JOIN USUnion Minister Jual Oram has proposed to set up a National Tribal Museum along with a tribal research institute here in the national capital.
“Proposal to set up the museum and research institute at national level has already been sent to the Niti Aayog,” Oram, who holds the portfolio of the Union Tribal Affairs ministry, told reporters on Thursday.
He was addressing a press conference organised to highlight the achievements of his ministry in past four years of Modi government.
While the proposed museum will showcase the rich tribal culture and heritage using state-of-the-art technologies, the proposed institute to be set up here in Delhi will conduct research on the tribal communities in the country and also coordinate with the tribal research centres in the states.
The ministry's proposal is seen as part of the Modi government's tribal outreach plan ahead of the Assembly polls in the Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
With an eye on the tribal votes, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up to launch its poll campaign in the run-up to the elections to highlight Modi government's initiatives for the tribal communities to counter the Opposition parties' charge that it neglected the under-privileged people in rural areas over the past four years.
The BJP has substantial support base in the tribal dominated states with the RSS affiliate Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra working for the scheduled tribes for long. There is a thinking that making inroads into tribal populace is much easier for the outfit than doing so with the scheduled caste which already have established national leaders from the community.
“This year the ministry is also planning to organise a national level Ekalavya model residential school sports meet in December,” Oram said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing 49th Conference of governors at Rashtrapati Bhawan here recently, urged the governors to reach out to the tribal communities of the country.
He also said that the governors of the states with significant tribal population could help in ensuring that the tribal communities benefit from the government initiatives in fields such as education, sports and financial inclusion.