The News Services Division brings glimpses of &quot;The Year that was&quot; in the Special Series Year Ender. The government has given priority to the welfare of tribal communities and taken several measures. During last year, there was considerable progress in digital mechanisms and online monitoring systems especially for scholarship schemes and expenditure of funds for tribal welfare.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”Tribal medicine emerged as another priority area along with tribal research. On 22nd November last year, while laying the foundation stone of rural drinking water supply projects in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the welfare schemes are reaching the tribal regions under special projects. He added that hundreds of Eklavya Model schools are operating in the country.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”AIR correspondent takes a look at various steps taken by Tribal Affairs Ministry.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”The stepping up of expansion of Eklavya Model Residential Schools and empowerment of tribals through schemes like Van Dhan Yojana and Aadi Mahotsavas remained on the forefront during last year. Tech for Tribal initiative has been launched for capacity building and imparting entrepreneurship skills to tribal forest produce gatherers. The government has also made sweeping changes in the existing list of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) covered under Minimum Support Price as well as upward revision of MSP of 49 items of MFP in view of COVID-19 Pandemic.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”As many as 23 additional MFP items have been included in the MSP list. The increase in MSP as well as expansion of list of covered items under MFP gave the much-needed momentum for procurement of minor tribal produce this year.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”Besides, the ‘Goal’ programme has been started for digital skilling of tribal youth across India in partnership with Facebook. The program envisages to act as a catalyst to explore hidden talents of the tribal youth. It intends to upskill and empower five thousand tribal youths in the current phase to harness the full potential of digital platforms and tools to learn new ways of doing business.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”The Tribal Health and Nutrition Portal ‘Swasthya’ has been launched to provide all health and nutrition related information of the tribal population at a single platform.<br />”&nbsp;<br />”<span style="color: #222222;">The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Indian Institute of Public Administration have signed an MoU for setting up of National Institute of Tribal Research in the national capital. Tribal Freedom Fighters’ Museums will also be set up to give due recognition to the sacrifice and contribution of tribal people in the freedom struggle.</span><br />