Union Tribal Affairs Minister Sh. Arjun Munda announces ground-breaking partnerships for Tribal Development with ISRO, AIIMS Delhi, IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta and IISc Bengaluru
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Sh. Arjun Munda announces ground-breaking partnerships for Tribal Development with ISRO, AIIMS Delhi, IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta and IISc Bengaluru
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Arjun Munda, presided over the launch of ground-breaking partnerships for tribal development, in New Delhi today. Collaborating with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) are esteemed institutions such as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. Letters of Intent were exchanged between the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the eminent institutions to formalize partnerships in various key areas.
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and @AgriGoI, Shri Arjun Munda presided over the launch of the MOTA’s innovative projects/initiatives for empowering tribal communities, in collaboration with eminent institutions like ISRO, AIIMS Delhi, IISc Bengaluru, IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta. pic.twitter.com/a1q9v5qoRi
The partnerships will focus on key domains including Indigenous Practices; Telemedicine & Tribal Health; Training & Capacity Building; Entrepreneurship; Technology Transfer, Patent, IPR; and Digitization through Satellites; Use of Industry 4.0 Technologies (AI/ML, AR/VR) for tribal issues.
Speaking at the event, Shri Arjun Munda emphasized the significance of these collaborations. He highlighted ISRO’s role in connecting remote areas, AIIMS Delhi’s Bhagwan Birsa Munda Chair in medicine to focus on tribal health, including the Sickle Cell Disease Elimination Mission and the educational and research prowess of IISc Bengaluru and IIT Delhi. He expressed confidence in the program’s objectives, stating that it will yield positive outcomes for tribal development.
The Minister highlighted that the initiative represents a concerted effort to leverage technology and expertise for the holistic development of tribal communities, promising transformative results in the days ahead. He further said, “The past decade has witnessed significant and impactful decisions by our government in empowering tribal communities across India. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the aim has been to establish sustainable livelihoods for India’s tribal population. Initiatives such as PM-JANMAN and Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra were launched in Khunti district, Jharkhand, the birthplace of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, an iconic freedom fighter from the Tribal Community.”
The Government launched PM JANMAN with a total outlay of Rs 24 thousand crores, to comprehensively develop 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), that lag behind in socio-economic indicators of education, health, and livelihood. The Prime Minister also launched the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, aiming to eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia by 2047, which is prevalent in the Tribal Community. Similarly, the introduction of Eklavya Model Residential Schools aimed to provide quality education to tribal students with residential facilities, comparable to Jawahar Navoday Vidyalaya and Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools, even in remote areas of the country.
During the event, Shri Munda launched a coffee table book on PM JANMAN, a booklet on DAPST (Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes), and a booklet highlighting the 10-year achievements of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
In his welcome address, Secretary (Tribal Affairs), Shri Vibhu Nayar welcomed the dignitaries and delineated the contours of the initiatives. He expressed his pleasure stating that the partnerships with ISRO, IIT Delhi, IISc Bengaluru, and AIIMS Delhi have connected the brightest minds of India with tribal affairs and tribal development. He emphasized that today is just the beginning, and specific workshops will be organized to address the problem statements of tribal people, providing them with solutions and opportunities for development.
Chairman ISRO Shri S. Somanath, AIIMS-Delhi Director Prof M Srinivas, IIT-Delhi Director Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director IISc, Bengaluru Prof. Govindan Rangarajan and Prof. Aditi Bhutoria, Coordinator, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), IIM Calcutta spoke on the occasion and highlighted their respective work in this respect and assured to make the partnership a success. Delhi University Registrar Prof. Vipin Tiwari, Smt. R. Jaya, Additional Secretary (Tribal Affairs), Shri Navaljit Kapoor, Additional Secretary (Tribal Affairs) and senior officials of the Ministry and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
Details of the programmes are as follows:
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has decided to establish the Bhagwan Birsa Munda Chair at AIIMS Delhi, India’s premier institute in healthcare and research, to enhance support for improving the health of the tribal population.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), renowned for its research excellence, proposes to establish a training facility (Fab) to educate Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in semiconductor courses, providing 2100 NSQF-certified level 6.0 & 6.5 training. The programme includes:
A gap analysis conducted by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs identified approximately 18,000 tribal majority villages with challenging accessibility due to remote locations and terrain. Inadequate mobile and internet connectivity in these areas hinders access to basic services.
4. Bhagwan Birsa Munda Chair at IIT Delhi for Tribal Entrepreneurship, Technology & Innovation:
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is dedicated to promoting the socio-economic development of tribal communities in India, with a focus on empowering tribal youth through entrepreneurship and preserving indigenous practices through technology and innovation. The Bhagwan Birsa Munda Chair at IIT Delhi aims to:
जनजातीय समुदायों के विकास को नया आयाम देने के लिए जनजातीय कार्य मंत्रालय देश के प्रतिष्ठित प्रौद्योगिकी, चिकित्सा एवं शोध संस्थानों के साथ विशेष सहयोग के माध्यम से नवीन योजनाओं को लागू कर रहा है। (1/2) pic.twitter.com/A5o9MXY55A
- Bhagwan Birsa Munda Chair of Tribal Health, Hematology & Tele-medicine at AIIMS, Delhi