The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will observe Janjatiya Gaurav Pakhwada from 1 to 15 November 2026, culminating in Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on 15 November, the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda. The Pakhwada serves as a time-bound drive to accelerate the Ministry's flagship programmes and deliver benefits to tribal families at the last mile while building awareness of schemes and entitlements.
The event commemorates the contribution of tribal heroes to India's freedom struggle and celebrates tribal communities' cultural, spiritual, and social significance. This year's celebrations include nine major national events: an interaction between 200 Eklavya Model Residential Schools students and the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 12 November; a National Tribal Literary Festival at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 12-13 November; a national workshop at IIT Delhi on strengthening Adi Vaani as Tribal Living Heritage; a Rani Durgavati Adivasi Mahila Sammelan with 500 tribal women entrepreneurs from 30 States/UTs on 14 November; health and nutrition camps for PVTGs at PM-JANMAN Multi-Purpose Centres from 15 October to 15 November; a Tribal Healers capacity building conclave training 1,500 traditional healers from 9 States/UTs on 1-2 November in Hyderabad as part of a program to train 1 lakh healers; the Dharti Aaba Janbhagidari Abhiyan engaging 1.54 lakh Adi Karmayogi Volunteers across 76,963 villages; scholarship access camps in 73 districts for application assistance and Aadhaar seeding; and a medicinal plant conservation program for 200-300 species with CSIR-NBRI at Koraput, Odisha.
On Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, over 300 projects for tribal communities will be initiated, including 228 ready for inauguration and 74 for foundation stone laying. Significant projects include a new Tribal Research Institute building in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Ropuiliani Tribal Freedom Fighter Museum at Kelsih, Mizoram. Two national digital platforms will be launched: the Jan-HIT (Janjatiya Health Intelligence and Technology) Portal developed with ICMR as India's first platform for tribe-disaggregated health data covering 20 States, and the National FRA Digital Platform that digitizes the entire forest rights claims process under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
States and UTs are participating through Tribal Research Institutes with more than 160 activities planned across 19 States/UTs, expecting over 1 lakh participants. These include cultural festivals, exhibitions, school competitions, welfare camps, a statewide tribal carnival in Andhra Pradesh, Adivasi Kala and Khel Samagam in Goa, Bhagwan Birsa Munda Pavilion in Odisha, Tribal Music Festival in Shillong, and tribal art and craft fair at Amdavad Haat, Gujarat. Additional activities include Aadhaar and scholarship camps, sickle cell screening, Ayushman card camps for PVTGs, and legal literacy camps on forest rights.