LPG, hostel and road connectivity see least progress in Centre’s scheme for tribals

Nearly two years after the government’s Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA) program for key interventions in targeted tribal-dominated villages, progress has been slow; The review of the plan by the Center shows the least progress seen so far in the interventions that need to be made by the Union Ministry of Education, the Union Ministry of Rural Development and the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, among others.

The DAJGUA scheme has been implemented since October 2024 and is intended to bring interventions to up to 25 remote tribal villages and blocks under 17 Ministries.

Since the launch of the programme, only four out of 692 approved hostels for Scheduled Tribes (ST) students across the country have been completed and the Ministry of Education has released nearly 27% of the approved funds for this intervention. Government data shows that foundations have been laid for nearly 300 hostels.

Additionally, data presented in Parliament by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs shows that around 5% of the targeted ST beneficiaries have received LPG connections so far and not a single road or bridge approved to connect more than 1,700 remote tribal villages has been completed.

Under the rural housing intervention, the government has approved more than 17.2 lakh houses, while around 7.8 lakh have been completed.

Under the intervention for electrification of households through the grid, around 34% of the 2.86 lakh households approved so far have been electrified. Additionally, under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the government has supplied 47% of over 63,000 tribal villages with tap water.

The data was shared in the Rajya Sabha in response to a question on the progress of the DAJGUA programme.

In the reply, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey said the Ministry had identified “implementation bottlenecks” under rural housing, road connectivity and other interventions. The minister attributed these delays to “procedural issues, land-related restrictions, legal permits and coordination difficulties between implementing agencies.”