Tribal Affairs Ministry procuring new uniforms worth Rs. 15 crore for tribal students

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs under two of its associated agencies shall be entering into 2 MoUs with Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to procure school uniforms for tribal students and also to promote tribal entrepreneurship.

Under the first agreement the agency National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) will be procuring around 6 lakh meters of Khadi fabric at an approximate cost of Rs. 15 crore from KVIC. This move will benefit around 75,000 students residing in the remotest part of the country in 23 states.

The next year government is planning to increase its budget to Rs. 50 crores which would benefit around 360000 students in 750 schools. KVIC will be able to offer fabric for the Pant & Shirt of Boys and Kurti, Salwar & Jacket for the Girls.

Arjun Munda, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, on the occasion stated that the Ministry has laid a lot of emphasis on the development of tribal education through one of its flagship interventions of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) to impart quality education to ST students.

“As part of the revamping of the programme, we thought of a standard school uniform design for the students keeping in view the various climatic factors. The focus of the government and the clarion call of the Prime Minister to embrace Khadi as a philosophy and recently as a critical component of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat strategy, the Ministry felt it appropriate to source the fabric for uniforms of EMRS Students from KVIC,” he said.

The minister informed that in the year 2018-19, the Eklavya Model Residential School scheme was revamped to substantially increase the geographical outreach and introduce various qualitative changes to improve the learning outcomes of the students. He said, “452 new EMRSs will be coming up in the remote tribal blocks of the country. This is a giant leap in the arena of tribal education as by the year 2022 there will be 740 EMRS across the country.”

Concessional loans for tribals

The second MoU will be signed between NSTFDC and KVIC. NSTFDC is a Section 25 company under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs responsible for implementing concessional loan schemes for the economic development of tribals in India for funding entrepreneurial ventures of aspiring scheduled tribes in all sectors of the economy.

NSTFDC has been enrolled as an implementing agency under PM Employment Generation Program (PMEGP scheme) in order to increase the coverage of PMEGP amongst STs. Therefore the proposed MoU between NSTFDC and KVIC will formalize this arrangement and will be a landmark initiative to bring synergy between NSTFDC and KVIC in reaching out to tribal entrepreneurs under the larger ambit of the PMEGP scheme.

The Tribal Affairs Ministry has also partnered with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi as a part of the revamping exercise. The MOU is been signed in the presence of Minister of Tribal Affairs and Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, said that children, who are the future of this country, have always been a focus of various schemes and programmatic attention of Government of India. He said, “Be it schemes of education, sports, skill development, nutrition or all-round development taking the concept of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, Government of India has taken a number of landmark steps. There could not be a more befitting way than this to take the message of Mahatma Gandhi to the tribal villages as the country is in the midst of “150 years of Celebrating the Mahatma.”

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