Odisha: In a significant development, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced the inclusion of 14 more districts under the Special Development Council (SDC).
The new districts are Balasore, Sambalpur, Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Angul, Jajpur, Jharsuguda. Bargarh, Deogarh, Boudh and Ganjam.
With this, the total number of districts included in SDC reached 23.
Previously, the SDC was established in nine tribal dominated districts such as Mayurbhanj , Kendujhar, Sundergarh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri.
Earlier, 64 lakh people in 117 blocks of 9 districts of Odisha were included in the special development councils and now it will be covered in 172 blocks of 23 districts, said the Chief Minister. For this, the state government will spend Rs 223 crore in the financial year 2023-24. More than 80 lakh tribal people will participate in this programme and work for the protection and development of their art and culture, the CM said.
The Chief Minister said that tribal culture has a deep connection with Jagannath culture and calls for the protection of nature and the environment. Worship of nature and brotherhood are the main basis of tribal culture, he said.
The Chief Minister said that with the formation of the new councils, all the tribal groups can fully contribute to the protection of their art and heritage.
Stating that people are interested in tribal art and culture, the Chief Minister said that the Tribal Museum in Bhubaneswar has now become an attraction for tourists.
It is worth noting that in 2017 Odisha was the only state in India to protect the unique culture of tribals creating the Special Development Councils. Many programmes have been adopted in this, such as the preservation of sacred trees of the tribal people, formation of cultural clubs, organisation of cultural programmes, etc. To date, more than 60,000 projects have been implemented under this programme.
Out of 4,599 identified sacred trees, 4,496 trees have been preserved and 1,592 clubs have been formed. Janajat bilingual dictionary and trilingual proficiency module have been prepared in 21 languages and distributed in 30 districts.
The Chief Minister also launched a coffee table book on the Special Development Council.