Bhubaneswar, July 8:The two-day National Workshop on Strengthening Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), organised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in collaboration with the Odisha government, concluded in Bhubaneswar with the adoption of the Bhubaneswar Declaration, setting a national roadmap to strengthen TRIs as centres of excellence for tribal research, innovation, cultural preservation and evidence-based policymaking under the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047.

The workshop brought together nearly 200 participants from Tribal Research Institutes, state departments, academia, research organisations, industry and civil society. Deliberations focused on preserving tribal languages and indigenous knowledge, improving research quality, integrating technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and GIS, and enhancing institutional governance.

Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ranjana Chopra, said TRIs should evolve into globally recognised knowledge institutions with greater autonomy and stronger collaboration to bridge the gap between research and policymaking.

During the event, the Ministry honoured seven best-performing Tribal Research Institutes from Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana and Jharkhand for their outstanding contributions to tribal research and cultural preservation.

The workshop concluded with a commitment to implement the recommendations of the Bhubaneswar Declaration, including theModel TRI Framework 2030and theNational TRI Research Agenda (2027–2032)to build a future-ready tribal research ecosystem.