Several years on, only 3 of 11 tribal museums completed: Parliamentary panel

New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has said that more than five years after the government announced the setting up of museums to honour tribal freedom fighters, many remain incomplete, and work has not even begun on three of them.

In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha recently, the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment said the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has supported 11 such museums in 10 states to recognize the contributions of tribal leaders and instill a sense of pride in tribal communities.

However, it pointed out that only three -- Bhagwan Birsa Munda Memorial Freedom Fighter Museum in Ranchi, Jharkhand; Badal Bhoi State Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh; and Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah Freedom Fighter Museum in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh -- have been inaugurated so far.

"The committee would like to underline the slow progress in construction of the remaining 8 museums, as they were sanctioned far back in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, such as in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Gujarat and Mizoram which are yet to be completed," the panel said.

It also said that the museums planned for Kerala, Manipur and Goa in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2020-21, respectively, are "still at the DPR stage even after the lapse of several years".

The panel urged the ministry to speed up the construction and ensure that the four museums scheduled for completion by November 2025 and one by May 2026 are finished on time.

The committee also raised concerns about many Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) operating from rented buildings.

The central government had set a target of building 728 EMRSs to provide quality education to tribal children from Class 6 to 12 in remote areas and help them compete on an equal footing with others.

For 2025-26, Rs 7,088.60 crore has been allocated to the EMRS scheme which is 47 per cent of the ministry’s total budget.

The panel found that of the budgeted Rs 5,943 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 6,399 crore in 2024-25, only Rs 2,471.81 crore and Rs 4,748.92 crore (as of February 17, 2025) had been used.

The ministry said the delay in fund utilization was due to issues such as a lack of land for school construction, staff recruitment, capacity building and setting up digital learning facilities.

The committee stressed the need for urgent action to resolve these challenges so that the allocated funds are fully used and tribal students receive quality education.

It said that of the 477 functional EMRSs, 341 have their own buildings.

The panel said all schools should operate from their own buildings instead of rented or other government structures, which may lack proper facilities.

"Since the ministry has sufficient funds to set up their own infrastructure, the committee also desired that a comprehensive action plan should be chalked out to make them functional from their own buildings and the construction work of each EMRS is completed in a stipulated period of 2-3 years," the report said.