The Minister for Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda, virtually launches livelihood initiatives and inaugurates seven new Tribes India outlets along with the new office for TRIFED
Sankalp Se Siddhi — Mission Van Dhan, was launched by Arjun Munda, Minister for Tribal Affairs on June 15. The event also witnessed the inauguration and launch of several other programmes, including the new premises of the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) headquarters. Keeping in line with the Prime Minister’s clarion call ‘Vocal for Local’ and to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat, TRIFED has been coming up with several initiatives, aimed at sustainable livelihoods for our tribal population.
Munda formally inaugurated the new office by cutting the ribbon in the presence of Renuka Singh, Minister of State for the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Bhaskar Khulbe, Advisor to the PM, Ramesh Chand Meena, Chairman of TRIFED, and Pravir Krishna, Managing Director of TRIFED.
Speaking on the occasion, Munda remarked, “I am delighted to inaugurate the new premises of TRIFED and unveil some noteworthy initiatives that TRIFED has been working towards, such as Sankalp se Siddhi — Mission Van Dhan. Implementation of this crucial mission will result in the transformation of the tribal ecosystem in our country. Today, is a momentous day for tribal people, as today sees the culmination of the valuable effort put in by the TRIFED team over the past years. It is commendable that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the TRIFED team has achieved this, despite the difficult circumstances of the past two years.”
Renuka said, “It is noteworthy that the new initiatives being unveiled today take care of all aspects of tribal empowerment, be it spreading awareness about the richness of tribal lifestyle and natural produce with the immunity boosting product hampers and the attractively designed H&IG products which are not only sustainable; or preserving the culture through the vivid colourful Coffee Table book.”
The new TRIFED Office premises at NSIC Complex, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-III, New Delhi is around 30,000 sq ft in area and has state-of-the-art infrastructure and is equipped with two conference rooms for video conferencing and other latest amenities. It houses office space for the Minister for Tribal Affairs, Managing Director, senior officials and all staff.
The most notable initiative unveiled was Sankalp Se Siddhi — Mission Van Dhan. TRIFED has been implementing several noteworthy programmes for the empowerment of the tribals. Over the past two years, The ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’ has impacted the tribal ecosystem in a major way. It has injected `3,000 crores into the tribal economy, even during such difficult times, aided by government push. The Van Dhan tribal start-ups, a component of the same scheme, have emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisans. In less than two years, 37,362 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), subsumed into 2240 Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) of 300 forest dwellers each, have been sanctioned by TRIFED out of which 1200 VDVK Clusters are operational. A total number of 134 Tribes India Outlets have been opened for retail marketing to date, and have made a total sale of `53.66 crores. Besides, two TRIFOOD Projects at Jagdalpur and Raigarh (Maharashtra) are being shortly commissioned for undertaking value-addition of various forest products being procured by beneficiaries of Van Dhan Kendras. As a result of the above, an estimated amount of `3800 crores has so far been injected in the tribal economy while impacting the lives of 50 lakh members of the tribal population. TRIFED now plans to expand its operations through the convergence of various schemes of different ministries and departments to launch various tribal development programmes under the Sankalp Se Siddhi — Mission Van Dhan banner for expediting its implementation in a Mission mode. Through this mission, the establishment of 50,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, 3000 Haat Bazaars, 600 godowns, 200 Mini TRIFOOD units, 100 common facility centres, 100 TRIFOOD parks, 100 SFURTI clusters, 200 Tribes India retail stores, e-commerce platforms for TRIFOOD and Tribes India brands is being targeted.
Munda also inaugurated seven more Tribes India outlets, two in Jagdalpur, three in Ranchi, one in Jamshedpur and another at Sarnath. Showcasing tribal products from all over the country, the outlets will have specific GI and Van Dhan corners and will display the large variety of GI tagged and natural products from different parts of the country. The Sarnath outlet is the first successful collaboration with the Ministry of Culture at an ASI heritage site. With these outlets, the total number of Tribes India outlets have gone up to 141.
A Tribes India Coffee Table Book, which showcases the rich cultural tribal heritage and highlights the journey of various tribal artisans practising different arts and crafts and how TRIFED has impacted their livelihoods, was also unveiled today. With the mission to make Tribes India the ultimate gifting destination, TRIFED has compiled a hamper of unique handicrafts, GI products and immunity boosters from different parts of the country. These hampers, unveiled today, will make for unique gifts both here and abroad. TRIFED has also been providing skill upgradation and design development workshops for the development of tribal artisans through handicraft and income generation training programmes. During the pandemic, efforts were made for the skill development of tribal artisans and 17 training programmes were approved for benefitting 340 tribal artisans and developing 170 new designed products. Twenty five newly designed products from the recently completed Design workshop training programmes for the Boksa tribal artisans at Rishikesh and Meena tribal artisans at Jaipur, were also launched.
Speaking on the occasion, Pravir said, “TRIFED is working consistently on its mission towards making the tribals atmanirbhar and self-reliant. These are just a glimpse of the activities it has undertaken in this regard. The team is striving in this direction and will continue to do so.”
With the emphasis on being ‘Vocal for local’ and building a self-reliant India, TRIFED, as the nodal agency working towards tribal empowerment, continues to launch and start new initiatives that helps in improving the income and livelihood of the tribal people, while preserving their way of life and traditions.
