Amid acute poverty, M.P.’s Saharia children battle malnutrition

News: Saharias,a particularly vulnerable tribal group has been facing acute malnutrition due to crushing poverty, delayed breastfeeding, premature pregnancies and seasonal migrations.

Facts:

About Saharias:

• Sahariya tribe comes under particularly vulnerable tribal group(PVTGs)
• The Saharias are mainly found in many districts of Madhya Pradesh and Baran district of Rajasthan.
• Due to the fact that it is the most backward tribe of Madhya Pradesh the government has declared this tribe as special backward tribe.

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group(PVTG)

• The PVTGs are the marginalized section of the Scheduled tribes of India. 
• They are a section who are relatively isolated, educationally and socio-economically backward living in a habitat far away from amenities.
• PVTG is not a Constitutional category nor are these constitutionally recognized communities.
• It is a government of India classification created with the purpose of enabling improvement in the conditions of certain communities with particularly low development
• The criteria followed for determination of PVTGs are (a)pre-agriculture level of technology (b)stagnant or declining population (c) Extremely low literacy and d)subsistence level of economy.
• Among the 75 listed PVTG’s the highest number are found in Odisha (13), followed by Andhra Pradesh (12) and among others.

Scheme of development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group(PVTG)

• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements the Scheme Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs).
• The scheme was first started in 1998-199 for exclusive development of PVTGs and later revised in 2015.
• The scheme aims at planning their socio-economic development in a comprehensive manner while retaining the culture and heritage of the community by adopting habitat development approach.
• The scheme mandates all the 18 State Governments and the Union Territory of A&N Island shall prepare a long term “Conservation cum development(CCD) Plan” for each PVTG of their State based on baseline survey.
• The plan is then appraised and approved by the Project Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.