The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri Jual Oram, and Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Member of NITI Aayog, jointly released two significant publications from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs: the "National Framework for Strengthening of ITDAs and ITDPs" and the "Operational Guidelines for Strengthening of ITDAs and ITDPs." These documents represent the culmination of a comprehensive nationwide consultative exercise covering 217 Integrated Tribal Development Agencies and Projects (ITDAs/ITDPs) across 19 States and Union Territories, translating field-level insights into an actionable reform roadmap for tribal development delivery.
The initiative was launched in April 2026 and covered 214 ITDAs/ITDPs across 17 States/UTs through a standardized assessment involving Project Officers, State Tribal Welfare Departments, and Tribal Research Institutes. The exercise employed a bottom-up, consultative approach including State-level workshops, field visits, and direct consultations rather than desk-based study, ensuring ground-level challenges and successful practices shaped the national roadmap. This process resulted in the creation of an Evidence-Weighted ITDA Diagnostic Scoring Framework that assesses institutions across 15 parameters spanning five institutional domains.
Structured consultative workshops were conducted across States/UTs in April and May 2026, led by Dr. Varnali Deka, Director of DAJGUA Division, and Shri Jafar Malik, Deputy Secretary of EMRS, who engaged directly with all ITDA/ITDP Project Officers and State Tribal Research Institutes to understand institutional status and collate ground-level data. The exercise reached a major milestone on June 3, 2026, when the Ministry convened the National Conclave on Strengthening of ITDAs and ITDPs at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, graced by the Hon'ble President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu.
The National Framework provides the assessment methodology and strategic direction, while the Operational Guidelines translate recommendations into practical measures relating to institutional restructuring, convergence, evidence-based planning, digital governance, outcome-based monitoring, and capacity building. For the first time, a common institutional assessment methodology has been made available to States, enabling each ITDA to identify its gaps and prepare a Performance Improvement Roadmap suited to its specific context.
Minister Oram emphasized that the objective is not merely to rank institutions but to build a culture of continuous institutional improvement, urging States to undertake State-level reviews with all ITDA/ITDP Project Officers, prepare institution-specific action plans, and establish quarterly monitoring of institutional performance. He recommended strengthening the ITDA/ITDP ecosystem through more efficient fund-flow mechanisms, including exploring direct transfer of funds to ITDAs; augmenting technical manpower for better project execution; and institutionalizing regular Governing Council meetings with active participation of PRI representatives and senior State leadership.
Dr. Balasubramaniam noted that the principles of ranking, real-time data-driven monitoring, and convergence that delivered saturation of outcomes in under-developed districts and blocks are now embedded in the ITDA/ITDP reform architecture, seeking to replicate that successful model within the tribal development ecosystem using ITDAs as the delivery vehicle for saturation of entitlements at the last mile.