Agartala, July 29,2024: The union budget of the third NDA government has increased the allocation for tribal welfare to 73 percent under various schemes, informed Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram here.
As part of the ongoing campaign of the central government to highlight the thrust points of Union Budget 2024-25, he said that around Rs. 13,000 crore has been provided in the budget for the implementation of tribal welfare schemes across the country.
An amount of Rs 6,399 crore has been made in the budget for the construction of Eklavya Model Residential Schools, with a target to set up 728 such schools for the tribal students to study Class VI-IX free of cost, Oram stated adding that the development of livelihood options are given priority.
The schemes for the welfare of the poor, empowering women, skilling and employment opportunities for the youth, and farmers’ welfare to make their income double, the budget has proposed a ‘Prime Minister’s package of five schemes and initiatives’ for employment, skilling, and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over five years with a central outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore.
Oram underscored under the Uttar Purva Transformative Industrialization Scheme-2024, the budget has a vision for the progress of North East and Tripuram, which will be operational for the next ten years and will focus on the development of industries & employment generation in the region for Rs 10,037 crore.
He added that 14 projects under Northeast Special Infrastructure Development Scheme have been approved for Tripura with a cost of 458 crore rupees. The budget, he said, allocated more than Rs 3 lakh crore to schemes benefitting women and girls to promote women-led development.
Besides, the limit of MUDRA loans will be increased to Rs 20 lakh from the current Rs 10 lakh under the ‘Tarun’ category of PM MUDRA Yojana, which will further broaden the employment avenues, Oram claimed.
Pradhan Mantri Janjati Unnat Gram Abhiyan Scheme will cover 63,000 villages in the country and it will lay thrust on augmenting the infrastructure such as road connectivity, power supply, and medical facilities, he underlined.
The minister pointed out that Rs 2.6 lakh crore budgetary provision has been made for Rural Development, adding that Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana will cover 25,000 rural habitations across the country.
“Northeast region received record budgetary allocation for Railway infrastructure projects. The allocation has been proposed at Rs 10,376 crores, which is five times more than the average annual budget outlay of Rs 2122 crore for the region during 2009-14,” Oram added.
