Minister for Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) and Tribal Affairs, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today convened a meeting with officers of Tribal Affairs Department to review the functioning of the department.Vice Chairman State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjars and Bakerwals Chowdhary Gulzar Ahmed Khatana, Commissioner Secretary Tribal Affairs Department, Salma Hamid, Director Tribal Affairs Department, Mohammad Rafi, Special Secretary Tribal Affairs, Mohammad Shareef, Secretary Gujjar Advisory Board Mukhtar Ahmad Choudhary Director Finance, Tribal Affairs and other officers of concerned departments were present in the meeting.The meeting discussed various issues including action taken report of previous meeting, detail of funds received/utilized during 2017-18 under SCA to TSP, status of work on cluster model villages, establishment of milk villages and construction of shelter sheds, construction of residential schools, e-Classrooms in 17 Cluster Tribal Model villages, starting up of academics’ activities in EMRSs Anantnag and Kulgam, physical status of Capex –budget 2017-18, PMDP besides others.The Minister was informed that Rs 1150.17 lakh has been expended on SCA to TSP activity/ scheme, Rs. 2836.90 lakh on Article 275 (1), and Rs 1463.38 lakh on Scholarship to ST students till February this year.Reviewing the physical and financial status of development of Cluster Model villages for tribals in the state, the meeting was informed that Rs 1125.17 lakh has been utilized till December 17 and all works are under progress.
The Minister directed the administrative department to prepare guidelines for establishing ‘Tribal Model Villages’ following a uniform pattern across all the districts of the state after consulting respective Deputy Commissioners and Director, Tribal Affairs.He asked Commissioner Secretary to seek reports from Deputy Commissioners on action plans catering to needs of tribal areas to be implemented under projects amounting to Rs 1.5 crore in each of their respective districts by 25th March 2018.He also directed the officers to conduct a joint survey along with the Education Department of annual enrollments and drop outs of both male and female tribal students to assess the drop-out rates over previous five years and analyze the reasons thereof. “Special focus should be laid on education monitoring framework for obtaining real time information relating to different dimensions of student progress”, he added. Speaking on strengthening of educational infrastructure for tribal students, the Minister asserted that a proposal will be soon moved for opening of five more ‘Eklavya Schools’ in the state.The Minister further asked the Tribal Department to submit a proposal to Finance Department for extending various scholarships to all the scheduled tribes including Gujjar-Bakarwals, Sippis, Gaddis among others.The Minister also reviewed the progress made in geo tagging of infrastructure being used by nomads during their seasonal migration so as better services can be provided at these places.The Minister also reviewed progress under Health, Agriculture and skill development sectors besides construction of Tribal Bhawan/ Museum.