The first “Tribal Dialogues” : For preparing a road map for tribal development

Webinar held on Revival and Reconstruction of tribal livelihoods on ‘Revival and Reconstruction of tribal livelihoods-Post COVID-19 response-Challenges, Opportunities and Way ahead”

Bhubaneswar(Kalinga Voice) – The ST & SC Development Department, Government of Odisha is initiating a Webinar series ‘Tribal Dialogues’ to create a platform for sharing of different perspectives and best practices for preparing a realistic and achievable road map for tribal development in the
State. The first “Tribal Dialogues” webinar was held on 2nd December 2020 on the theme ‘Revival and Reconstruction of tribal livelihoods-Post COVID-19 response-Challenges, Opportunities and Way ahead”. Shri Jagannath Saraka, Minister of State, ST& SC Development, Government of Odisha was the Chief Guest of the inaugural event. Shri Navaljit Kapoor, Joint Secretary, MoTA in his keynote address highlighted various schemes and programmes of Central Government aimed at tribal development across the country. Smt. Ranjana Chopra, IAS, Principal Secretary, ST & SC Development Department, Government of Odisha highlighted the Mission Jeebika initiative of the State Government to achieve the main objective of raising the income level and thereby living standards of the tribals through various
interventions in a cluster approach.
Eminent panelists from different fields like Padmashree Sushree Kamala Pujari, Dr.Arabinda Kumar Padhee, IAS, Shri Jagadananda, Founder (CYSD), Shri.Narendranath Damodaran Executive Director (PRADAN) shared their views on various aspects that are affecting tribal life and livelihood and came up with real time situation analysis and articulated action ideas on the same. More than 500 Government officials, field functionaries, people from Civil Society Organisations working on tribal development and community members joined through the virtual medium. Smt.Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar, IAS, Director-ST cum CEO, OTDS moderated the event.

Under Mo Sarakar & 5-T initiative of Govt of Odisha, ST & SC Development
Department launched Mission Jeevika during October 2019 with a target to cover 1 lakhs beneficiaries under the programme annually. So far, 1,18,334 beneficiaries were covered through 545 clusters farm & off-farm clusters through provisioning of quality inputs, introduction of better production practices, irrigation sources & timely marketing linkage. Farm based clusters like pea cluster, Maize cluster, various vegetable cash crop
clusters and poultry clusters have transformed the life and livelihoods of the tribals both economically and socially. Through the programme the beneficiary farmers have shown an increase in the farm income. Total area under cultivation and area under irrigation has also increased because of bringing fallow land under agriculture, About 47% of beneficiaries have
cultivated during Rabi season for the first time under this programme.