Ranchi
In yet another tribal outreach ahead of Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various projects totalling Rs 80,000 crore, including the ambitious Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA), named after tribal icon Birsa Munda.
The PM chose Jharkhand to launch the Rs 79,150-crore scheme as it is the birthplace of Birsa Munda, who is revered by Adivasis as Dharti Aaba, which means Father of the Land, and also in view of the impending Assembly elections.
“Today, I launched the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan with an outlay of around Rs 80,000 crore. This scheme will cover around 63,000 tribal villages for their development. It will benefit more than 5 crore people. I am happy that this scheme is starting from the land of Bhagwan Birsa Munda,” the PM said.
“Our tribal community will progress when tribal youth will get the opportunity for good education. For this, our government is working hard towards building Eklavya Model Residential Schools in tribal areas. From here, 40 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) are being inaugurated and foundation stones have been laid for 25 EMRS,” the Prime Minister maintained.
Referring to today’s projects related to the empowerment and welfare of tribal communities, the Prime Minister said that it is proof of the government’s priority towards tribal communities. Prime Minister Modi congratulated the people of Jharkhand and India for the projects of today.
Addressing the State BJP’s Parivartan Yatra later, he said Mahatma Gandhi believed that India can only progress when the tribal societies progress at a fast pace. “Today, it is the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi whose vision for tribal development is our capital. Today, I am satisfied that our government is working the most for tribal upliftment,” he said.
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP lost all the five ST parliamentary seats from Jharkhand, perceived to be due to the resentment of adivasis against the arrest of Chief Minister Hemant Soren in an alleged money laundering case. In the last Assembly elections too, tribals ensured JMM-led alliance’s win in 25 of the 28 ST seats that resulted in the ouster of the BJP-led NDA government in the State. The BJP is, therefore, on an overdrive to win the confidence of tribals back.
In the 2020 assembly election, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats, the Bharatiya Janta Party won 25 and the Congress won 16.
“Today once again I am getting the privilege of being a participant in the development journey of Jharkhand. I came to Jamshedpur a few days ago. From Jamshedpur, I launched development projects worth hundreds of crores of rupees for Jharkhand,” the PM said.
“Thousands of poor people of Jharkhand got their own pucca house under PM Awas Yojana. And now, within a few days, the foundation stone and inauguration of development projects worth more than Rs 80 thousand crore have been done in Jharkhand today. These schemes are related to the welfare and upliftment of the tribal society,” he said in a social media post.
This is the second major tribal-centric scheme launched by the PM from Jharkhand. The PM had launched the PM-JANMAN scheme on Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on November 15 last year from Jharkhand. It aims to provide essential services like housing, clean water, sanitation, education, healthcare, and better road and telecom connectivity to PVTG families.
