Dikhyaa Mohanty 
As Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced to launch the Pradhan Mantri PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group) Development Mission in order to saturate the PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities, Odisha being home to the highest number of PVTG communities in the country, is likely to be benefited the most.
In fact, given the amount of experience Odisha possesses in handling focused and holistic programmes for PVTGs in the past decade, the State could be a first as well as best-mover among all States as far as the newly announced tribal programme was concerned.
Of the 75 PVTGs identified in India, 13 such tribes live in Odisha. As per the 2018 baseline survey, 2,49,609 persons belonging to PVTGs (58,708 households) live in 1,679 habitations in 14 districts of the State.
Union Finance Minister, in her Budget speech, said an amount of ₹15,000 crore would be made available to implement the mission in the next three years, under the Development Action Plan for the Scheduled Tribes. It would be spent on basic facilities such as safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities.
More than four decades ago, Odisha had implemented a micro project to address the basic needs and behavioural change of PVTGs in the State. At present, there are 20 micro projects focusing on the development of PVTGs.
