The Juang Development Agency (JDA) is a micro-project institution established by the government to focus on the holistic development of the Juang tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Odisha. The JDA was created in 1978 at Gonasika in the Keonjhar district of Odisha, with the primary objective of improving the education, livelihoods, and socio-economic conditions of the Juang people. Its establishment was a targeted intervention to address the socio-economic marginalization of the Juang, who traditionally relied on shifting cultivation (podu or toila chasa) and were classified as a Primitive Tribal Group.
The JDA functions by coordinating multi-sectoral interventions, initially covering 32 villages and approximately 5,490 people. Key mechanisms include campaigns against shifting cultivation, such as the 1989 Podu Prevention Programme, which promoted settled agriculture, land reclamation, and horticulture. The agency implements programs focused on education, healthcare, infrastructure development like roads and drinking water, and livelihood support through initiatives like poultry, goatery units, and support for cashew and mango plantations.
The JDA connects to broader tribal welfare policies, particularly the central government's "Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups" scheme. Since June 2017, the JDA has been involved in implementing the Odisha PVTG Empowerment and Livelihoods Improvement Programme (OPELIP), an externally aided project with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). A significant recent development is the approval of habitat rights for the Juang tribe under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA), with the JDA in Banspal overseeing the claim for a large area of forestland in Keonjhar in August 2024. This provision of the FRA secures legal recognition of their ancestral land and resources.