Delhi, November 24: Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Monday called on Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan, at Parliament House, along with senior officials of the Ministry.

During the meeting, the Vice-President was briefed on various initiatives of the Ministry for the welfare of the tribal population.

The briefing covered efforts to secure tribal rights, measures to enhance education and health outcomes, scholarships for tribal students, programmes for the rejuvenation of tribal culture, livelihood schemes including financial assistance and promoting traditional skills as enterprises, the Ministry’s plan to modernise and expand Eklavya Model Residential Schools across the country, and key schemes such as Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, PM-JANMAN and Adi Karmayogi Abhiyan, said a statement issued by the Vice President’s Secretariat.

The Vice-President appreciated the three-fold increase in budget outlay for the Ministry over the last eleven years and stressed the need to support access to quality higher education—including opportunities abroad—for tribal students, along with continuous support and monitoring of their academic progress, it said.

“He emphasised the importance of preventing school dropouts and highlighted the need to build a strong linkage between universities and schools to ensure that tribal students seamlessly transition to higher education,” it added.

“He further underlined the need to ensure that the benefits of welfare schemes reach all sections of the tribal population. He reiterated that the vision of Viksit Bharat can be realised only when the welfare of the tribal community is ensured,” it further stated.