Rs 100 cr tribal museum to be set up at Rajpipla: Guj CM

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today said that his government will set up a tribal museum at a cost of Rs 100 crore at Rajpipla town, about 75 kilometres from here, in the state's tribal-dominated Narmada district.

In his Independence Day speech in 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed a desire to have "permanent museums in the states where tribal freedom fighters lived".

Rupani made the announcement today at a function at Nizar village in Tapi district in connection with the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

He said that the 70-acre museum will be completed by 2020 and would be dedicated to tribal movements in the country and would have 3D and 7D technology-enabled display.

The museum would display events that took place during three time periods- pre-1857, 1857 to the end of the 19th century, and 20th century up to Independence.

The state government and the Centre would be contributing Rs 50 crore each, he said.

"The Gujarat government has also set up the Birsa Munda Tribal University in Rajpipla town," Rupani said.

The university, currently, functions from the premises of the Adarsh Nivasi Shala and would later shift to its campus being built on 25 acres of land at Jitnagar village on the outskirts of tribal-dominated Rajpipla.

The new university would offer graduation, post- graduation, diploma and certificate courses covering the subjects of Arts, Commerce, Science, Traditional Art and Skill, Herbal Medicine as well as Sanskrit.

"With this university, 90 lakh tribals in the state will get access to good education," Rupani said.

He also spoke about 196 forests being declared as revenue villages and opening of 91 "Eklavaya schools" for students of 14 tribal-dominated districts of the state.

He said 13 lakh acres of forest land had been distributed to 90 thousand tribals in the state and added that the literacy rate among the tribal communities had gone up to 62 per cent from 47 per cent.

Meanwhile, Naran Rathwa, Congress Rajya Sabha MP, alleged that there has been no tribal development in the state and asked why the state government had not declared a holiday for the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

He said that Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had declared a holiday on the occasion in that state's tribal-dominated districts.