State BJP president and Union tourism minister G. Kishan Reddy said that a large number of tribal fighters had laid down their lives during the freedom movement, and the Narendra Modi government was sincerely working for the welfare of tribals and protection of their culture and traditions.
In order to educate the society about the role played by tribal freedom fighters, the Centre had taken up several programmes, he said.
The recent 285th birth anniversary celebration of tribals’ spiritual leader Sant Sewalal and observing Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary on November 15 as National Tribal Day were some of them. The Centre had allocated ₹ 3 crore for the upcoming Sammakka-Saralamma jatara at Medaram, Kishan Reddy said at an event to lay the foundation stone for Ramji Gond Tribal Museum, to be set up with a financial outlay of ₹ 889 crore here on
Friday.
This is one of the 10 tribal museums proposed to be set up by the Centre. Some of them have started functioning in different states, including the Alluri Seetarama Raju Museum in Visakhapatnam. Kishan Reddy said that the Centre was determined to start Sammakka-Saralamma Tribal University from the next academic year and ₹ 900 crore had been released for it in the first phase. A tribal research institute was inaugurated recently in Masab Tank to preserve the traditions and culture of tribals. Approximately, 17 Ekalavya institutes, with an overall funding of ₹420 crore, had taken off in Telangana.
They will promote education among the tribals. Reddy thanked the state government for allocating land for the tribal museum and sought similar cooperation to establish a military school and national science city in Telangana state.