PM JANMAN (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Mission)

Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan, or PM JANMAN, is a mission launched in November 2023 with a total outlay of Rs. 24,104 crore (Rs. 15,336 crore from the central share and Rs. 8,768 crore from state shares). Its sole focus is the 75 communities officially recognised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, or PVTGs.

PVTGs are tribes that meet four criteria laid down in 1975 by the Dhebar Commission and updated in 2006: pre-agricultural level of technology, very low or declining population, extremely low literacy, and a subsistence level of economy. India has 75 such groups spread across 18 states and Union Territories, with the largest concentrations in Odisha (13), Andhra Pradesh (12), Bihar and Jharkhand (9), Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (7 each) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (5 including the Sentinelese).

Until JANMAN, PVTG development depended on a patchwork of grants under Article 275(1), the Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Plan, and individual ministry schemes. JANMAN is the first mission to bring 11 line-ministry schemes into a single habitation-level plan with a single dashboard, a single accountable officer (the ITDA Project Officer) and a single timeline.

The eleven components are: (1) pucca houses through PMAY-G, (2) all-weather connecting roads through PMGSY, (3) piped water connections through Jal Jeevan Mission, (4) free electricity connections through RDSS (formerly Saubhagya), (5) mobile medical units through the National Health Mission, (6) anganwadi centres through Saksham Anganwadi, (7) hostels for PVTG students through Eklavya Model Residential Schools, (8) multi-purpose centres for community gatherings through Ministry of Tribal Affairs grants, (9) vocational skilling through Skill India and PM-DAKSH, (10) broadband connectivity through BharatNet and (11) Van Dhan Vikas Kendras for minor forest produce value addition.

Each habitation receives a tailored package depending on what already exists. A habitation that has roads and electricity but no piped water and no school receives the four missing components. The package is not a uniform basket; it is a gap-filling exercise based on the baseline survey conducted in 2023-24.

The unit costs are pegged to the parent scheme: a PMAY-G house in a plain district is Rs. 1.2 lakh from PMAY-G plus a Rs. 0.8 lakh JANMAN top-up, taking the total to Rs. 2 lakh. In hilly and Left-Wing Extremism districts, the figure rises to Rs. 2.2 lakh. Free electricity covers up to 100 units per month for the first three years.

The mission is delivered to families, not requested by them. The starting point is the baseline survey: in 2023-24, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and state tribal welfare departments physically visited 22,544 PVTG habitations and listed every family along with what assets they already had. Each family was issued a JANMAN ID card and a copy of their habitation development plan.

If you belong to a PVTG and have not been surveyed, approach your nearest Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) or Project Officer with your tribe certificate, Aadhaar and a self-declaration. The ITDA conducts a special survey, includes you in the habitation plan, and uploads the entry on the PM JANMAN dashboard. Once entered, you are automatically linked to all 11 components.

For day-to-day grievances - delayed house construction, missing electricity connection, broken hand-pump - the Project Officer of your ITDA is the single accountable officer. The contact list is at tribal.nic.in/janman. State Tribal Welfare Departments maintain a parallel helpline. Centrally, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs runs a complaint cell on 011-23381499.

Four PVTGs receive additional protections under JANMAN due to extreme vulnerability: the Sentinelese, Jarawa and Onge of the Andaman Islands, and the Cholanaikkan of Kerala. For these groups, no infrastructure is built inside their core habitations. The mission funds buffer-zone facilities, training of contact teams, and emergency medical preparedness only. This respects the policy of minimum interference for groups in voluntary isolation.

For other PVTGs, women-headed households, persons with disabilities and households with no able-bodied adult get priority allocation. The PMAY-G unit is mandatorily registered in the woman's name, or jointly. The anganwadi worker and ASHA in each habitation are trained as the first point of contact for these vulnerable sub-groups.

Cultural preservation is a parallel objective. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs funds documentation of the language, customary law and ritual practices of each PVTG through Tribal Research Institutes. Construction of multi-purpose centres uses local materials and traditional architectural styles wherever feasible.

The PM JANMAN dashboard (tribal.nic.in/janman) publishes habitation-wise data: number of houses sanctioned, completed, occupied; kilometres of road sanctioned and completed; piped water connections; electricity connections; anganwadi centres operational; and Van Dhan Kendras functional. Each asset must be geo-tagged with a photograph before it counts as completed.

Third-party concurrent evaluation is conducted by NIRDPR Hyderabad and a network of academic institutions. Their reports are placed before the Empowered Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary every quarter. Adverse findings trigger course correction within 30 days.

If a beneficiary is denied an entitlement, the grievance can be filed at three levels: (a) the ITDA Project Officer, (b) the State Commissioner for Scheduled Tribes and (c) the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Each level has a 30-day response timeline. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs also accepts e-mails at janman[at]tribal.gov.in.

• 01Member of any of the 75 notified Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
• 02Resident of a habitation surveyed and listed under PM JANMAN
• 03Possession of a tribe certificate issued by the competent authority (or self-declaration verified by Gram Sabha)
• 04No income ceiling; benefits are universal for listed habitations
• 05Special priority for women-headed households, persons with disabilities and households with no able-bodied adult

• §Tribe certificate (or Gram Sabha resolution where certificate is not yet issued)
• §Aadhaar of all family members (Aadhaar is not mandatory but eases convergence)
• §Ration card / NFSA entitlement card
• §JANMAN Family ID Card (issued after baseline survey)
• §Bank account passbook of the woman head of household (for PMAY-G transfer)
• §Habitation Development Plan extract (available at the ITDA office)

• Habitation not listed in the JANMAN baseline survey; needs a fresh ITDA survey before benefits flow
• Tribe certificate not issued or showing a non-PVTG sub-group (e.g., Gond instead of Hill Korwa)
• Aadhaar-linked bank account in the name of the male head only, instead of the woman head, delays PMAY-G transfer
• Land for PMAY-G house not in the name of any family member and no Gram Sabha resolution allotting forest dwelling land
• Earlier PMAY-G beneficiary status flagged on the AwaasSoft database (duplicate benefit not allowed)

• PM JANMAN Cabinet Note (29 November 2023), Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of Indialink ↗
• PM JANMAN Operational Guidelines and Annual Report 2024-25, Ministry of Tribal Affairslink ↗
• Statistical Profile of Scheduled Tribes in India 2023, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Anthropological Survey of Indialink ↗