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The Odisha government has announced a new livelihood and income-generating scheme for the tribal people with an outlay of Rs 500 crore, an official said on Friday.

The state cabinet led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved the scheme during its meeting held on Thursday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Niranjan Pujari said in the Odisha Assembly on Friday.

The ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare department will implement the livelihood cluster development initiative under Mukhya Mantri Janajati Jeebika Mission.

The state-funded scheme will be implemented in 119 tribal sub-plan (TSP) blocks of the state through 22 integrated tribal development agencies (ITDAs) utilising a total outlay of Rs 500 crore over a period of three years (2023-24 to 2025-26).

As per the scheme, over 1.5 lakh tribal households will be supported by ensuring timely access to quality inputs, infrastructure support incidental to livelihood, introduction of better production practices, training and capacity building support and marketing assistance in a convergence mode.

The ST & SC Development department, through this new scheme, will enable the tribal households to venture into well planned farm-based and off-farm livelihood activities at the household level to enhance their income and quality of life on a sustained basis, officials said.

This new initiative will supplement the Odisha government's vision of improving the lives and livelihoods of the tribal communities in the state by enhancing their economic power and strengthening their sources of livelihood.

The state cabinet has also approved a special package of incentives for a very large investment proposal of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).

The Central-PSU has proposed setting up of a mega Dual Feed Cracker (DFC) at Paradip with investment of Rs 58,042 crore for production of ethylene, polypropylene, poly vinyl chloride (PVC), phenol, Is-Propyl Alcohol (IPA) etc.

The Dual Feed Cracker will enable significant industrial development in various downstream industries like plastic, pharma, agro-chemical, personal care products, speciality chemicals, paints, packaging materials etc.

The IOCL and its downstream industries will generate employment for about 25,000 people, both directly and indirectly, sources said.