Budget allocation of Rs 7524.87 cr highest ever for tribal affairs ministry: Secretary

New Delhi, Feb 10 () The budget allocation of Rs 7524.87 crore to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the year 2021-22 is the highest ever, secretary R Subrahmanyam said on Wednesday.

He highlighted that the funds for the welfare of the scheduled tribes has been increased by more than 50 per cent as compared to the last budget.

The ministry this year has seen a 36.62 per cent increase in allocation over the previous year's revised estimate of Rs 5,508 crore.

Briefing the media about the budgetary provisions of the ministry, he said there has been a steady growth in the ministry's budget allocations over the last five years.

"This is the highest ever budget allocation for the tribal affairs ministry. The overall allocation of funds for the welfare of STs has also seen a huge increase this year," he said.

"In the Union Budget 2021-22, an amount of Rs 78256.31 crore has been allocated as STC funds (scheduled tribes component) of 41 ministries/departments which is more than 50 per cent increase than the STC budget of last financial year, and there is more than four fold increase in provision of STC funds over the allocation of FY 2014-15," he said.

"We will be engaging with these ministries to ensure that the amount is spent fully and well with monitorable outcomes," Subrahmanyam said.

Highlighting the provisions for Eklavya Model Residential Schools in the budget, he said there is a big bonanza for setting up of these schools with an enhanced per unit cost which will help to substantially improve the quality of these residential schools to the level of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas.

"We are determined that every tribal block with more than 50 per cent ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons must have an EMRS. We will improve their quality and also make them academically more successful," Subrahmanyam elaborated.

A total of 740 EMRS schools will be established by the year 2022. ASG RHL