As a project to represent tribal community on the national level, the Center has decided to spend Rs 250 crore on six museums dedicated to tribal freedom fighters. The Tribal Ministry of India will spend Rs 130 crore on the project and an equal amount will be spend on the respective states.
Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said, “Besides these six museums, we have also sent a proposal to NITI Aayog to set up a national-level Tribal Research Centre and a museum in Delhi. Additional funds will be earmarked for the Delhi museum, which is in the planning stage at the moment.”
The Minister also added that the 10% of India’s population is tribal and “they need to be given adequate representation at the national level”.
The museums to take the centre stage will be Gujarat’s Garudeshwar, at a cost of Rs 102 crore, and the one dedicated to Birsa Munda in Ranchi, at Rs 37 crore. The Gujarat museum is going to be a 70-acre project to be completed by 2020, dedicatory to various tribal movements in the country.
The three-dimensional and seven-dimensional technology-enabled display will span in following time period: Pre-1857, 1857–19th century and 20th century upto independence. Both center and state are granting Rs 50 crore each to the project.
The official from the Ministry added, “The museum dedicated to Birsa Munda will be focussed on his personality and life. It will come up in the Central Jail where Munda was imprisoned by the British, and the cell where he died.”
The Raipur museum, costing Rs 26 crore will be dedicated to the movement led by Veer Narayan Singh; the Lambasingini museum costing at Rs 35 crore in Andhra Pradesh will commemorate Alluri Sita Rama Raju; the museum in Chhindwara , costing Rs 39 crore, will showcase various tribal leaders from Madhya Pradesh; and the one in Kozhikode costing at Rs 16 crore will pay tribute to tribal freedom fighters under the leadership of Thalakkal Chandu.
