I.T.D.A. Profile

Abstract

The Fifth Five Year Plan provided for a policy shift in relation to development of Tribal Communities and Scheduled Areas. In addition to introducing the concept of Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) under which different Departments of Central as well as State Government were required to set apart plan outlays for economic development of Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs) were created to plan and monitor implementation of the TSP in the Blocks having majority of tribal population. Accordingly, 21 ITDAs were created in Odisha for 118 Blocks forming part of the State's Scheduled Area.ITDAs are also assigned tasks to directly implement income generating schemes and infrastructure development projects for which allocations were made under State and Central Plans. Indeed, the major portion of Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) was released to the ITDAs for implementing family oriented income generating schemes for tribal families below the poverty line and incidental infrastructure. With the passage of time, a major portion of allocations received from the Central Government as assistance under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution started flowing to the ITDAs for implementing various infrastructure development projects to improve the backward forward linkages, welfare schemes meant for tribal communities and to raise the level of administration inthe remote tribal villages of the Scheduled Area.In addition to SCA and allocation under Article 275 (1), ITDAs receive funds out of State Plan, Non-Plan, Centrally Sponsored Schemes etc. ITDA s of KBK (districts also receive funds underthe Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) for implementing some of the activities.There is no single document available incorporating basic information about all the 21 ITDAs. Often researchers,planners and administrators find it difficult to get such information. Realizing this deficiency of a reliable data base, SCs &SCSTRTI has made a modest attempt to gather basic information of all the 21 ITDAs and have compiled them in a consolidated form. It is hoped that this publication will be helpful to the Planners, Researchers, Academicians, Development Administrators, Social Scientists and the General Public as a whole.