SCSTRTI - A Journey through Six Decades and Moving Ahead

Abstract

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI) is the oldest of all the Tribal ResearchInstitutes (TRI) in the country. The institute has witnessed many evolutionary changes during anillustrious journey of 66 years. It started as Tribal Research Bureau (TRB) in 1952 and then rechristened as Tribal and Harijan Research-cum-Training Institute (THRTI) in 1972. In 1994 it was renamed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Researchand Training Institute. This Institute has been conferred with the status of "Heads of Department" by Govt. of Odisha in the year 1980. The broad objective of this Institute is to carry out empirical studies on various thrust areas pertaining to tribal development, evaluation of various ongoing tribal development programs and formulation of perspective planfor tribal development. It also does documentation on various social and cultural issues of tribalculture including monographic studies. One of its priority areas of research has been the ethnic studies of various communitieswho claim for inclusion in the ST & SC lists. Besides, this institute serves as a center for providing data and advisory services to Government on the problems of the Scheduled Tribes & Scheduled Castes. It also conducts Trainings, Seminars & Workshops for different Government and Non-Government functionaries concerned with Tribal Development. SCSTRTI has been conferred the Nodal TRI Status by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), Government of India (GoI) in 2008-09. In2014, this Institute was recognized as a National Resource Centre by MoTA, GoI for matters relating to implementation of FRA.Considering the outstanding contributions of thisInstitute in various fields of activities, the MoTA, GoI has approved the institution ofsetting up of National Tribal Research Center (NTRC) as an autonomous entity within this Institute in 2016. SCSTRTI has collaborations with various research and national and international organizations like UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, DFID, World Bank, UNESCO, IGRMS Bhopal and so on and has been working in anumber of projects for the past three decades. This institute also provides technical and advisory support to a large number of TRIs and other research institutions as and when asked for on issuespertaining to tribal development.This Institute, inside its campus houses Tribal Museum of Art & Artefacts, PVTG Gallery, Replicas of Tribal houses, a Tribal food court, a Souvenir shop and a Library. The TribalMuseum exhibits excellent collections of more than 3500 rare and exotic tribal arts and artefacts. The mission of the Museum helps support the conservation of tribal materialculture through various activities like documentation and live demo by tribal artists and craftsmen, skill development programme, National Tribal Craft Mela and National Tribal Dance Festival etc.An attempt has been made through this publication to bring the multi- dimensional activities of thisInstitute into limelight which must draw the attention of stake holders to associate themselves with the Institute in many ways.