r C h a p t e r - M l >TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN MAHARASHTRA C h a p t e r - III TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN MAHARASHTRA Introduction >
Development of the tribals, whose problems are poverty along with illiteracy, exploitation, makes planning imperative. It needs hardly be emphasised that special efforts concerning tribal development planning are necessary. However, the goal of tribal development seems to be a long way. Present chapter discusses the efforts made by the Government of Maharashtra for tribal development through planning and explains the organisational set up created for promoting tribal development.
As far tribal development in the context of State of Maharashtra, the efforts have all along been made by the state government right from the first five year plan consistent with the policy of the Union Government.
FIVE YEAR PLANS First Five Year Plan
With the beginning of first five year plan on 1st April, 1951, the experiment of planned development started but because of the lack of proper institutional set up to meet the challenging task of development, the plan did not take off. To fill this gap, the Community Development Projects were launched on 2nd October, 1952. In this gap of nearly one and half years since the beginning of the plan till the launching of community development
42 programmes, the programme implementation suffered.
The programme of community development was a comprehensive one which aimed at allround development in the rural areas. Because of certain limitations, this programme did not achieve the desired results. The Balwantrai Mehta committee in 1956 while pointing out the defects clearly stated that due to lack of sufficient finance and local participation, this experiment suffered a set back. But one should carefully note here that whatever finance was available for the development of backward classes including tribal welfare was not fully utilised. Another significant point was that main reasons for lack of local participation in the government programme was that the bureaucratic machinery was not responsive to the felt needs of the people. They were bound by the ethos of regulations of administration which being a British legacy and hence did not gear up to the task of development. ^
In other words, there was lack of proper perspective in planning and implementation. In addition to this under the community development programme, it became clear that it was not possible, to cover the entire country. This may not be an exaggeration to say that all these factors combined together contributed for, not achieving the expected results to the desired extent in the first five year plan.
While assessing the efforts made during first plan on tribal welfare, Elwin remarked that, it can not be considered as an attack, not can it be dropped off as a tribal. It was a beginning which can be justifiably regarded as fairly good and symbolic of what was supposed to come. 3
43 Efforts of the State Government
During the period of this plan the Government of Maharashtra, adopted the policy of treating all backward classes including scheduled tribes alike, in granting the facilities. In other words State Government did not formulate any specific scheme for their welfare. ^
Obviously the Government did not set up any special machinery either at the state headquarter or at the district level for the administration of the Scheduled Areas. To rectify the defect the “Backward Class Board” in 1953 advised the state government to formulate specific schemes for backward classes including Scheduled Tribes. 5
As a result in 1954, Tribes Advisory Council came into existence, which immediately perceived the major issues involved in tribal development. It is to be noted that, this council not only suggest criteria for inclusion of certain areas in the state, in the list of Scheduled Areas, but also in 1956 suggested the criteria for determining the backwardness and thereby to make classification of tribes in the State. During this period, following the all India pattern education, economic development and communications received equal priority and was followed by medical facilities and administration. Second Five Year Plan
In the second five year plan the budget allocation gave highest priority to economic development, cottage industries, forest co-operatives, followed by communication and education. The hallmark of this period was the establishment of 44 special
44 multipurpose Tribal Development Blocks throughout India out of which four were started in Maharashtra, i.e.
1) Mokhada in Thane district.
2) Peint in Nashik district.
3) Akrani Mahal in Dhule district and
4) Aheri in Chandrapur district.
These blocks were more or less in the nature of pilot projects and the Government of India was responsible for sponsoring them. The significant difference between community development blocks and the special multipurpose blocks was that, later were moulded to meet the needs of tribal areas as these areas comprised hilly and forest tracts and were sparsely populated.
The aim of these blocks was to bring about a speedy improvement in the economic and social conditions of the tribals for multipronged development. Specially underdeveloped but compact areas were selected. This object was sought, to be achieved by making the programme of development more intensive in character, than that undertaken in the normal community development blocks.
Naturally these blocks were concentrated only on a few selected sectors with limited population and areas. The performance of the second five year plan in the State was reviewed by the working group which observed that some of the schemes like agricultural demonstration to farmers are dubious in nature as it was found that demonstration of good agriculture is meaningless to tribals who do not have the necessary
45 equipments to conduct their agricultural operations.
Demonstration of cattle breeding was equally meaningless at a stage when a very small number of tribals did own cattle. It recommended for removing these two schemes and suggested for introducing schemes like providing milch animals, poultry and goats to the tribals. Further there had been no systematic survey of the potential of cottage industries among the tribals. Hence it recommended for the same. It also pointed out that there was no link between credit and marketing of goods produced by cottage industries and recommended loan cum subsidy to trained mechanics with a view to promote cottage industries among the tribals. While commenting on tribal colonisation, it observed that the scheme could not make a headway due to lack of organised leadership, so also, in the matter of providing legal help to tribals, the progress was very poor. Finally it commented that due to lack of personnel in the medical field, the scheme of providing health care suffered in Maharashtra.
In other words it is clear that expected results were not achieved due to inherent defects in the planning process itself and in its implementation. ®
Dhebar commission while evaluating the planning efforts for decade (1951-60) pointed that the pace of development was slow and investment was not on proper proportion with the programme.
It was suggested that the tribal development blocks should concentrate on four activities such as economic development, education, health and communication and should have specific targets. The most important shortcoming observed by the
46 commission was tiiat the protective measures provided were inadequate and sporadic. It recommended for comprehensive legislation to provide effective protection to all tribals living within the scheduled areas and outside, to make developmental efforts to cover all the tribals. To realise the same it recommended that the Tribal Development Blocks be opened outside the scheduled areas also. Third Five Year Plan
In the beginning of the third five year plan, though the working group, Government of India recommended 46 Tribal Development Blocks, the Ministry of Home Affairs alloted only 16 blocks on the basis of, minimum of 66.6 percent scheduled tribe population in a particular block. While commenting on the population criterion Dhebar commission remarked that by adopting population criterion considerable injustice is likely to cause to the tribals. It also recommended that all scheduled areas in the State be covered with Tribal Development Blocks. In other areas where 55 percent of tribal concentration is found, additional blocks should established on the lines of Elwin committee's report. ® Tribal Develovment Blocks
As per the recommendations of Elwin committee, the programme of special multipurpose Tribal Development Blocks were modified in the third plan with reference to area and population. Unit of 25000, out of which 66.6 percent or more should be tribals as against 66000 population limit of Community Development Block was adopted. The geographical unit was kept to 150-250 sq. miles. ®
47 As the schematic budget under the special multipurpose blocks had set a rigid pattern which left no way for project officers to adjust the expenditure to the more urgent needs of the blocks, and it was discarded. However whereas the special multipurpose blocks had a total outlay of Rs. 27 lakh in the case of Tribal Development Blocks, it was reduced to Rs. 22 lakh, but the important point to be noted in this regard is that the project officers were allowed to be flexible in their approach towards expenditure to fulfill the needs. One more thing which is also to be noted here is that there was no uniformity in the rate of subsidy provided. It ranged from 25 percent to 40 percent depending upon the nature of the schemes.
In Maharashtra, the rate of subsidy was increased subsequently to 50 percent as the tribals were not in a position to contribute their share to the extent of 60 to 75 percent. Also the content and procedures for preparation of surveys, working plans etc. These criteria aimed i) To ensure adequate coverage of tribal population, ii) To have compact blocks to facilitate development, iii) To avoid dilution of coverage resulting from excessive population.
Taking into consideration the prevailing demographic conditions in Maharashtra, the area criterion was expanded even upto 400 sq. miles. There are six such blocks in Maharashtra. They are Mulgi, Dharani, Chikhaldara, Etapalli, Dhanora and Bhamragad, where the density of population is still low. However there are five blocks where the density of population is more, exceeding the prescribed limit of 25000. These areas are Talasari, Vikramgad, Taloda, Abhona and Kurkheda, it means dilution of
48 developmental efforts can happen not only when the population is spread over a larger area in a particular block or if a block is spatially big but also when there is high density of population. In such cases due to limited amount of financial and organisational inputs, the developmental efforts may prove insignificant.
By the end of third plan there were 40 Tribal Development Blocks in addition to 4 special multipurpose tribal development blocks in the State. These 44 Blocks together covered an area of 11404. 32 sq. miles, having 3544 villages. The total population of these villages was 1198429 of which 936423 is tribal population. It is nearly 78.13 percent covering roughly 50 percent of total tribal population. On an average, a Tribal Development Block in the State covered an area of about 69869 hectares, with an average population of about 32000. In this context two things should be noted. In the first place, till the middle of third five year plan, the institutional arrangements,i.e. Tribal Development Blocks provided was very meagre when compared to the total tribal population of the State. It is because 20 blocks (including special multipurpose T. D. Blocks.) hardly covered 25 percent of total tribal population of the State. Secondly the Tribal Development Blocks established in the State exceeded the norm of population prescribed for them. Since 1962 these blocks have been administered by the Zilla Parishad and villages falling in these blocks were now included in the Tribal Sub Plan area in the State. The Government of Maharashtra directed that 11 percent of Zilla Parishads owned revenue should be earmarked for the welfare of the backward classess including tribals under various development schemes.
49 In addition to this government provided 5 percent forest grants to zilla parishads for promotion of the welfare of the inhabitants of forest areas.
During this period attention was provided to agricultural development due to shortage of food. As a result schemes like distribution of seeds and fertilizers, agricultural, implements, soil conservation, practices and development of horticulture and allied activities got priority. To supplement the agricultural sector dairy industry, poultry, and fisheries development were encouraged. To promote the agricultural productivity minor irrigation works such as wells and bandharas were taken up. In this period training programme particularly with reference to cottage industires obtained attention. Obviously tailoring, carpentry, smithy, bamboo work, cotton weaving, roap making, oil ghani, leather work, soap making etc. were introduced in tribal areas.
During the fifteen year period from 1st April, 1856 to 31 st March, 1971, an amount of Rs. 1060.94 lakh has been spent on tribal development in the State. Out of this, the amount of Rs. 639.40 lakh went to economic upliftment, Rs. 304.85 lakh for education and Rs. 116.69 lakh spent on health, housing and other schemes. It clearly means, the State of Maharashtra accorded highest priority to economic upliftment, followed by education, health, housing, and other schemes. The Government of Maharashtra expanded the scheme of education considerably from 1972-73 onwards by opening Ashram Schools. The efforts of the State Government were strengthened by Government of India by post secondary school scholarship schemes. Both these schemes helped the tribal students to pursue
50 their higher education. Shilu AO Committee Report
A short interregnum was there between the Third and Fourth five year plans. Annual plans were implemented from 1966 to 1969. A review was done in August 1969 by Shilu AO committee regarding the performance of Tribal Development Blocks. The committee noted that, in most of the blocks, no survey was conducted and hence there was no meaningful effort to relate the working plan to the tribal way of life. Another serious limitation is also noted by the committee and is the working plan covered only activities financed from the block funds.
It did not take into account the programmes of other private and government institutions. There was no evidence of purposeful consultation with people of planning from below as expected through zilla parishad for local sector schemes. Because of limited budget, sectoral programmes in health, agriculture, etc. outgrew the narrow limits of T. D. Block programmes which gradually paled into insignificane. More ever due to lack of trained personnel vacancies existed for a long period compared to short tenure, this led to dilution of man power. It recommended for providing special incentives and training for the staff working in tribal areas to achieve better results.
The Shilu AO committee also stressed like the Dhebar commission the great need for soil conservation in large tribal areas and for this purpose suggested that the amount provided under T. D. Block budget may be enhanced. The committee appreciated the progress made in agriculture programmes. At
51 the same time it pointed out that other programmes like animal husbandry, co-operation and communication did not make any satisfactory progress. **
Another drawback which was noted, was that the schemes for the training the tribal in rural arts and crafts had not been properly thought out. As a result the crafts introuduced are many times unrelated to the availability of raw materials and market conditions. There is imbalance in the persons trained to that of the requirements of the area. Finally it observed that rural housing programme was far from satisfactory and programme was concentrated at and near the block headquarters. As a result the financial assistance was availed of by the relatively well to do tribals.
This committee on the suitability of the T. D. Blocks also observed that it was inadequate for dealing with the complex problem of tribal development. A T. D. Block was too small to function effectively as a basic unit for planning and implementation. The main problems of tribal communities, according to them, related to indebtness,land alienation, educational backwardness and inadequacy of communication facilities within the frame of T D. Block. They also drew attention, to the nonimplementation of the recommendations of the Dhebar commission and suggested for vigorous action to implement these and for preparing a comprehensive tribal development programme with larger resource commensurate with the side of the problem. Fourth Five Year Plan
Taking into consideration, lack of sectoral integration of
52 programmes in the fourth five year plan, a new concept i.e. Integrated Area Development Approach with target group was put into practice. The idea here is that area development would lead to human resource development if various programmes in different sections are integrated. It is believed that by pooling together all resources for the project area which is spatially somewhat larger than a T. D. Block would facilitate large scale investment for comprehensive planning. Thus programmes are expected to be chalked out for a specific group depending upon their felt needs, as the tribal areas are of different hues and complexions with regard to their ethnical, occupation capacity to absorb the developmental inputs etc.
Hence T. D. Blocks situated within a district are grouped into one or more integrated Tribal Development Projects with a view to translate the idea of planning from below into reality. A T. D. Block was considered as a micro-unit for planning which is merged to a meso-unit by comprising one or two blocks and thereby evolving an integrated Tribal Development Project. This is more or less co-extensive with tehsils. Two or Three Integrated Tribal Development Projects in a tribal region forming a macro-unit is usually a Revenue District.
In Maharashtra, each Integrated Tribal Development Project covers more than three or four tehsils or a part of tehsils depending upon the homogeneity of the area and tribal concentration.
In the fourth five year plan, agriculture continued to claim a high priority but the focus was shifted to distributive justice in the context of widening disparity between different
53 sections of the population. Ashram School Complex
In Maharashtra a new strategy was evolved in the nanne of the Ashram School Complex to effectuate the concept of Area Development Approach in 1972-73. The project of Ashram School Complex scheme was to speed up socio-economic advancement of the inhabitants of scheduled and hilly areas through a focal point of Ashram School. For this purpose area consisting of a population of about 5000 to 7000 was selected and multi- educational activities are initiated. Ashram School being the focal point of ultimate development of compact area, a Hostel, Balwadi and an agriculture demonstration farm. Animal husbandry unit, a health unit and pre-educational training centre are attached to it. In this complex adults can be trained in the trades, each complex was estimated to cost about 164100.**^
In other words. Ashram Shala Complex at the bottom should act as a catalytic agent leading to area development upwards. The scheme is implemented under the direct control of government through Tribal Development officers. For this technical guidance and advice is secured by concerned development departments for the proper and efficient implementation of the programmes. The key concept behind the strategy seems to be that, human resource development should be closely linked up with the development of natural resources of the locality But because of non-availability for large area of land, for opening of hundreds of complexes particularly in forest areas and lack of finance and other administrative difficulties hardly few complexes with all the components were established. 54 From 1977-78 onwards the Government has changed the pattern of the scheme. The units other than the schools, hostels and balwadis were dropped off and the complexes now have educational components only. The programme did not involve local tribals to the extent desired, out of a total of 327 Ashram Shala complexes, in 52 complexes, agriculture demonstration was started and four animal husbandry units in four complexes are in operation. Inbuilt Constraints >
Area development approach has also some limitations which are inherent in nature. They are- i) The on going programmes prepared and approved at state level did not fit into the project profiles and demanded a different package. ii) Since State level programmes are usually prepared in general terms without locating specificity. It proved difficult to specify the programmes with reference to each project. iii) Priorities as between different schemes in each sectoral plans of a state are determined with reference to the general situation in the state, and local needs. They are not reflected in them. iv) inter-sectoral priorities for the tribal areas may be different from the general plan priorities. v) Critical gaps exist for which there may not be any provisions in any of the schemes. vi) A state plan due to formalities may not be allowed to carry out an item however important it may be on the ground that it
55 belonged to non-plan activity. Achievements at a glance >
Before discussing the strategies put into effect for tribal development in Maharashtra since fourth five year plan it is essential to look at the achievements made. In this regard the expenditure pattern in T. D. Blocks helps to understand the trend set by the State Government for tribal development. At this juncture it has to be remembered that though T. D. block is centrally sponsored scheme it obtains financial resourcess both from community development funds and funds from the ministry of Home Affairs, since 1961-62 to the end of 31st March 1975, a total of Rs. 7.63 crores was provided. The headwise expenditure for the same is as under.
Headwise expenditure of Tribal Development Blocks. Head of Expenditure
1) Block Head Quarters 10807 (24.56)
2) Agriculture Development 25751 (58.52)
3) Village and Small Scale Industries 2668 (6.06)
4) Amenities and other programmes 31379 (71.31)
5) Suspense 2.75 (0.62)
70915 (161.09)
(Note :- figures in brackets indicate expenditure for block per year in Rs.) Source Government of Maharashtra Tribal Area Sub Plan (Drafts 1976 -79) Mimco P 74
56 The figures point out that broadly infrastructure uplift with heavy emphasis on agriculture development supplemented with other allied programmes. To be more clear about the impact
of programmes as found in the Table No. 1, throw some light.
This table makes it clear that constitutional facilities
provided for the villages put together in the areas of T. D. Blocks.
(Except in the field of education that too with the exception of
primary education and in the area of co-operation) in all other
sectors efforts made by the state government were quite poor.
Moreover within the sector itself there are no institutional facilities
available in M.P.T.D. and T D. Blocks as at the end of the year
1974-75. '■4 No of villages In Sr. ITEM which the facilities No. are available during 1974-75 I Total Number of villages in all Blocks 3698 Educational Facilities - i) Balwadi 207 ii) Primary School 2393 ill) Middle School 146 iv) High/Higher Secondary School 73 v) Ashram School/Residential School 109 vi) Youth dormitory. 94
2 . Medical Facilities - i) Rural Dispensary 90 ii) Primary Health Centre 28 iii) Maternity / Child welfare centre 45 3. Veterinary Facilities i) Dispensary 14 ii) Hospital 5 iii) Stockmen centre 85 iv) Sheep / Goat farm 11 v) Poultry farm 1 vi) Piggar farm 5 4. Co-operative Societies - I) Agricultural Credit 1056 ii) Agricultural Non Credit 87 iii) Forest co-operative 126 iv) Labour contract co-operative 31 v) Women's co-operative Nil vi) Other Non Agricultural Credit 70 5. Communication - i) Bus Station 404 ii) Railway Station 12 iii) Post Office 341 iv) Telegraph office 22 6. Adequate drinking water facilities 3236 villages (Source - Government of Maharashtra - Tribal Area Sub Plan (Draft 1976-79 (Memo) PP 75-76)
58 Uniformity in providing services, such as when compared to the percentage of schools provided at different levels, it reveals that the schools at middle and higher secondary level were not adequate enough to fulfill the demands of the tribal students in these areas. While examining the problem of tribal education and development, S. D. Kulkarni observed “In the State as a whole there are 10 secondary schools per every lakh of persons. Where as in tribal areas there is only one secondary school per lakh of persons. In other words even the efforts made in one sector are of haphazard nature. Same thing holds good to some extent in the case of programmes implemented through the general development funds. In the general schemes tribals did not get their proper share uniformly in all the tribal areas.”
The benefits gained from the general development programmes went to more enlightened and well to do tribals and those non tribals who are living in adjoining part of tribal area. This process was helped by the diversion of funds allocated for tribal welfare. As a result gap in the level of development obtained by the tribal and adjoining non tribal rural areas is still of a considerable magnitude. In addition to this the tribal development programme did not make any noticiable impact in preventing, reducing or abolishing exploitation of tribals by money lenders, traders, and contractors. As the concept of T. D. Blocks did not include any schemes under protective measures and paid attention to developmental efforts. The total effect of the situation was lopsided and hapazard development.
To modify the situation, the Government of Maharashtra since, 1975 onward passed number of laws in this regard, to curb
59 the exploitation in tribal areas, the tribal developmental corporation was established. Fifth Five Year Plan
This plan introduced an experiment in the development of tribals. The distributive justice as envisaged in the fourth five year plan resulted in unequal distribution and consequently widened the gulf between various communities. “To achieve balanced socio-economic development of tribal areas, a totally different approach was adopted with emphasis on human resource development under Tribal Sub Plan. The idea was to bring about rapid socio-economic development through time bound integrated Area Development and other programmes suited to the needs of the people. For total elimination of all forms of exploitation and ensuring a move towards achieving equality and social justice, this experiment is launched. In the pre-dominant tribal region, the concept of area approach with focus on the development of the tribal communities was introduced, for the primitive tribes, community-oriented programmes have been prepared to avail of the benefits of the programmes based on their specific needs under a block/taluka programme.” The Tribal Sub Plan strategy was expected to
i) Identify the resource for the sub plan area.
ii) To prepare a broad policy frame for the development of tribal areas and define a suitable administrative strategy for their implementation.
60 The main objectives of th£ sub plan are > i) To narrow the gap between the level of the development of Sub Plan Area and other areas of the state.
II) To Improve the standard and quality of the life of community. iii) To handle the important problems facing the tribal people. iv) Elimination of the exploitation of the tribals, speeding up the process for special and economic development, building up inner strength of the people and improving their organisational capacity.'*® Tribal Sub Plan in Maharashtra
To achieve the above objectives, it was essential that the areas included in the sub plan should as far as possible be geographically and administratively viable.Hence as a first step tribal areas to be included in Tribal Sub Plan of Maharashtra. i) All Scheduled Areas. ii) All Tribal Development Blocks. iii) All Tehsils,having 50 percent or more tribal concentration. iv) Villages or areas which constitutes as “Pockets” in the above mentioned areas or which are contiguous to such areas and which together have a predominently, tribal population and /or the inclusion of which in the tribal sub plan area is administratively expedient.
On the basis of the above criteria 5364 villages and 14 towns covering a total population of 37.62 lakhs with a tribal population
61 of 22.6 lakhs (1981-Census) have been included in the Tribal Sub Plan Area. The percentage of tribal population with the total population of the area works out to 60.07 percent.
It was observed in 1976 that whatever development that took place in tribal areas left out some of the communities and areas within them. Hence the task was to identify them and mark out such areas in each project area. They should be given higher priority for developmental activities. It was also ensured that funds earmarked for them are not diverted to other tribal areas. To bring this idea into reality, separate minor head under each of the concerned major head is created. To make it more effective the State Government set priorities for tribal development in the following manners. i) Programmes which minimise exploitation in the field of marketing, credit supply of consumer goods and even informal rationing ensuring commodities at reasonable price should have highest priority. ii) Programmes in the area of education and health to build up inner strength of the tribal communities. iii) Programmes which are universal in extending benefits are quick yielding should get priority over programmes for individuals only. iv) Programmes in modern sectors of economy with a view to transform the structure of local community. Additional Tribal Sub Plan
In the middle of 1977, the Government of India suggested
62 a slightly modified approach keeping in view the large sections of tribal population which were left out from the purview of the tribal sub plan area.
On the basis of 1981 census the Tribal Sub Plan areas cover only forty five percent of total tribal population in the State. In the covering of the T.S.P. areas also, the tribal population that did not receive benefits either under Scheduled Areas and Tribal Development Blocks were left out. This has happened as a reason of rigid adherence to the chteria of the size of an administration unit and concurrently excluded certain backward and isolated tribal villages from the purview of T.S.P. i.e. villages from Khed Tehsil from Pune district.
It is interesting to note that villages which should have been excluded on the basis of T.S.P. criteria found themselves included just because they happen to fall in the scheduled areas and in TD. Block areas. Moreover certain areas like Ramtek tehsil from Nagpur district were unenumerated in the census. The State Government requested to the Central Government to exclude these areas in the T.S.P. but the proposal was rejected purely on legalistic ground.
Taking into consideration the utter helplessness of these people, the State Government decided to treat such pockets and areas on the criteria of 50 percent tribal concentration in 1088 villages, in 30 tehsils of 12 districts with a total and tribal population of about 3.44 lakhs and 1.64 lakhs respectively as the Additional Tribal Sub Plan Area of the State. In some cases a few villages forming enclaves in the T.S.P. areas were also Included in A.T.S.P Area. Which were excluded due to oversight by the
63 Government of India. The State Government decided not to deploy the special central assistance for the T. S. P. Area to satisfy government of India's conditions laid down for the said assistance. Modified Area Development Approach >
The dispersed tribals are generally resourceless and unskilled. It was therefore envisaged by the Government of India that once it is possible to consolidate in the predominantly tribal areas, focus can be shifted to the dispersed tribals, for this purpose two approaches are suggested. i) M.A.D.A. - The pocket having more than 10,000 population of which 50 percent are tribals in a contiguous and compact geographical area, and ii) Community oriented approach on the basis of this approach, the Government of India accepted 18 M.A.D.A. pockets in the State which cover 596 tribal villages besides T.S.P. area, out of which 156 villages of 6 pockets are in Jalgaon, Yavatmal, Pune and Raigad districts and 440 villages of remaining 12 pockets are from Vidarbha, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, and Yavatmal districts. The present M.A.D.A. pockets cover 360 villages from A.T.S.P. area and 236 new villages covered by special schemes implemented their in.
For this purpose central assistance is made available from the Government of India for implementing individual family oriented programmes to raise the socio-economic standards of tribals. At present T.S.P, A.T.S.P. and M.A.D.A. together cover a total 6847 villages, 14 towns from 75 tehsils of 14 districts, namely Pune,
64 Ahmednagar, Nashik, Thane, Dhule, Raigad, Jalgaon in Sanhyandri region and Amaravatl, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Nanded in Gondvan region with a total population of 45.69 lakh (1981-Census) and tribal population of 25.98 lakh (1981 Census) covering a geographical area of
50533 sq.km. in the state.
Sixth Five Year Plan
During the sixth five year plan the Government of India set up the following objectives in relation to i) To raise the level of productivity in the fields of agriculture, Horticulture, Animal husbandry, forestry, cottage and
village and small scale industries, etc. so as to create an
economic input of an order which will enable to targetted number of families (50 percent) in the TS.P. , area to cross
the poverty line with the households as the basic unit of planning, reduction of poverty of the forest and then
the poor should be taken up on a progressive scale. ii) Apart from the effort in the core economic sector indicated
in (i) education should become the key sector in the sixth plan period. iii) The attainment of objectives as mentioned above in (i) and
(ii) would vitally depend on an adequate infrastructure for the creation of which, there should be commensurate
financial and physical efforts.
65 The main deficiencies noted in the fifth five year plan, were lack of effective delivery system for the new development programmes and the limited absorption capacity of the local communities. This has led the Government of India to emphasise more on target approach and individual family oriented programmes the tatality of the developmental efforts in these area and also to take care of the protective aspects, administrative and institutional infrastructure so there was no major difference in the approach in the fifth and sixth plans. Hence the objective was the consolidation of protective measures initiated in the fifth plan with emphasis on education and health service and full employment economy in tribal areas as the immediate goals. Schemes Under Tribal Sub Plan in Maharashtra
The objectives noted above are quite comprehensive, for their fulfilment there are 165 developmental schemes implemented in all 52 departments or agencies. They can broadly be classified as follows. i) Schemes oriented for individual or family benefits to tribals such as grants of subsidies for agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, irrigation wells, electric motor pumps/oil engines, supply of pedegree milch animals, pigs, goats, poultry, and like other facilities. ii) Schemes of indirect benefits to tribals such as interest free loans for purchase of shares of co-operative societies, excursions of tribal cultivators to progressive agricultural areas and others.
66 iii) Schemes of community development in the tribal areas such as electrification, water supply, public health, veterinary services, subsidies for construction of adivasi co-operative societies godowns, etc. iv) Schemes for area development for tribal regions such as irrigation project, roads, communication, etc. Seventh Five Year Plan
Tribal sub plan strategy, which is in its tenth year of operation continues to be the main instrument for tribal development, based on the recommendations of the working group on development of Scheduled Tribes during the seventh plan.
The main objectives in the seventh plan for tribal development have been, a) Consistent with the objectives of national planning programmes for alleviating poverty amongst scheduled tribes by raising productivity in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, forestry, cottage, village, and small scale industires, etc, should constitute the core-schemes. At least 40 lakh tribal families are proposed to be helped to cross the poverty line by 1989-90 besides extending assistance to a substancial number of tribal families to provide a base to them to cross the poverty line during the succeeding plan. b) Education, both formal and nonformal would be given high priority with emphasis on the basis for vocationalisation. c) Elimination of exploitation in the fields of land transfer agricultural tenancy, money lending, bonded labour and debt 67 bondage, forestry, liquor vending, trade and in the socio cultural spheres. Vulnerable tribal areas and groups facing special problems which have not received adequate attention in the previous plan programmes will receive special attention. d) The degrading environment of tribal areas has been posing problems not only of precarious resources availability for the tribals but also of ecological insecurity due to possible natural disasters like drought, floods etc. Determined efforts are scientific surveying, planning and implementing programmes for the improvement of the quality of tribal environment and to upgrade resources. e) Nearly 25% of the scheduled tribes are still outside the tribal sub plan strategy. It is proposed to cover these groups by a cluster approach to provide the much needed development coverage. A Tribal Marketing Federation (TRIFED) will be set up to improve marketing of tribal resources. 20 Financial Aspects
The investment in tribal areas has been increasing from plan to plan as indicated below.
Table No. 3:1 (Rs. in Crore) Tribal Development Plan Total Plan Outlay Programme Percentage 4th Plan 15,902 75 0.47 5th Plan 30,322 1,102 2.80 (1974-79) 6th Plan 97,500 5,535 5.67 (1979-80) 7th Plan 1,80,000 12,000 6.67 (1980-81) Source:- Tribal Research Bulletin. March 1986 R22 68 Eighth FM Yem. EMl (1992-97) >
Eighth plan period commencing from the year 1992-93, which would in many ways be different from the plans of the past. This plan is being prepared against the background of a economic crisis of unprecedented dimensions and a programme of economic reforms and structural adjustment with human need which has been undertaken by the Government of India. The economic reforms adopted by the Government of India are bound to get reflected in different aspects of the development process. Thrust areas of eighth plan :
The accent in the eighth plan at the macro-economic level has been to bring about structural changes in the economy to make it more market friendly and competitive coupled with a strategy of development which would ensure employment generation and thrust in the areas of poverty alleviation programmes, construction of dwelling units for weaker sections of the society provision of drinking water, literacy promotion, basic healthcare and the removal of infrastructural constraints in development. Review ofAnnual Plan 1990-91 and 1991-92:
The eighth plan which was to cover the period between 1990-95. But these two plans would now be considered as Annual Plans, outside the five year plan framework as the eighth plan has now been recast to cover the years 1992-97. Annual Plan of the year 1990-91 was of a size of Rs. 2550 crores and the annual
69 plan of the year 1991-92 of Rs. 3000 crores.
The State was able to mobilise additional resourcess through the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation to the extent of Rs. 559.79 crores.
The State Government initiated new measures to tackle the problems of unemployment and the development of backward regions of the state.
Programme of horticulture linked with employment guarantee programme, was subsidised to 100 percent for small and marginal farmers.
Among the new schemes which are given thrust in annual plan 1990-91, are the special action plans for selected tribal areas, the special programmes for Hill areas development. Sizable outlays have been provided in the plan for these programmes which are in addition to the normal plan outlays for these areas under various development sectors. This has been done with a view to accellerate the development of certain backward areas which have lagged behind in comparison to the overall development in the State. Integrated Tribal Development Project-(ITDP)
The area of concentration of Tribal population identified as Integrated Tribal Development projects and the concept of drawing up a TS.P. accounting for all the flows of funds invested in the ITDP was introduced from 1975-76. Subsequently the terms T.S.P. and ITDP were used
70 interchangeably, and the ITDP were often referred to as T.S.P. Areas. Integrated Tribal Development Projects are spread over 14 districts and 68 tehsils. These constitute the tribal sub plan areas which comprise 16.5 percent of the total geographic area of the State.
Areas of tribal concentration in other than tribal sub plan areas have been identified as MADA and MINI MADA pockets.
According to 1991 census the tribal population of Maharashtra was 73.18 lakhs which is about 9.30 percent of total population of the State. Also out of the total tribal population of the Maharashtra, about 49 percent reside in the ITDP's (i.e. the Scheduled Area and the ATSP area) MADA and MINI MADA clusters and the remaining 51 percent live outside these areas. ^21 *
71 Integrated Tribal Development Projects in Maharashtra DISTRICT Sr. Name of the ITDP Sanhyadri Region- No. 1) Thane- 1 Jawhar 2 Shahpur 3 Dahanu 2) Ralgad 4 Pen 3) Nashik 5 Kalwan 6 Nashik 4) Dhule 7 Taloda 8 Nandurbar 5) Jalgaon 9 Jalgaon 6) Ahmad Nagar 10 Rajur 7) Pune 11 Ghodegaon 8) Bombay 12 Bombay
Gondwan Region- 9) Nanded 13 Kinwat 10) Amaravati 14 Dharni 11) Buldhana 15 Akola 12) Nagpur 16 Nagpur 13) Bhandara 17 Deori 14) Yavatmal 18 Pandharkawada 15) Chandrapur 19 Chandrapur 20 Chimur 16) Gadchiroli 21 Gadchiroli 22 Bhamaragad 23 Aheri 17) Aurangabad 24 Aurangabad
Source - Annual Tribal Sub Plan 1993-94 Maharashtra - Part II P 264-265
72 Some scheduled areas of tribal population were vulnerable and most sensitive and the Government of Maharashtra decided in 1993 to strengthen the administration In selected ITDP's. The selected ITDP's and their taluka wise juridiction shown in following table.
Table 3:2
Sr. District ITDP Taluka Juridiction No.
1) Thane Jawhar Jawhar, Mokhada, Wada 2) Thane Dahanu Dhahanu, Talasari, Palghar (P) Vasai (P) 3) Nashik Nashik Peint, Dindori(P), Nashik(P), Igatpuri (P) 4) Nashik Kalwan Surgana, Kalwan, Baglan (P) 5) Dhule Taloda Akrani, Akkalkuwa, Taloda Shahada (P) 6) Nanded Kinwat Kinwat (P) 7) Amaravati Dharni Dharni, Chikhaldara 8) Gadchiroli Gadchiroli Dhanora, Kurkheda, Korchi Armori (P), Vadsa - Desaiganj (P) Gadchiroli 9) Gadchiroli Bhamaragad Ettapali, Bhamaragad 10) Gadchiroli Aheri Aheri, Sironcha, Mulchera (P) Chamorshi 11) Yavatmal Pandharkavda Kelapuri(P), Ralegaon (P) Ghatanji (P) Zari - Jamani (P)
P= Part Source - Annual Tribal Sub Plan 2000-2001 Govt, of Maharashtra - TD.D.) P. 3-4
73 All attempts were made to provide outlays for the Tribal
Sub Plan in the same proportion as the share of tribal population in the total population of the State which is 9.27 percent.
The expenditure in the VII th plan, expenditure for the Annual
Plan 1990-91 and Annual Plan 1991-92 and approved outlay for the eighth plan are as below.
Table No. 3:3 Rs. in lakh
Sr. Actual Expenditure Sector No. 7 th Plan 8 th Plan 1985-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-97
1. Tribal 71616.99 16719.68 20907.63 115917
Sub Plan (6.48%) (6.63%) (7.10%) (6.26%)
Source VIII th Plan 1992-97
Through special action has been introduced for selected
tribal areas for intensifying the developmental efforts for tribal
areas in specified areas.
It was seen that certain areas with poor
communication facilities have little access to the benefits of
these selected programmes. The State Government has
therefore taken up a special action plan of certain backward
talukas, and districts have also been taken up under this
programme in the year 1991-92 and in 1992-93 respectively
Additional outlays have been provided for this
74 programme and these outlays are in addition to the outlays
already provided for these areas in the normal plan is as
follows.
Table No. 3:4 Rs. in lakh Sr. Actual Expenditure Sector No. 7 th Plan 1990-91 1991-92 8 th Plan
1. Special 467.48 1136.76 1600.57 13650 Action Plan for selected Tribal Areas
II. Special Prosrammes for the Development of Hill Areas.
As per the recommendations of the committee which was set up by the State Government to go into the details of the needs of hill areas and the committee selected entire area of 72 talukas and part area of 23 talukas in 19 districts for implementation of the programme. An action plan for the development of roads, primary health, drinking water supply, primary education, minor irrigation, electrification, sericulture etc. is to be taken up for which additional funds of Rs. 7.50 lakhs per block and Rs. 5 lakhs per sub block have been provided annually for the year 1991-92. These funds are in addition to district plans.
An outlay of Rs. 6.55 crores was provided in the Annual Plan
1991-92 for this programme. And an outlay of Rs. 65.50 crores was provided in the VIII th plan.
75 in , 20 Point Programme >
The 20 point programme of socio-economic development which was introduced in the year 1975 and was
revised in 1982. It was again modified in 1986 and laid emphasis on reducing poverty, raising productivity, reducing income
inequalities, removing social and economic disparities and
improving quality of life of the poor. The State of Maharashtra
has stood first in the country in three out of the five years of the
7th five year plan in 1986-87, 1988-89, 1989-90 and also stood
first in the year 1990-91.
IV. Removal of Regional Imbalance >
This topic is one of the thrust areas in the States 8th
plan. The fact finding committee identified a backlog of Rs.
3186.78 crores in the nine Developmental Sectors such as roads,
irrigation, water supply, health facilities, education etc, much of
the identified backlog is also noticed in sectors like village
electrification, power supply to agriculture pumpsets, industrial
training institutions, etc..
76 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan 1989-
90 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:5 Rs. in lakh
Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads
District Roads 179.99 47.13
State Roads 36.01 14.07
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 123.90 108.30
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 12.39 10.83
4. Rural Electrification 26.40 43.50
5. General Education 27.04 195.64
6. Technical Education 140.16 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes 44.64 33.30
8. Health Services 194.34 273.33
9. Rural water supply 46.58 108.63
10. Animal husbandry 3.60 3.33
Total : 835.05 838.06
The above table shows the provided outlay for district level schemes for removal of backlog in the year 1989-90. The Nashik district was provided Rs. 835.05 lakh. While Dhule district received
Rs. 838.06 lakh.
77 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break up of
outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan
1990-91 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:6 Rs. in lakh
Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 159.04 45.05
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 239.85 396.84
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 81.13 75.24
4. Rural Electrification --
5. General Education - 14.14
6. Technical Education 42.77 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes 17.25 11.25
8. Health Services 277.52 139.64
9. Rural water supply 31.30 -
10. Animal husbandry - 0.70
Total : 842.86 882.86
The above table shows in the year 1990-91, for removal of backlog in sectors mentioned above in the table. This year Nashik district was provided Rs. 842.86 lakh while Dhule district received
Rs. 882.86 lakh.
78 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan
1991-92 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:7 Rs. in lakh
Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 103.40 28.38
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 150 293
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 141.40 62.80
4. Rural Electrification --
5. General Education - 18.63
6. Technical Education 30.45 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes - -
8. Health Services 250 158.40
9. Rural water supply --
10. Animal husbandry - 0.80
Total ; 675.25 562.01
During the year in 1991-92, the above mentioned sectors in the table, was provided outlays of Rs. 675.25 lakh for Nashik district and Rs. 562.01 lakh for Dhule district for removal of backlog.
79 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of
outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan
1992-93 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:8 Rs. in lakh
Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 77.28 21.12
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 349.80 194.70
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 106.63 59.33
4. Rural Electrification --
5. General Education - 6.95
6. Technical Education 30.15 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes 0.10 0.10
8. Health Services 180 158.40
9. Rural water supply --
10. Animal husbandry - -
Total ; 743.96 440.60
During the year in 1992-93, the Nashik district was provided
Rs. 743.96 lakh for removal of backing in above mentioned sectors while Dhule district received outlay of Rs. 440.60 lakh for removal of backlog in above mentioned sectors.
80 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan
1993-94 for removal of backlog. (Nashik & Dhule district)
Table No. 3:9 Rs. in lakh
Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads --
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 251.70 125.30
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 116.38 48.34
4. Rural Electrification --
5. General Education - 8.40
6. Technical Education 28.20 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes --
8. Health Services 177 147.56
9. Rural water supply --
10. Animal husbandry - -
Total : 573.28 329.60
The above table shows the outlay provided in the year 1993-
94 for sectors mentioned above. The Nashik district was provided outlay of Rs. 573.28 lakh while Dhule district was provided outlay of Rs. 329.60 lakh for removal of backlog.
81 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan 1994-95 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:10 Rs. in lakh Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 138.00 37.75
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 275.80 78.40
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 78.80 22.40
4. Rural Electrification --
5. General Education --
6. Technical Education 27.36 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes - -
8. Health Services 236.95 78.05
9. Rural water supply - -
10. Animal husbandry --
Total: 756.91 216.60
The above table shows outlays provided for various sectors mentioned above in the year 1994-95 for Nashik and Dhule district for removal backlog. This year Nashik district was provided outlay of Rs. 756.91 lakh while Dhule district was provided Rs. 216.60 lakh. It seem from above provision Nashik district was provided three times more outlay in comparison with Dhule district.
82 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan 1995-96 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:11 Rs. in lakh Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 174.90 68.76
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 217.28 252.74
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 129.30 53.70
4. Rural Electrification --
5. General Education - -
6. Technical Education 54.64 -
7. Industrial Training Institutes - -
8. Health Services 179.28 175.00
9. Rural water supply - -
10. Animal husbandry - -
Total : 755.40 550.20
The above table shows outlays provided during in the year 1995-96 for the various sectoral schemes as mentioned in the table for removal of backlog in Nashik and Dhule district. This year Nashik district was provided outlay of Rs. 550.20 lakh and it seems that Nashik district recived nearly thirty seven percent more outlay in comparison with Dhule district.
83 statement indicating Nashik and Dhule districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan 1996-97 for removal of backlog.
Table No. 3:12 Rs. in lakh Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 244.89 95.03
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 188.18 186.37
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 156.68 20.00
4. Rural Electrification - -
5. General Education - 41.07
6. Technical Education 20.36 13.26
7. Industrial Training Institutes --
8. Health Services 181.00 180.00
9. Rural water supply --
10. Animal husbandry - -
Total : 793.11 535.73
The above table shows the outlays provided in the year 1996-97 for various sectoral schemes as shown in above table for removal of backlog. In this year Nashik district was provided Rs.793.11 lakh while Dhule districts was provided Rs. 535.73 lakh. It seems from above table this year Nashik district was provided forty eight percent more outlay in comparison with Dhule district.
84 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan 1997-98 for removal of backlog of Nashik and Dhule districts.
Table No. 3:13 Rs. in lakh Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 125.85 21.40
District Roads
State Roads
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 359.00 396.00
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 214.20 86.40
4. Rural Electrification - -
5. General Education - 34.83
6. Technical Education 2.00 2.60
7. industrial Training Institutes --
8. Health Services 316.21 186.61
9. Rural water supply --
10. Animal husbandry - -
Total : 1017.26 727.84
The above table shows the outlay provided for various sectoral schemes as mentioned in above table in the year 1997- 98 for removal of backlog for Nashik and Dhule districts. In this year the outlay provided for Nashik district was 1017.26 lakh while that for Dhule district 727.84 lakh. The outlay for Nashik was more by thirty nine percent in comparison to Dhule district.
85 statement indicating districtwise and sectorwise break-up of outlays provided for district level schemes in the annual plan 1998-99 for removal of backlog of Nashik and Dhule districts.
Table No. 3:14 Rs. in lakh Sr. Nashik Dhule Sector No. District District
1. Roads 8.99 3.24
District Roads
State Roads
2. Minor Irrigation (State Sector) 17.00 10
3. Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) 40.00 20
4. Rural Electrification - -
5. General Education - 3.44
6. Technical Education - -
7. Industrial Training Institutes 9.00 -
8. Health Services 17.00 19.00
9. Rural water supply - -
10. Animal husbandry - -
Total : 91.99 55.68
The above table shows outlays provided for various sector schemes shown in above table during the year 1998-99 for Nashik and Dhule districts for removal of backlog. This year Nashik district was provided outlay of Rs. 91.99 lakh, while Dhule district was provided outlay of Rs. 55.68 lakh and it seems that the outlay provided for Nashik district was more by sixty five percent.
86 Hitherto, we are familiar with the modalities of the Tribal Sub Plan in the State, since finance is the fuel for the engines of administration at this juncture. It is essential to be acquainted with the financial arrangements made for tribal development in the State and its implications. Financial Arrangements >
The development and administration of tribal area is accepted as special responsibility of the Union Government even through they are integral parts of the concerned states. To keep away from party politics, the Central Assistance to the States is charged on the consolidated fund of India. Shilu AO committee pointed out inherent weakness in the system of assistance provided by the Central Government in the form of central or centrally sponsored programmes in the earlier plans. In the beginning of the fifth five year plan, it was decided that the outlay to the tribal sub plan should comprise four basis elements.
I) Outlays from State Plans ii) Investment by the Central Ministries iii) Institutional Finance iv) Special central assistance for tribal development.
In this scheme the basic investment is provided by the State Plans determined according to the principles clearly mentioned and agreed to, at the national level. All other investments were to be additive and supplemental in nature.
The guidelines for preparation of sub plans suggested that
87 the quantum of allocation be based on i) Total Population. ii) The Geographic area. ill) The comparative level of development, iv) The state of social services.
In the second sub plan, i.e. the Sixth five year plan, it was envisaged that the level of investment which can be expected from the State plan may be worked out with reference to the total investments and not from the investments for each sector and individual schemes as was done earlier. However in the sixth five year plan also the process of disagreegration of sectrol plans and the agreegration of these bits provided the states contribution to the total sub plan. ^ 2
When questioned, the secretary cum commissioner stated that the State Government has instructed each department for example agriculture, animal husbandry, health, etc. should provide nine percent of the budget allocation made by them for tribal welfare.
The Government also made the concerned department responsible to chalk out plans and programmes for tribal development within their ambit. He stated that in such circumstances naturally broad perspective and integration of the efforts of the different departments can not take place. Obviously priorities can not be fixed with tribal prespective for example Energy Department and Urban Development Department do not have schemes which will fit in the tribal areas. Naturally the amount 88 reserved for tribal development at the end of financial year may remain unutilised. The total effect of the situtation in planning is skewed at the state level. It itself has resulted in diverting most of the expenditure to area development instead of family oriented/ human resource development. This mismatch between area development culminated in grabbing of benefits by the non tribals through infrastructure facilities, for example in Jawhar, in Thane district tribal population is only 19 percent. The developmental efforts in this area resulted actually in non tribal development.
At present a tribal development department has control over only about 10 percent of budget allocation earmarked under tribal development, nearly 90 percent amount being spent by other development departments in tribal sub plan area. It clearly indicates that virtually Tribal Development Department has no control over the situation. This defect may be corrected by providing total budget allocation earmarked for tribal development from the state budget to the Tribal Development Department itself. This will help the tribal development department to chalk out a plan with tribal perspective and thereby fixing priorities and weightages on realistic assessment of the situation in the tribal areas of the State .Then this financial break -up shall be intimated to the concerned departments for implementation. This also helps the the tribal development department to use finance as an effective tool for planning and monitoring the programmes.
Financial Allocations >
in July 1973, the Government of Maharashtra has laid down
89 the criteria for allocating financial resourcess to each district except Dhule. The same was modified to arrive at districtwise tribal sub plan allocations, which are made on i) population criterion which comprises to tribal population living in an area, communitywise tribal mixup, rural-urban tribal mixup, rural tribal population, in coastal and drought prone areas etc. On this basis 77 percent of allocation is made. ii) On the basis of geometric mean of agricultural backwardness per hectare and per worker, backwardness in communication, irrigation, and industrial development, 20 percent allocation is made. ill) On the basis of proportion of forest areas in the selected tribal areas of a district, 1.5 percent allocation is made.
However to understand the practical situation at the state level. It is essential to know the flow of funds from State Plan and central assistance for tribal development, institutional finance, etc.
In the fifth five year plan period for Tribal Sub Plan area, the Government of Maharashtra under the State Plan provided Rs. 100 crores. Special central assistance plus money provided under centrally sponsored schemes totalled Rs. 12 crores. In addition to this Rs. 10 crores under institutional finance was made available.
Hence a total of Rs. 122 crores were provided for tribal development in the State. The total outlay and the expenditure during the fifth five year plan and in 1979-80 are Rs. 28.80 crores and Rs. 26.12 crores respectively. However to understand the priorities fixed in utilising the amount, it is essential to know sectoral outlay for TSP during the fifth five year plan. 90 The same is as follows.
Sectoral outlays for Tribal - Area Sub - Plan in Maharashtra State During the fifth five year plan.
Table No. 3:15
Sr. Rs. in Percentage Sector No. Crores of Outlay
1. Agriculture and allied services 42.09 37.95
2 . Co-operation 14.84 13.35
3. Water and Power development 9.06 8.15
4. Industries and Minerals 2.50 2.25
5. Transport and Communication 13.93 13.55
6. Social and Community services 18.65 16.80
7. Economic and general services 9.94 8.95
Total : 111.00 100.00
Source - Tribal Research Bulletin Sept. 1989 Planning for Tribal Development >
This table clearly indicates the agriculture and allied services sector obtained a lions share, followed by social community services. Comparatively it is less than half of the amount spent on agricultural and allied services. The corporate sector got the third priority. These three sectors when put together constiture little more than 68 percent of the total outlay. The transportation and communication constitute only 3.55 percent. From the overall
91 developmental point of view it is important to point out that this sector which deserves at least equal priority if not more with other sectors seems to have been neglected.
This size of sixth five year plan of the State (1981-85) was of the order of Rs. 6418.17 crores, out of which Tribal Sub Plan outlay was just Rs. 313.27 crores which comes about 4.88 percent of the total outlay However the expenditure for the same period is of the order of Rs. 6324.61 crores for the whole state.
So far as Tribal Sub Plan area is concerned the expenditure is Rs. 336.06 crores or hardly 5 percent. The expenditure in TS.P. area shows slight increase when compared to outlays. It clearly points out that if we take the percentage of total tribal population and compare it with total population of the State as a whole the money allocated for tribal development seems to be inadequate.
If we consider, tribal geographical area, another important criterion leaving aside comparative backwardness etc, then also one can say that money provided in the State Plan is not enogth. The tribal area constitutes 16.50 percent of total geographical area i.e. 307690 sq. kms of the State. If we take into consideration tribal area and tribal population into account the share of the Tribal Sub Plan of this community in the State should be at least around 13 percent (i.e. 16.50 percent area + 9.99 percent population devided by 2)
Since the criterion of backwardness, can not be left out and for this purpose if we add roughly another 2 percent the total will come to 15 percent. This suggests that allocations made for tribal development are not realistic in nature.
92 The Present Position
The Government of Maharashtra is one of the leading states to take credit for substantial investment from the source of institutional finance. The Tribal Development Corporation alone as of today invested nearly Rs. 20 crores in this experiment as it was prepared in terms of vast institutional network linked up with 245 Adivasi co-operative societies in the State.
The investment by the central ministries depends largely on the basis of capacity of the state to mobilise financial resources. Its percentage of allocation for the total state budget under tribal development is generally on 50:50 basis, as the state government is ultimately responsible for both planning and implementation deficiency in this regard can not be passed on to the Central Government.
The Government of India supplemented the TS.P. by way of special central assistance to the tune of Rs. 3227.92 lakh for 1981-85 plus N.C.D.C margin money loan assistance of Rs. 50 lakh. Out of this Rs. 2798.86 lakh is given to TS.R And similarly forM.A.D.A. pockets and primitive tribes, an amount of Rs. 235.28 lakh and Rs. 193.88 lakh are provided respectively. When we compare this with the State plan outlay as noted above. On the surface it looks as if the State Government is able enough to obtain heavy financial assistance from the Government of India. But the real situation is not so, from the fifth five year plan, to be precise from 1st April 1975 onwards, the Government of India withdrew its financial commitment to Tribal Development Blocks in all the states. 93 The Tribal Developmental Blocks were left in the hands of
State Government to continue with their own financial arrangement. As per the suggestion of Government of India, these T. D. Blocks were substituted by Integrated Tribal Development Projects. In other words, the Government of India seems to be of the view that it is not possible for the central government to feed money for the maintainance of these blocks which involve huge expenditure.
Evaluation >
The five year plans is general and the eighth plan in particular stressed the development of tribals, the special action plan for selected tribal areas, special programme for the development of hill areas, the 20 point programme and the drought prone area programme for soil conservation and to avoid erosion of land and thereby a look to water management, the efforts to remove regional imbalances by providing additional funds in sectors like infrastructure, education, agriculture and allied services and health. Also special central assistance for individual beneficiary schemes through nucleus budget. All these distinct efforts towards this direction. It further strengthened the Tribal Sub Plan approach, initiated with plan. The plans have rightly taken into consideration the need for giving special treatment to the tribals while adapting the strategies for tribal development in the respective plan.
94 Tribal Development-A dministrative Set Up in Maharashtra >
The tribal development required a district administrative organisation, however the planning commission did not recommend any common pattern of administrative set up. It however indicated that while evolving suitable administrative set ups for the tribal area, local conditions should be taken into account and existing administrative structure and other institutions should be utilised.
The pattern of administrative organisation was to be worked out in detail for achieving functional and efficient co-ordination. It was stressed that this stage of development, protective and developmental functions could be distinguished in the tribal areas particularly in view of the fact that in the new strategy, elimination of exploitation was accorded the highest priority.^®
The planning commission also suggested that, the tribal leaders and the voluntary agencies should be associated in formulation and implementation of programmes. It also suggested that advisory committees should be constituted at appropriate levels and these committees should include tribal leaders, people's representatives, representatives of voluntary
2 9 organisations and other local institutions.
As predominantly area approach was accepted for the tribal
95 development. It was necessary to identify and demarcate the
areas of tribal concentration.
In Maharashtra it was facilitated because the scheduled
tribes mainly are concentrated in western, northern, and eastern
regions of the State. A) Western Region
It includes part of Thane, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Pune,
Ahmadnagar and Kolaba (Raigad). B) Northern Region
This comprised melghat tehsil of Amaravati district. C) Eastern Region
This includes Chandrapur and part of Nagpur, Bhandara,
Gadchiroli, Yavatmal, and Nanded districts.
The tribal population of Maharashtra according to the 1991
census is 789.37 lakh and this constitute about 9.27 percent of
State's population. Maharashtra stands sixth in the country
according to the size of the total population and shares about 7.3
percent of the tribal population.
Districtwise break-up of total and tribal population and the
percentage of tribal population to total population of Maharashtra
is shown in the following table. 96 Districtwise total and tribal population of Maharashtra State (as per 1991 Census) Table No. 3.16 Population in lakh Sr. Population Percentage of Tribal State/Division/District No. Total Tribal Population to total population 1 2 3 4 5 Maharashtra State 789.37 73.18 9.27 1. Greater Mumbai 99.26 1.04 1.05 2. Thane 52.49 9,51 18.12 3. Raigad 18.25 2.34 12.82 4. Ratnagiri 15.44 0.15 0.97 5. Sindudurg 8.32 0.04 0,48 Total- Konkan Division 193.76 13.08 6.75 6. Nashik 38.51 9.31 24,18 7. Dhule 25,36 10.36 40.85 8. Jalgaon 31.88 3.14 9.85 9. Ahemadnagar 33.73 2.40 7.12 Total- Nashik Division 129.48 25.21 19.47 10. Pune 55.33 2.16 3.90 11, Satara 24.51 0.18 0.73 12. Sangli 22.09 0.11 0.50 13. Soiapur 32.31 0.48 1.49 14. Kolhapur 29.90 0.15 0.50 Total- Pune Division 164.14 3.08 1.88 15. Aurangabad 22,14 0.84 3.79 16. Jalna 13.64 0.28 2.05 17. Parbhani 21.17 1.11 5.24 18. Beed 18.22 0.21 1.15 19. Nanded 23.30 2.76 11.85 20. Osmanabad 12.76 0.22 1.72 21. Latur 16,77 0.38 2.27 Tota -Aurangabad Division 128.00 5.80 4.53 22, Buldhana 18.87 0,95 5.03 23. Akola 22.14 1.56 7.05 24, Amaravati 22.00 3.16 14.36 25, Yavatmal 20.77 4.46 21.47
Total- Amaravati Division 83.78 10.13 12.09
97 1 2 3 4 5
26. Wardha 10.67 1.66 15.56 27. Nagpur 32.87 4.58 13.93 28. Bhandara 21.08 3.10 14.71 29. Chandrapur 17.72 3.49 19.70 30. Gadchiroli 7.87 3.05 38.75 Total- Nagpur Division 90.21 15.88 17.60 Source - Annual Tribal Sub Plan 2000-2001 Statistics -TDD (Govt, of Maharashtra)
98 There were area restrictions in the State with regard to Scheduled Tribes, notified under the Constitution. In order to remove these restrictions parliament enacted the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe order (Amendment) Act 1976 by which the Scheduled Tribes through out the State were devided into 47 tribal groups.
According to the criterion adopted for determining Tribal Sub Plan Area for fifth five year plan, the following were to be included in the tribal area sub plan (TASP) a) All scheduled areas. b) All tribal development blocks c) All talukas having 50 percent or more tribal concentration. d) Villages or areas which constituted as pockets in the above mentioned areas and which were contiguous to such areas and which together have predominently tribal population and/or inclusion of which in the tribal sub plan area was administratively expedient.
Taking into consideration the above mentioned criterion 6426 villages in the 13 districts, i.e. Thane, Kolaba (Raigad), Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Pune, Ahmadnagar, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Bhandara, Nanded and Chandrapur were included in the tribal area sub plan during the fifth five year plan period.
However in the sixth five year plan the government of India relaxed the above mentioned criterion to include in the tribal area sub plan, pockets of 10,000 population having 50 percent or more tribal population. 99 At present, the Scheduled Area in Maharashtra are spread over 14 districts
1) Thane 2) Raigad 3) Nashik 4) Dhule 5) Jalgaon 6) Ahmadnagar 7) Pune 8) Nanded 9) Amaravati 10) Yavatmal 11) Nagpur 12) Bhandara 13) Chadrapur 14) Gadchiroil
-It Comprises of 4 MADA and mini MADA pockets
-It covers partly 49 tehsils ( T.S.P.+ ATSP)
-It covers fully 20 tehsils in T.S.P. area
-Number of tehsils covered under MADA+mini MADA-43
-Thus number of tehsils covered in
TSP + ATSP + MADA + mini MADA -112
-Number of town covered in Scheduled Area -12
-Number of villages covered - TSP area 5809 + ATSP area
773 + MADA pocktes 1158 + mini MADA pockets 301.
-TSP, ATSP, MADA, mini MADA pockets covers 53680 sq.km area in rural area and 124 sq.km in urban area
(Source - TSP Booklet 2000 - 2001)
The Identification and demarcation of the tribal areas geared up intensive developmental efforts in these areas. The government identified the socioeconomic barriers inhibiting the socio-economic development In tribal areas and people, on the basis of experience gained throgh the developmental efforts made in the past. By formulating the tribal area sub plan the state government had taken a major step towards speeding up the pace of development of tribals in the 14 districts of Maharashtra.
100 To remove the existing prevailing exploitative practice, the government had enacted comprehensive legislation, known as “Maharashtra Tribes Economic Condition” (improvement) Act. 1976. Which envisaged prohibition on, money lending and banning trade by private traders in selected commodities harvested by scheduled tribes.
The vacuum caused by the removal of money lenders and traders from the tribal sub plan areas was proposed to be filled in by establishing multipurpose organisation known as “Adivasi Co-operative Societies”, further for protecting the tribals from the hands of private traders, the government introduced the scheme of monopoly purchase of specified agricultural and minor forest products under the monopoly and voluntary purchase scheme.
By these procedures to facilitate upliftment of the tribals and improve their economic condition by prohibiting exploitation, the government undertook the lead in helping the tribals through legislation.
Shortage of resources was the principal constraints of planning in developing countries. As far the tribal area sub plan, however specific arrangements were made to faciliate the flow of finance. Powers to the Governor
The scheduled area administered as a part of the state in which they are located, but the Governor is empowered
101 a) To modify central and state laws in their application to them and b) To frame regulation for their peace and good government and in particular for the protection of rights of the tribals in the allotment of waste land and their protection from money lenders. The Governor is further required to submit to the President of India, an annual report on the administration on the scheduled areas of the state. Administration under the fifth schedule >
The administration of scheduled areas under the fifth schedule visualises a division of responsibility between the State Government and Central Government.
The State Government is charged with the duty of screening legislation unsuitable for extension to the tribal areas and framing regulation for their peace and good government with particular reference to the protection of tribals land allotment of wasteland and protection from exploitation by money lenders. It has also, to implement the special schemes for the welfae of scheduled tribes living within its boundaries as well as schemes for their general development.
The Central Governments responsibility intends to providing guidance in regard to the administration of scheduled area and to make available additional funds required to raise the level of administration and the standard of life of the tribal communities. The central government has to give direction to state government regarding the implementation of the particular schemes, priorities
102 for their implementation and the central administration of the tribal area.
The scheduled areas have been constituted with two clear and straight objectives, one is to assist the tribals to enjoy their existing rights and the second is to develop the scheduled areas and promote the economic, educational and social progess of the people. Administrative ^ u ^ iji the scheduled areas Directorate of Social Welfare
The welfare of the backward classes as whole including the welfare of the scheduled tribes is looked after by the Director of Social Welfare. This department executes ameliorative measures for the welfare of scheduled tribes also.
Below the Directorate of social welfare, there are divisional social welfare officers for each of the revenue division of the State. These officers not only supervise the work at the district and lower levels but also co-ordinate the activities for the welfare of backward classes including scheduled tribes. These officers are under the administrative contol of the Director of social welfare. At district level, there are social welfare officers who are working under the Zilla Parishad. Zilla Parishad
During the year 1962-63 most of the schemes for the welfare of backward classes including those for scheduled tribes were transferred to the local sector under the Zilla Parishad and
103 Panchayat Samitis for implementation.
The programme for the welfare of schedulecl tribes and scheduled areas was entrusted to the standing committee of Zilla Parishad as far as local sector schemes are concerned.
The President of Zilla Parishad is ex-officio chairman of the standing committee. The standing committee consists of not more than two members belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes or socially and educationally backward classes. There is provision in the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis Act 1961 for reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in Zilla Parishad on the basis of their population. The members of Zilla Parishad become members of such Panchayat Samitis from whose juridiction they are elected. A scheduled tribes representative on the Zilla Parishad becomes member of Panchayat Samiti from whose juridication scheduled tribe member could not be elected. In such a case provision has been made in the Act for the co-option of one member belonging to scheduled tribes having regard to the population of scheduled tribe in that block. Social Welfare Committees of Zilla Parishad
The Government has also constituted a separate social welfare committes, which consists of nine councillors, five belonging to scheduled tribes and scheduled castes and of these five, at least two should belong to the socially and educationally backward classes. One of these nine members is elected as chairman. The social welfare committee takes over the 104 responsibility of implementation of programmes as far as local sector schemes are concerneci for the scheduled tribes and development of scheduled areas from the standing committee of the Zill Parishad.
Area of Panchayat Samiti includes one or more tribal blocks. If the percentage of the population of persons belonging to scheduled tribes is 50 percent or more of total populaion of the block, then the chairman and deputy chairman of Panchayat Samiti has to be from scheduled tribes.
Directorate of Tribal Welfare >
The schemes and programmes activated for the welfare of tribals have grown both in volume and range and therefore the Government has set up independent machinery for the welfare of tribals and scheduled tribes by creating a separate Directorate of Tribal Welfare in 1973.
The Directorate of Tribal Welfare, at the head quarter level, is assisted by two Deputy Directors, two Assistant Directors, one Tribal Welfare Officer and onw Chief Audit and Account Officer. No staff is provided at divisional level in the present set up.
At district level, specially in the district having larger tribal population tribal welfare officers with necessary staff are provided to carry out above noted activities of the department. The director of tribal welfare is the member secretary of the Tribes Advisory Council.
105 The Tribes Adviosry Council >
The Government of Maharashtra State in order to advise to the State Government in matters concerning the welfare and advancement of Scheduled Tribes as may be refered to it in accordance with Maharashtra State Tribes Advisory Council Rules 1960. And in exercise of power confered by sub paragraph (3) of the para (4) of the 5th schedule of the Constitution of India has constituted the Tribes Advisory Council. Tribal Research and Trainins Institute
Maharashtra State - Pune >
The work regarding implementing and executing the schemes and programmes meant for tribal welfare has to be supplemented with the work of research, evaluation, and training for the tribals. The Government has therefore separated the Tribal Research and Training Institute, from the activities of Tribal Welfare
Department and declared the Tribal Research and Training
Institute, as independent and gave the status to its Director as the Head of the Department in 1978.
This institute set up in 1962 has played very important role in planning of tribal development programmes. It has engaged in action oriented research, relating to various aspects of tribal life, development and evaluation of tribal development programmes.
It imparts training to officials and non officials. It maintains the
“Data Bank” on the socio economic aspects of tribal life. 106 Caste Verification Cell >
It has also entrusted with the work of caste verification in regard to education and service matters.
The institute is headed by Director, who is being assisted by chief research officer, Deputy Director, four research officers, two lecturers, one statistical officer and one accounts officer with other staff such as cultural officer, research assistants, assistant curator, investigator, statistical assistant and ministerial staff.
The work of Tribal Research and Training institute also comprises of collection and dissemination of information regarding tribal life and to build up a museum and library on tribals. At present the TRI is broadly divided into the areas of Research, Integrated Area Development Programme, Training, Publications, Library, Museum, Cultural unit, Production of films on ‘tribal life and culture’. The institute wants to enhance the research and training programmes, documentation of the original culture of tribals, which is vanishing very fast, development of meseum and library etc. Thus this institute plays very important role regarding tribals and various aspects of their life. Administrative Machinery for Scheduled Area and Tribal Sub Plan Area
in Maharashtra State there is no separate administrative machinery for the scheduled area. Since the scheduled area in this state is fully emerged with the Sub Plan Area and the administrative machinery for the tribal sub plan area subserves the purpose of administrative machinery for scheduled area. 107 The various developmental schemes in the nature of infrastructure and individual beneficiary orinented projects are taken up under Tribal Sub Plan Area. Implementation of most of the schemes is carried out by concerned departments, e.g. Public works department Agriculture department etc.
The Tribal Development Department which came into existance on 3rd May 1983, plays the role of co-ordination and monitoring implementation of schemes so far as TSP area are concerned. It also controls the funds once they are budgeted under the TSP areas. It also accords administrative approval to the various schemes implemented by other departments under TSP programme.
Those schemes captioned as “Backward class welfare sector” are however implemented by the Tribal Development Department itself. These schemes mainly pertain to tribal education like Ashram Schools, Hostels for scheduled tribe boys and girls, Grants of scholarship and tuition fees and other welfare schemes such as supply of electric motor pump sets and oil enginees and housing.
Though there is a common administrative set up to overview the implementation of the schemes executed by concerned departments and tribal development department, there are two sets of administrative machinery for implementation and co-ordination of the schemes at lower level.
One set of administrative machinery is designed to implement the schemes and consists of -
108 1. Director Tribal Development - Nashik
2. Director Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune.
3. The Managing Director - Maharashtra State Co-operative
Tribal Development Corporation Ltd. Nashik
The second administrative set up mainly for co-ordination and monitoring of the various schemes executed by other departments comprises-
1) Two additional tribal commissioners, Nashik and Nagpur and
2) 24 Project officers of Integrated Tribal Development Projects
It must be pointed out that there is no water-tight compartment between two sets of administrative machinery.
In addition to the above administrative machinery certain committees at State/District and Project level have been set up with offices of the department by appropriate desinations involved 32 in the tribal development.
AJ STATE LEVEL -
i) State level cabinet sub committee of Tribal Sub Plan is
headed by the Chief Minister and decides the policy and other important matters.
ii) The Tribes Advisory Council which is headed by Chief Minister and minister of tribal development as its chairman and ex-officio, vice chairman. It is set up to advice the Governor on important matters concerning tribal development.
109 iii) Separate department of Tribal Development headed by cabinet minister and assisted by a minister of state.
The Tribal Development Department has been reorganised with effect from 15th January 1992, bringing in a single line of command and greater accountability.
The structure is given below -
S e c r e t a r y T r ib a l D e v e l o p m e n t D e p a r t m e n t “T Tribal Tribal Research Maharashtra State Commissioner and Training Co-op Tribal Nashik Institute Development Pune. Corporation Nashik Additional Tribal Commissioner (4)
Project Officers of ITDP (24)
iv) A secretariat of Tribal Development Department headed by a secretary.
v) Tribal Development Commissioner has the function of planning and monitoring under him.
110 B] Divisional Level
1) A Divisional commissioner of Revenue Division of the State is responsible for implementation of the TSP schemes in their respective regions. To guide and direct the collectors and chief executive officers in their divisions in the matters of tribal development.
2) The two additional Tribal Development Commissioners also assist the Tribal Development Commissioner by co-ordinating and monitoring the programmes.
B] District Level
There is no full time district level officer apart from the district officers of the various departments for the implementation of TSP schemes.
The collectors of the districts and the chief executive officers of Zilla Parishad, designated as Ex-officio Deputy Tribal Commissioner and additional Deputy Tribal Commissioner respectively. The collectors are responsible for overall supervision of the implementation of tribal benefits schemes of the district, while the chief executive officers of Zill Parishads are responsible for implementation of local sector schemes with a view to achieve proper and effective co-ordination. The project officers of Integrated Tribal Development Projects are placed under the collector.
There is a special executive committee of District Planning
111 and Development Council for every TSP district for formulating district level schemes of tribal development. Project Level >
At the project level implementation committee under the chairmanship of additional Tribal Development Commissioner is at work. The project officer is its member secretary, and all the implementing officers are its members. This committee is required to meet every month to review the progress of tribal development schemes.
Directorate of Tribal Development ^ Nashik >
Directorate of Tribal Development, Nashik, is assisted by the joint Director and two Deputy Directors at the regional offices at Nashik and Nagpur, along with 24 Tribal Development officers located at different part of the State.
This directorate looks after ashram schools, backward classes and tribal hostels and other matters concerning tribal education and the various schemes such as supply of electric motor pumps and oil enginees to tribal farmers and schemes of housing etc. Maharashtra State Co-operative Tribal Development Corporation Ltd., Nashik (MSCTDC)
The Maharashtra State Tribal Development corporation Ltd was established in 1972 under the co-operative societies Act and
112 its head office being at Nashik. It was started with a limited purpose of supplying essentital consumer goods to the tribals and running of ashram schools. But since last many years it has expanded its activities and now its aims and objectives and responsibilities are as follows. i) Purchase and sale of agricultural and minor forest produce in the tribal areas under the monopoly procurment scheme.
11) Management of developmental works in tribal areas on agency basis on behalf of the government, public institutions and co-operatives. iii) Distribution of consumption loans to adivasi families. iv) Extending loans for income generating activities. v) To undertake any activity assigned by the government for general development of Adivasis and promotion of programmes for the generation of employment in the tribal areas. vi) Supply of essential commodities to the tribals vii) Supply of articles to Ashram Schools.
The Maharashtra State Co-operative Tribal Development Corporation functions as the apex body of the multipurpose Adivasi co-operative societies. The village level co-operative societies are the sub-agents of the corporation under the monopoly procurment scheme, consumption loan schemes etc. The State Government provides assistance to the corporation in the form of managerial subsidy, purchase subsidy and reimbursement of losses, if any, incurred by the corporation in the trading operations. 113 At present the corporation is implementing a number of schemes viz monopoly procurment scheme and consumption finance, extention of self employment schemes under the National Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Financial Development Corporation (NSFDC) loan schemes, supply of daily necessities to ashram schools, supply of electric motor pumps, oil enginees, mobile consumer shops and drinking water supply to government ashram schools.
The major constraint which was faced by the corporation was that, its paid up share capital was very limited. However government has increased the paid up share capital of the corporation, to enable the corporation, to perform its role effectively.
The Board of the Directors of the corporation is headed by the Minister Tribal Development as its chairman and the minister for the state for tribal development as its vice-chairman. The corporation is headed by a Managing Director and is assisted by general managers. There are eight regional offices headed by sub regional managers.
114 District wise number of Adivasi Societies in each Regional office of the T.D.C. and those affiliated to it - Maharashtra State.
Table No. 3:17
Name of No of No of Sr. District Regional Adivasi affiliated to No. Office Seva TDC Ltd., of T.D.C Ltd., Societies Nashik 1
1 . Thane Jawhar 119 117
2 . Raigad Jawhar 15 9 3. Nashik Nashik 165 165 4. Dhule Nandurbar 184 184 5. Jalgaon Nandurbar 6 6
6 . Pune Jannar 26 26 7. Ahmedanagar Jannar 37 33
8 . Yavatmal Yavatmal 92 92 9. Amaravati Yavatmal 33 33
10. Nanded Yavatmal 24 24
11. Bhandara Bhandhara 39 39
12. Ward ha Bhandara 2 2 13. Nagpur Bhandara 13 13 14. Chandrapur Chandrapura 63 56 15. Gadchiroli Gadchiroli 120 117
Total 938 916
Source - Annual Tribal Sub Plan 2000-2001
Govt, of Maharashtra (TDD) Page 539
115 DPDC and Administration and Plannins yrocess in Tribal Areas
Co-ordination of tlie planning relating to the tribal development is entrusted to the special executive committee of the DPDC. It is the most Important committee connected with tribal development in general and tribal sub plan in particular. As a sub committee of the DPDC it is constituted in each tribal district.
The special executive committee of DPDC consists of the designated Minister of the district as chairman, deputy tribal Commissioner, President of Zilla Parishad, a tribal MLA's, MLC's, MP's from the disthct, chairmen of the social welfare committees of the Panchayat Samitis falling in tribal areas, two non official representatives of the tribals in the district as nominated by the government, the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) of the Zilla Parishad, Project officer of Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP) and district collector as member secretary,
The special Executive Committee is responsible for a) Formulating five year plans and annual plans for the tribal areas sub plan, subject to the guidelines from the government within the prescribed ceilings. b) Monitor periodical review of the implementation of the tribal sub plan and identifying reasons for shortfalls and to consider remedial measures. c) Considering and recommending to the government reappropriation of savings and excesses.
116 In order to perform these functions the special executive committee is expected to meet at least once a month.
The special executive committee of the DPDC, is expected to play a significant role in tribal development in that it has to initiate and monitor the proposals and schemes in the district plan. The committee is so designated as to facilitate, co-ordination among different interests. Involvement of tribal representatives makes the planning process more responsible to the needs of the tribals.
Block Level Sub Committee of the DPDC >
In 1982, it was decided to constitute a sub committee of the DPDC at the Block level and to implement block level planning from 1983-84. The sub committee consisted of a local member of Legislative Assembly as chairman, Zilla Parishad member residing in the block, President of Taluka Panchayat Samiti as member and Block Development Officer (B.D.O.) as member secretary. No special representation has been provided to the scheduled tribes on this sub-committee.
The function of the sub-committee has been limited to the preparation of draft plan at Taluka / Block level for consideration of DPDC. Maximum meetings of this sub committee would be three in a year. Evaluation:-
Tribals and tribal area development, government attaches highest importance to various aspects of tribals and tribal
117 area. So as to render benefits to the grass roots of tribais and consistent with this approach and objective of tribal development in Maharashtra, the administrative organisational set up has been created such as from state level, divisional level, district and project levels. The Directorate of Tribal Development. The Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune and Maharashtra State Co-operative Tribal Development Corporation Ltd., play very important role in tribal area development and promote and correlate various activities concerned with tribal development. The special executives committee of the DPDC has been entrusted with the planning function about the areas and is discussed at length in the next chapter. References 1) Laxminarayan, Tribal Development Through Plans in Maharashtra. Tribal Research Bulletin Sept. 1989. P1 2) Ibid P1 3) Ibid Pi 4) Ibid P1 5) Ibid P1 6) Ibid P2 7) Ibid P2
8) Ibid P3
9) Ibid P3
10) Ibid P4
11) Ibid P4
1 2) Ibid P4
13) Ibid P5
14) Ibid P7
15) Ibid P7 16) Ibid P8 17) Ibid P8
18) Ibid P9
19) Menon P.S.K. Programme of Tribal Development under Seventh Plan.
Tribal Research Bulletin Pune March 1986 P21
Ibid P22
119 20) Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97) PP I - 9 21) Tribal Sub Plan 2000-2001 Booklet Maharashtra Tribal Development Dept. P. 2 Ibid 3 22) Tribal Research Bulletin 1989 Pio 23) Ibid Pio 24) Ibid P11
25) Ibid P17 26) Ibid P12 27) Inamdar and Kshire V. K. District Planning in India. A case study of Maharashtra New Delhi IBH Publishing Company 1986
Pl31
28) Ibid P131
29) Ibid P131 30) Annual Report on the Administration of scheduled Areas in Maharashtra State for the year 1979-80 PP - 1 -12 31) Surana M. V. and Shevekari S. R. Administration of Scheduled Areas and Implementation of Programmes for Scheduled Tribes in Maharashtra State.
Tribal Research Bulletin, Pune Sept. 1990
PP II l3
Ibid P i3
120