Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP)

The Integrated Tribal Development Programme is a three-year intervention, from April 2024 to March 2027, implemented by Native Medicare Charitable Trust with financial support from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). It works with 342 landless families from the Paniya, Kurumba and Kattunayakan communities, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups living close to the forest, in 21 remote hamlets of Gudalur block, The Nilgiris district. The total sanctioned budget is ₹2,76,91,360.

Rather than land, which these families do not have, the programme builds livelihoods on livestock, non-timber forest products, micro-enterprise and skills, so that households can move from precarious daily wage labour to running enterprises of their own.

What families receive

• Milch animals (75 units): two cross-bred cows with a sheet-roof shed, three months of feed, an Azolla cultivation kit, insurance and vaccination.

• Goat rearing (100 units): a buck with five or eight goats, an elevated protective shed, insurance and veterinary care.

• Backyard poultry and goat units (125 units): 25 native chicks (Naattu Kozhi), 10 Kadaknath and 15 quails in a predator-proof metal cage.

• Micro-enterprises: computer centres, a millets and rice mill, NTFP and spice outlets, petty shops, tea and bakery shops, civil and painting tool kits, cultural instrument sets and beekeeping units.

Beyond livelihoods

The programme also runs maternal and child health awareness and medical camps, installs improved smokeless chulas to cut firewood use and indoor smoke, and builds community institutions (Village Planning Committees, a Project-level Tribal Development Committee and a Farmers Producer Organisation) so that the communities govern the work themselves.

What has changed

• 80% of beneficiaries now sign their own names instead of using a thumb impression.

• Participating families' regular income has risen from ₹3,000–₹4,500 a month to ₹11,000–₹16,000, reducing seasonal migration.

• Tribal women lead Village Planning Committees and manage micro-enterprises.

• Barefoot veterinarians trained from among tribal youth give first aid and basic care, sharply reducing livestock deaths in remote forest areas.

• More than 90 smokeless chulas have cut household firewood use and pressure on protected forests.

The 21 hamlets

Devarshola Panchayat: Cheppatti, Puliyampavayal, Vachikolli, Karkapali, Kambadi, Goundankolli, Kanjikolli, Machikolli, Velangoor and Pennai.

Gudalur Panchayat: Salivayal, Ezhumaram, Allur Vayal, Narimoola, Mel Ambalam, Vadavayal, Gunilvayal, Makkamoola, Puthurvayal, Puramanavayal and Athipalai Colony.