‘Govt. striving to provide benefits to nomadic population in the State through various schemes’ 

Chairperson G. Pallavi visits nomadic communities in Kodagu, urging them to benefit from government schemes for economic stability.

Chairperson of Karnataka Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Communities Development Corporation, G. Pallavi, went around various settlements of the communities in Kodagu district on Thursday and urged them to take advantage of various government schemes for their benefit.

Kodagu district is home to a population of 58,765 nomads, including 9,066 from the Scheduled Castes and 32,702 from the Scheduled Tribes, besides 16,997 from the indigenous tribal communities.

Ms. Pallavi visited the rehabilitation centre for members of the Jenukuraba and Meda communities near Basavanahalli in Kushalnagar taluk before visiting the Diddalli region and interacting with the Indigenous tribal families. She also toured the Dodda Bettageri area, where members of the Soliga community reside.

At Basavanahalli, Ms. Pallavi received insights into bamboo product manufacturing with residents explaining how they relied on bamboo craft for generations for their livelihood. She was informed that several members of the community had pursued higher education and even obtained postgraduate degrees.

Ms. Pallavi informed the members of the Jenukuruba and Meda communities of Basavanahalli that the government was implementing various schemes for women’s empowerment, which include financial assistance for self-employment that offers loans of up to ₹1 lakh, along with a 50% subsidy. This initiative aims to promote the economic stability of the nomadic communities.

Under the entrepreneurship development scheme, financial assistance of up to ₹2 lakh would be provided to support self-employment initiatives. Besides, the Swavalambi Sarathi scheme offers up to 75% subsidy for goods transport and tourist taxi vehicles with a maximum limit of ₹4 lakh, she said.

Under an initiative to support women’s self-help groups (SHGs), the corporation will make available financial aid of up to ₹2.5 lakh to SHGs with at least 10 women members.