Centre to conduct survey to check if 39 schemes reach vulnerable tribes

New Delhi: The Centre will conduct the first-ever 'Individual Entitlement Survey' of 10 lakh households belonging to particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) to gauge whether the benefits of 39 government schemes are percolating down to the grassroots or not.

The pan-India survey will be conducted through the state governments in 1,000 blocks dominated by about 48 lakh PVTGs. There are 75 recognised PVTGs across 18 states and one Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar. The data collected through the survey will help the Centre understand how many eligible beneficiaries remain uncovered and by which scheme. This will, in turn, be conveyed to line ministries to understand and fill the gaps.

The ministry of tribal affairs has prepared a list of 39 schemes across 18 central government departments that need to be tracked. These include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, old age protection and social security of unorganised workers, pensions, financial assistance schemes for meritorious Scheduled Tribe students and flagship schemes like LPG cylinders. After the completion of the survey, the government will issue a 'Universal Entitlement Card' to every tribal belonging to the vulnerable tribal group which will clearly spell out the entitlement status.


According to sources, the ministry of tribal affairs has asked the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to develop an application which will be used by surveyors to conduct the exercise. A source, who did not wish to be identified, told ET, “We will ask the states to conduct this exercise. It will depend on the state governments to employ NGOs or involve panchayat officials for this survey.” The surveyors will go house-to-house and fill in data directly in the app about whether these schemes are reaching the beneficiaries. “Every scheme will be tracked. We have framed different fields like name of scheme, eligibility and status of benefits received. When the surveyor goes, he/she will also take a photograph of the household and upload it. This way we will get the latitude and longitude of each PVTG household.”

The exercise is unique as such a survey has not been conducted before. “We presume that everyone has an Aadhaar. But when an Aadhaar camp is conducted, new cards are issued. So this means there are gaps we didn't know existed. This survey is significant because it is about the most vulnerable people,” said the official.

The most number of particularly vulnerable tribal groups — about 13 — are recognized in Odisha, followed by 12 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and about nine in Jharkhand and Bihar. They are identified as “primitive” because of their limited access to education and health facilities apart from their lifestyle.