Tribal research institutes to draw up national tribal research agenda for next five years

Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) across the country on Wednesday (July 8, 2026) adopted the Bhubaneswar Declaration, resolving to develop these institutes as Centres of Excellence and to come up with a national tribal research agenda for the next five years (2027-2032) that will prioritise “high-impact thematic areas for tribal research aligned with national development goals and policy requirements”.

The Declaration was adopted at the end of a two-day national workshop organised by the Tribal Affairs Ministry in Odisha, where representatives of TRIs, experts, academics, researchers, and NGOs participated in plenary sessions on how to strengthen these institutions. While inaugurating the workshop on Tuesday, Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram had said that the goal is to ensure TRIs have more of a role in policymaking, with officials adding they could also function as think-tanks informing tribal development.

On Wednesday, adopting the Declaration, the TRIs resolved to develop their institutes as Centres of Excellence that will “lead specialised research, thematic projects, and high-level knowledge dissemination”. The institutes also resolved to “mandate community-level need analysis” so research is aligned with ground-level needs, develop a research dissemination and utilisation strategy, document and preserve tribal indigenous knowledge and art forms, and finalise a model framework for TRIs by 2030. 

Need greater autonomy

Welcoming the declaration as a “strong commitment that will carry forward the momentum of tribal development”, Tribal Affairs Secretary Ranjana Chopra said, “TRIs need greater institutional and financial autonomy. They must work closely with State departments, universities, multilateral organisations, and other knowledge institutions. Most importantly, they must bridge the gap between research, policy, and the people they serve.”

At the end of the workshop, the Tribal Affairs Ministry also recognised the “exemplary institutional performance” of the seven best-performing TRIs — in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tripura, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, and Jharkhand — based on their contributions to tribal research, documentation, knowledge generation, and preservation of tribal cultural heritage.