Tribal Advisory Council

Tribal Advisory Council 

Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) has been established in the States having Scheduled Areas namely Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. Besides, two other States viz, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, have also set up TAC. 

Part B of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution provides for establishing a TAC in each State having Schedule Areas and also in any State having Schedule Tribes but not Schedule Areas. Some of the salient features envisaged in Para 4 (1) & (2) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution on the TAC are:-

(i) A TAC shall consist of not more than twenty members of whom three-fourth shall be the representatives of the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State.

(ii) It shall be duty of the TAC to advise on such matters pertaining to the welfare and advancement of the Scheduled Tribes in the State as may be referred to them by the Governor.

(iii) The Governor may make rules prescribing or regulating as the case may be on the number of members of the Council, the mode of their appointment, the appointment of the Chairman of the Council, of officers and servants thereof, the conduct of TAC meetings & its procedure in general and all other incidental matters.

(iv) In response to a request from the State Government of Uttarakhand, direction of the Hon’ble President has been conveyed to the State Government of Uttarakhand for setting up a TAC in the State, in July, 2010. The Ministry has been persistently requesting the State Government to intimate about the constitution of the TAC. State Government has sent no information regarding constitution of the TAC.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. 

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Funds Under NSTFDC 

National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC), under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, implements schemes for self-employment of Scheduled Tribes by providing concessional financial assistance to individuals or groups of STs for undertaking Income Generation Activities. This financial assistance is extended through state channelising agencies and PSU banks/ RRBs having refinance agreement with NSTFDC throughout India for eligible STs up to Double the Poverty Line limit (revised w.e.f. 05.11.2015) which is Rs.98,000/- p.a. for rural areas and Rs. 1,20,000/- p.a. for urban areas for all ST communities.

The funds have been released by NSTFDC through State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) and PSU banks/ RRBs having refinance agreement with NSTFDC to 8,67,830 STs for their economic empowerment.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.