Context: Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Rs 24,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM PVTG) Mission for the holistic development of around 28 lakh PVTGs in the country.

• Modi launched the mission from Birsa College ground in Jharkhand’s Khunti district on the occasion of tribal icon Birsa Munda's birth anniversary and the third ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas'.

• The mission includes providing basic facilities like safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, education, health and nutrition, better access to roads in settlements for backward scheduled tribes.

About the mission

• A fund of Rs 15,000 crore for the next three years has been allocated for the socio-economic development of the group.

• It has been launched as a part of ‘Reaching The Last Mile’, one of the seven Saptarishi priorities enlisted in this year’s budget.

• The PVTGs Mission aims to provide basic facilities like housing, water, road, telecom, education and health in PVTG areas across the country.

• The scheme follows the strategic approach of ‘Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana’ which aims to optimize utilization of resources available under various programs.

• Rural Development Ministry, the Water Resources Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Women and Child Development Ministry are the nodal ministries responsible for the implementation of the scheme.

• The mission is aimed to improve socio-economic conditions of the PVTGs by saturating PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities.

About Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has classified 75 tribal groups in 18 states of the country and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).

• PVTGs are the most vulnerable among the tribal groups. In 1975, the Government of India took the initiative to identify the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTGs .

• Initially 52 tribal groups were classified as PVTGs. In the year 1993, 23 additional tribal groups were included in this category, due to which there are currently 75 tribal groups under PVTG.

• Of the 75 listed PVTGs, the highest number are found in Odisha (13), followed by Andhra Pradesh (12).

Few facts about Scheduled Tribes (STs)

• STs constitute around 8.6% of the India’s total population and almost 11.3% of the total rural population.

• Despite the increase in literacy rate among STs from 8.5% in 1961 to 59% in 2011, and the fact that the Right to Education Act, 2009 makes it mandatory that all children between the age of 6 and 14 be provided free and compulsory education, the literacy rate in STs is still below the national average of India.

• In the case of tribals, dropout rate (leaving school in between)  is still very high – 35% in Classes I to V; 55% in Classes I to VIII; and 71% in Classes I to X in 2010-11.

• As per the  2014 UNICEF-sponsored South Asia regional study report named “All Children in School by 2015”, economic and socio-cultural factors are the reason behind the low education in certain groups in India, especially SCs, STs and Muslims.

• The India Human Development Survey shows that the incidence of poverty is highest among the STs (50%), followed by the SCs (32%), and then the Muslims (30.5%).

Some Constitutional and Legal Provisions related to Tribes in India are

Constitutional Provisions

• A) As per Census of 1931, Schedule tribes were termed as "backward tribes” living in the "Excluded" and "Partially Excluded" areas.

• B) The Government of India Act of 1935 called for the 1st time for representatives of "backward tribes" in provincial assemblies.

• C) The Constitution does not define the criteria for recognition of Scheduled Tribes and hence the definition contained in 1931 Census was used in the initial years after independence.

• D) However, Article 366 of the Constitution only provides process to define Scheduled Tribes: “Scheduled Tribes means such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of this Constitution.”

• E) 342(1): The President may with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor, by a public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within tribes or tribal communities as Scheduled Tribe in relation to that State or Union Territory.

• F) The 5th schedule of the Constitution lays out the provisions for Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

• G) The 6th schedule deals with the administration of the tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Legal Provisions

• A) Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 against Untouchability.

• B) Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

• C) Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996.

• D) Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.