Welfare of Tribal Children in Andhra Pradesh G. Samuel Aravind, Lecturer in Economics, Government Degree College, Satyavedu g.samuelaravind@gmail.com 9573001219 ABSTRACT “The malnourishment of children threatens the survival, growth and development of children, young people, economies and nations.”i Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our peopleii. Children from all sections should be given utmost care to ensure inclusive and sustainable development of our country. In this context, this paper focuses on the improvement in child care especially among Scheduled Tribes (ST) of Andhra Pradesh, India. The idea is to find if there are any improvements in Child care of Scheduled tribes of Andhra Pradesh during the last decade. The National Family Health Surveys (NFHS 2015-16 and 2019-21) are used to study these improvements in child care of Scheduled tribes in Andhra Pradesh. It is found that there is an overall improvement in the childcare of Scheduled Tribes in Andhra Pradesh; yet, the relative situation of ST children in Andhra Pradesh has not improved. Improvement in public services such as ICDS scheme, ANMs, ASHA workers, doctors, and Mid-day meals program has an impact on mother’s health, education and quality of life and also child’s health and education. If the allocations made under the ST Sub plan are fully utilized, better outcomes can be realized within a short time. i ii UNICEF State of the World Children report, 2019 Nelson Mandela References 1. https://www.ijmrhs.com/medical-research/nutritional-status-of-tribal-children-in-andhrapradesh.pdf 2. http://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-5Reports/Andhra_Pradesh.pdf 3. http://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-4Reports/AndhraPradesh.pdf 4. https://aptribes.gov.in/statistics.htm
