Government taking steps for better tribal plan

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government is all set to initiate a survey of all tribal households to gauge socio-economic and behavioural aspects of tribal life. The questions would range from number of members in each household to habit of washing hands.

A questionnaire has been developed to understand various aspects of tribals. The questionnaire will be sent to states asking them to direct village panchayats to fill the details of tribal households. The questionnaire, accessed exclusively by ET, has basic questions on the number of members in a household, livestock and occupation.

Apart from this, there are detailed questions to gauge how a tribal family lives. These range from habit of handwashing, access to a pucca toilet, kind of water supply to the household, games played by children, any musical instrument played by the family, number of crops cultivated, use of tobacco products, access to education and healthcare facilities and use of mosquito net.

An official source told ET that this survey would help the government not only to know the number of tribal households but also plan for them.

“There are two surveys. Census 2011 and the Socio-Economic Caste Census. There is a gap of about 40,000 in the numbers of the two surveys. So where did these households go. This survey would help us know exactly and also plan better,” the source said. The government hopes to wrap up this survey by the end of next fiscal.