The Center government and the Jammu and Kashmir administration will work vigorously towards making Tribal Research Institute (TRI), J&K, as center of excellence.
Officer on Special Duty, Mission Youth, Dr. Abdul Khabir, stated this here today during his exhaustive deliberation with the officials of Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs regarding functioning of J&K TRI and implementation of tribal welfare schemes in the UT.
During the interaction, it was informed that TRI shall focus on core responsibility as body of knowledge and research for tribal development, preservation of tribal cultural heritage, capacity building of tribals and persons/institutions associated with tribal affairs, dissemination of information and creation of awareness.
OSD informed that Department of Tribal Affairs is in the process of finalizing proposal for recognition of contribution made by the Tribals with particular focus on Youth of J&K.
Union Joint Secretary, Tribal Affairs, Dr. Navaljit Kapoor, while stressing need for making TRI J&K as Centre of Excellence, assured complete support to the UT in this regard.
It was informed that in order to support the research studies on regular basis, Ministry of Tribal Affairs is focusing on involvement of TRI J&K for working out a long term and policy oriented research studies for development of tribals.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has initiated efforts for extension of various schemes to Jammu and Kashmir with focus on tribal artisans, farmers, artists and other skilled workers providing them livelihood support.
OSD also interacted with the officials of National Tribal Research Institute, New Delhi. He informed that NTRI is planning to collaborate with TRI J&K for various capacity building workshops. It is in this context that a two day capacity building workshop was organized for elected representatives of Tribal areas at Panchayat Bhawan Jammu in the month of November this year.
Also, UNDP chapter of India is in the process of documentation of dances of J&K and the same shall be done in natural setting of the tribal communities of J&K.
Under support to Tribal Research Institutes (TRI), MoTA is focusing on building infrastructure, research and documentation, training and capacity building apart from organizing exchange visits for tribals.
Ministry appreciated the recent initiatives of Tribal Affairs Department J&K including tribal festival and launch of Smart School schemes by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha.(GNS)