The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs is now working to develop 36,428 villages with at least 50% tribal population and 500 STs across the country into ‘model tribal’ villages, Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

She added that these efforts were part of the existing Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme (SCA to TSS), which has now been renamed to the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojna (PMAAGY), for implementation from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Ms. Singh said that this project is meant to cover as many as 4.22 crore tribal people in the country, which comprises around 40% of the total ST population in India.

Of the target number of villages, during 2021-22 and 2022-23, a total of about 16,554 villages have been taken up, Ms. Singh said.

An amount of ₹1,927 crore had been released to States and the Village Development Plans for 6,264 villages had been approved so far, Ms. Singh added.