Union Tribal Affairs Minister Begins Four-Day Visit to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram began a four-day tour of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Thursday, according to a schedule released by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The visit marks the minister’s first official travel to the two states since the current parliamentary session concluded last month.

Oram, who heads the ministry responsible for the welfare and development of Scheduled Tribes, is expected to review the implementation of centrally sponsored schemes and meet with state-level officials during the trip. The itinerary covers districts with significant tribal populations in both states, though the PIB release did not specify the exact locations or the names of the schemes under review.

The ministry has been pushing states to accelerate the disbursement of scholarship funds and the issuance of community forest rights titles under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. In Uttar Pradesh, tribal communities such as the Tharu, Bhoksa, and Sahariya are concentrated in the Terai region and parts of Bundelkhand. Uttarakhand’s tribal population, including the Jaunsari, Bhotia, and Raji groups, resides primarily in the hill districts of Dehradun, Uttarkashi, and Pithoragarh.

Officials in the ministry said the tour is part of a broader outreach effort to assess bottlenecks in last-mile delivery ahead of the next financial year’s budget cycle. The minister is also slated to interact with beneficiaries of the Van Dhan Yojana, a programme aimed at improving livelihoods through minor forest produce value chains. The schedule for the remaining three days of the visit has not been made public.