Centre, state govt's focus is to address poverty, farmers &

Saluting late Kartik Oraon, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today said the real tribute to Oraon was to maintain Jharkhand's culture and tradition and join the mainstream of development.
Addressing a programme at Gumla district's Badri village, Das said Oraon's life and ideals deserved to be followed by all walks of the society and (one has to take) pledge to work keeping the society united, an official release said.
Now that the tribal society desired to move forward, a handful of opportunists want to break it by taking undue advantage of their poverty and innocence, Das said.
He said tribals were poor, but hard working and added, both the state and the central governments wanted to change their condition and the main focus was to address poverty, village and farmers.

Stating that different types of schemes were being taken up for their welfare, the Chief Minister said the government believed in development for all.
Administrators were directed to empower the gram sabhas and provide them with resources, Das said.

He said the role of women was important as they were axis in socio-economic change and work was on at different levels to empower them.
Pledging to eradicate poverty, Das said no section of the state would remain untouched by development.
He said 38 lakh households have got electricity and the rest 30 lakh households would get by the end of this fiscal.

Efforts were also on for irrigation, school, health centres, anganwadi in every village, he said.
Gram sabha would decide on the acquisition of land for welfare and developmental schemes through Tribal Advisory Council, he said adding, the state government's priority was speedy development.
The Chief Minister said some people wanted to disrupt in the name of Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act.
He said every district would have a skill development centre where training would be imparted, adding the government would bear the cost of promising students coming from poor families.
The government would also purchase paddy from farmers, the release said.

Saying that society could not be changed through violence, he congratulated Timbu Oraon, a member of the District Board, for joining the mainstream and serving the society.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sudarshan Bhagat described the late Kartik Oraon as social reformer and philosopher.
Stating that the Centre and the state were making efforts for development of tribals, Bhagat said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raghubar Das were working in that endeavour.
Gumla MLA Shiv Shankar Oraon, Padmasri Ashok Bhagat, former MLA Sameer Oraon and several others were present in the programme.