ATTAPPADI PACKAGE-2013

ATTAPPADI PACKAGE-2013

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said the Centre would constitute a special task force to implement welfare programmes for tribals in Attapadi and oversee the region’s development under a special package.Addressing a review meeting in Agali, Attapadi, along with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Jairam said two professionals from his ministry would be posted in the region to implement the package, as “mere announcements would not yield results”.The minister said the biggest issue in Attappadi was the alienation of tribal land. Unless the alienation of 10,000 acres of tribal land is addressed, no amount of developmental intervention would succeed, he said. This required political will and courage. He also said the issue of alcoholism among the tribals could not be swept under the carpet.

Jairam said Rs 50 crore would be disbursed to Kudumbasree to launch an anti-alcoholism drive in the three panchayats of Attappadi over five years. He said Kudumbasree should undertake social tasks, besides running businesses like pickle-making units. Although 38 lakh women are associated with it, Kudumbasree has lesser penetration in coastal and tribal areas.Additional Secretary S M Vijayanand would head the task force.The Union minister also announced another Rs 50 crore under the Mahila Kissan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana, which aims to make women self-sufficent. Under the new project, Kudumbasree women will engage in agricultural activities and improve their income through value addition.

He said the Centre was willing to allot enough funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to engage tribals in farming activities in their own land. All tribal families owning land would be identified and funds allotted to them for levelling land, digging wells and building bunds, the minister said. Jairam said his ministry would also launch a special placement programme under which 500 youths of Attappadi, half of them women, would be trained and engaged in jobs in cities over four years.He said each of the 1,855 homeless families in the region would be provided with `75,000 for constructing houses.The total cost would be Rs 15 crore, of which Rs 12 crore would be borne by the Centre.

As in Kasaragod, where 27 km of rural roads were announced under the endosulphan relief scheme, parts of Attappadi with at least 250 inhbitants would get 27 km of roads under the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana.Meanwhile, Chandy said that the lands from two oorus of Attappadi extending to 500 acres would be pooled and co-operative farming undertaken on an experimental basis.

Prof. John Kurakar