacy, and subsistence level of the economy".
According to the 2011 Census, the total PVTG population is more than 40 lakh. Odisha has the largest population of PVTGs at 8.66 lakh, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 6.09 lakh, and Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) at 5.39 lakh.
PM Modi released the first installment of PM-JANMAN on January 15.
In the last three months, projects worth more than ₹7,000 crore have been sanctioned under the scheme.
States and Union Territories have gathered data from 30,000 habitations through the mobile application on the Gati Shakti Portal and conducted habitation-level surveys to estimate various infrastructural gaps at the habitation level, it said.
More than 10,000 camps have been organised starting from December 25 in more than 100 districts to complete the collection and validation of data.
The gaps identified through the habitation-level survey are the starting points for all nine ministries associated with PM JANMAN.
In the last four months, more than two lakh Aadhaar cards and five lakh Ayushman cards have been issued, and 50,000 Jan Dhan accounts opened.
More than five lakh tribal families who have received land deeds under the Forest Rights Act were given the benefit of PM Kisan Saman Nidhi, under which Rs 6,000 per year is given to farmers as income support.
