Tribal areas get revamped provisions, 1545 hostels sanctioned for tribal girls and boys in the country at present

New Delhi, April 3: Monitoring and maintenance of hostels is the responsibility of the concerned States and Union Territories. Making provisions for tribal girls and boys by arranging hostels, a total of around 545 hostels, sanctioned by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, for tribal girls and boys in the country at present. Out of this, the number of hostels for boys is 544 hostels and 1001 hostels for girls.

Under the Scheme of Girls & Boys Hostels for STs, Central assistance is given to States / UTs / Universities for construction of new hostel buildings and or extension of existing hostels. Under the scheme, State Governments are eligible for 100 percent central share for construction of all Girls’ hostel and also for construction of Boys’ hostel in naxal affected areas (identified by Ministry of Home Affairs from time to time). The funding pattern for the other Boys’ Hostel to State Governments is on 50:50 bases.

In case of UTs, the Central Government bears the entire cost of construction of both Boys’ and Girls’ hostels. The hostels may be for middle schools, secondary schools, and college or university level education. However, as a part of rationalization of schemes of the Ministry, it has been decided to subsume the intervention of the schemes of ‘Hostels for ST Girls and Boys’ under the Schemes of ‘Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme (SCA to TSS) and Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution from 2018-19 onwards.

Under these schemes, receipt of proposal for construction of hostels is a continuous process. The proposal received from the State Government is appraised and approved by the Project Appraisal Committee (PAC) in the Ministry for funding depending upon the availability of funds under the relevant scheme.