Ranchi/New Delhi: Union Tribal Affairs Minister on Wednesday said that the government was implementing Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes (DAPST) as a strategy for the development of the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the country.
He said “besides the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 41 Central Ministries / Departments are allocating and utilizing funds annually under DAPST of their schemes for tribal development. In the Union Budget 2023-24, an amount of Rs. 1,17,943.73 crore (excluding UT allocation) has been allocated as DAPST funds out of the total scheme budgetary allocation of 42 Ministries/Departments which is about 35 % increase in DAPST budget than that of last financial year.
Further, there is about five and half time increase in DAPST funds allocation in 2023-24 than that of the actuals of FY 2013-14”. “ The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for STs has improved at Upper Primary, Secondary and Senior Secondary levels. GER at Upper Primary level (VI-VIII) has increased from 91.33% in 2013-14 to 98.0% in 2021-22, at Secondary level (IX-X) has increased from 70.2 % in 2013-14 to 78.10% in 2021-22 and at Senior Secondary Level (XI-XII), it has improved from 35.44 % in 2013-14 to 52.00% in 2021-22.
GER for Higher education for STs has increased from 11.3% in 2013-14 to 18.9 % in 2020-21”, said Munda.