Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme

An Introduction

1. Introduction -
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of UN,
established mainly for assisting the developing countries in poverty alleviations has
formulated an innovative "Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme" after in-
depth study and discussion at various levels. This programme covers Chhattisgarh and
Jharkhand, states with the highest proportion of tribal population in India. The target groups
consist of all households in the hamlets, habitations or villages in selected micro-watersheds in
which the tribal, primitive tribal groups (PTG) and scheduled- caste population form not less
than 50% of the total population and where most of the households live below the poverty
line. Tribal and non-tribal populations would both be part of the target group, but the tribal
population would represent the largest share. The programme would focus on the poorest and
most vulnerable including tribal women, youth and children, PTGs, hill cultivators, scheduled
castes, and landless, marginal and small farmers.

2. Objective- To develop and implement a replicable model that ensures household food
security and improves livelihood opportunities and overall quality of life of the tribal
population based on sustainable and equitable use of natural resources.
To achieve this the programme would:
• Empower the grassroot tribal associations and users' groups including women and other
marginal groups, so that they would become more capable of planning, implementing and
managing their own development and in negotiating with relevant authorities to harness the
necessary resources.
• Promote activities, which generate sustainable increase in production and productivity of
land and water resources.
• Generate alternate sources of income outside of agriculture, particularly for the landless.
Intervention in livelihoods improvement primarily through a watershed development based
approach, incorporating elements of integrated agricultural development, livestock, dairy,
fisheries and horticulture, as well as forestry based activities; and put strong focus on
development of women and primitive tribal groups within the overall target group.

3. Programme Phase -
This programme would be implemented in two phases: (i) a pilot phase of about 3 years,
covering about 120 villages in Chhattisgarh and (ii) a scaling up phase of about 5 years, which
will enhance the total coverage to 650 villages. The scope of the scaling up phase would
depend on the result of a mid-term review (MTR) and progress made against agreed key
milestones.
4. Programme Area –
The programme covers the following selected districts and blocks in Chhattisgarh

Selected Districts Selected Blocks

Surguja 1.Kusmi 2.Shankargarh
3.Lundra 4.Mainpat
5.Udaipur
Jashpur 6. Manora 7. Bagicha
8. Patthalgaon
Raigarh 9. Dharmjaigarh

5. Programme Cost-
The total programme cost over eight years is estimated at INR 2276 million (US$ 41.7 million)
including all physical and price contingencies. Of the total programme cost, INR 1410 million
(US$ 25.7 million (62%)) has been estimated for Chhattisgarh and INR 866 million (US$ 15.9
million (38%)) for Jharkhand. The contributions to the total programme budget are:

Total Programme Cost

Rs. 2276 million
1 IFAD Loan Rs.1255 million (55%)
2 DFID Grant Rs.575 million (25%)
3 Govt. of Chhattisgarh & Rs.261million (11%)
Jharkhand Share
4 Beneficiaries' Rs.183 million (8%)
contribution

Programme Cost for Chhattisgarh

For Chhattisgarh, the total programme cost Rs.1410 million Rs. 1410 million
is divided as under:
1 IF AD Loan Rs.778 million
2 DFID Grant Rs.356 million
3 Govt. of C.G. Share Rs.158 million
4 Beneficiaries' contribution Rs.115 million

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 6. Implementation strategy-
Basic principles: Flexibility and responsiveness to demands of community.
The programme focuses on:
• Providing the concerned communities with the means of local decision-making and
planning, in order to ensure that activities are responsive to the tribals' perceptions of needs
and priorities.
• Making communities more responsible for the management of their development in order
to generate a greater sense of ownership of development interventions
• Building of the indigenous wisdom, knowledge, capabilities and traditional values of these
communities.
• Provide a choice of livelihood interventions in the farm and off-farm sectors to the
community once it reaches a basic level of mobilisation and is ready for collective action.
• Provide strong facilitation through the project management unit (PMU) for linking the
community on the one hand and resource and technical institutions, services, credit and
other inputs on the other.

7. Programme Components-
The programme has three main components-
1. Beneficiary empowerment and technical capacity building
2. Livelihood Systems Enhancement
a. Land and Water management
b. Production System Enhancement
i. Community based Forest Management
ii. Livestock Production Improvement
iii. Aquaculture Promotion
iv. Rural Micro-finance
c. Nutrition and Health
3. Programme Management & implementation

Project Cost (Component wise)

Livelihood System
Villagers Training Enhancement
& Empowerment
7
17%
9
62%
21%
14
Project Management 32

L & W Management 32
Production System
Enhancement 14
CFMS 9
Health & Nutrition 7

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8. Programme Implementation:
A Gram Sabha will be formed in every selected natural village, which in turn will form the
project implementation committee (PIC) for preparation of plan for development activities in
the village. The Gram Sabha will also form other technical committees like Watershed
Committee, Community based Forest Management Committee, Village Credit Committee, etc
for assisting in the implementation. Technical guidance and other assistance to these
committees will be provided by the Line Departments, facilitating NGOs, etc. Thus, the tribal
community through Gram Sabha would assess their development needs and plan and
implement appropriate development activities.

9. Programme Management:
The Tribal Development Society (TDS), Bilaspur, established as an autonomous institution
under Chhattisgarh Registration Act, 1973 is responsible for the implementation of the project.
The society has a Board of Directors with Secretary, Tribal Welfare Department, Raipur as its
chairman. It has established District Programme Implementation Units (DPIUs) at Ambikapur
and Patthalgaon. The District Programme Coordination Committee (DPCC) with Collector as
its Chairman, will review and guide implementation at the district level. The State Level Co-
ordination Committee (Empowered Committee) constituted with Chief Secretary, Govt of
Chhattisgarh as its Chairman, would monitor the implementation and provide policy guidance.

The TDS would prepare its Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWPB) based on the Gram Sabha
Resource Management Plan (GSRMP) etc. The state Govt would provide funds to the TDS on
the basis of AWPB for implementation of the programme. IFAD funds would be released to
the TDS by the government of India through the government of Chhatttisgarh. The TDS
would provide funds to the DPIUs based on the AWPB, which would further transfer these to
PICs of Gram Sabhas of the programme villages.