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01/09/22 05:50 AM IST

SEED Scheme

In News 
  • Recently, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has said that only 402 online applications are received to avail benefits under SEED (Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes).
About SEED 
  • The Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified/Nomadic/SemiNomadic (SEED) communities was launched in February 2022 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
  • It aims to provide free competitive exam coaching to these students, to provide health insurance to families, to uplift clusters of these communities through livelihood initiatives, and to provide financial assistance for housing.
  • It is being implemented through an online portal (from 2021 to 2026) and would issue a unique ID to each applicant. But delay in the categorization of 1262 tribes is delaying the implementation of the scheme.
Features of the scheme 
  • Free coaching to students from these communities for Civil Services, entry to professional courses like medicine, engineering, MBA, etc.
  • Health Insurance through PMJAY of National Health Authority.
  • Livelihoods to support income generation
  • Housing (through PMAY/IAY).
  • It ensures expenditure of Rs.200 crore to be spent over five years beginning 2021-22.
  • The DWBDNCs (Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities) has been tasked with the implementation of this scheme.
  • An online portal has been developed by the department which will ensure seamless registration and will also act as a repository of the data on these communities.
De-notified Tribes 
  • These are communities that are the most vulnerable and deprived.
  • DNTs are communities that were ‘notified’ as being ‘born criminals’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.
  • These Acts were repealed by the Independent Indian Government in l952, and these communities were "De-Notified".
  • A few of these communities which were listed as de-notified were also nomadic.
  • Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities are defined as those who move from one place to another rather than living in one place all the time.
  • Historically, Nomadic Tribes and De-notified Tribes never had access to private land or home ownership.
  • While most DNTs are spread across the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories, some DNTs are not covered in any of the SC, ST or OBC categories.
Source- PIB 

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