Chennai, Jul 25 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Tribal Welfare Department will rope in NGOs to implement livelihood schemes for tribals in the state.

Sources told IANS the Department has written a letter to the state government to grant permission to get the NGOs on boardand allow them to monitor the beneficiaries.

In the letter, the Department also mentioned that either the funds for the scheme is directly routed to the selected NGOs or the funds are passed on to the beneficiaries and the NGOs provided the administrative cost to monitor the project.

The NGOs will be empaneled with the tribal welfare department to implement the scheme and the selection will be on the basis of their staff strength, infrastructure at district and zonal levels as also experience in working in tribal areas.

Awards and recognitions at the state, national and international levels will also be a criteria for selection of NGOs to implement the livelihood schemes.

The selected NGOs will also have to provide awareness programmes on their rights.

However, the Department sources told IANS that there were very few dedicated NGOs who are working among the tribal communities in the remote areas of the state.