President Droupadi Murmu  said the government has accorded top priority to the welfare of tribal people who were ignored for decades even after India gained Independence.Addressing a joint sitting of Parliament, signalling the start of the Budget session, Murmu said Dalits, tribals and underprivileged people are benefitting the most from the efforts being made by the government. “Our tribal communities were ignored for decades even after Independence. My government has given top priority to their welfare,” Murmu, the first tribal president of India, said.

The government has established 30 medical colleges in tribal-dominated areas of the country in the last 10 years, she said. Murmu said her government also started a special mission to eradicate sickle cell disease among tribal communities. Five crore tribal people have been screened under the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission so far, she said.

The government has launched the “Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan” to improve the socio-economic conditions of five crore tribal people, she said. The initiative was originally introduced as the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan (PM JUGA) to uplift tribal communities by ensuring their households and villages, including those in aspirational blocks with a significant tribal population, receive basic facilities within a set time frame.