- Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Jual Oram on February 28, 2019 launched the ambitious scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Van Dhan, the scheme for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce Scheme (MFP) and Development of Value Chain of MFPs at a National Workshop organized by TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
- Shri Jual Oram launched the following schemes on the occasion:
- MSP for MFPs
- Release of guidelines (a) Scheme of MSP for MFPs (b) Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram
- TRIFOOD project of TRIFED and Ministry of Food Processing Industries
- TRIFEDs CSR initiatives –“Friends of TRIBES”/ Exchange of MOUs
- Release of Special edition of TRIBES HAAT
- DBT Scholarship portal of Ministry of Tribal Affairs
- Van Dhan TVC
- As per the Union Minister almost 5.5 crores tribals residing in the dense forest areas of the Country will benefit from the Schemes of Minimum Support Price and Value Addition. The Scheme will offer remunerative Minimum Support Price for 50 commercially viable items to the Tribals. MFPs now covered the entire range of forest produces. He expressed his happiness that the MSP had been raised by 30% to 40%. This would go a long way in adding to the income of the Tribals.
Van Dhan Scheme
- This programme promotes enterprise and marketing skills in tribals.
- The tribals presently get only 20 – 30% of the value chain of the Minor Forest Produces. This situation will change after Van Dhan scheme which aims to take this share to 70 to 80%. The Prime Minister of India launched the Van Dhan Scheme in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh on 14th April, 2018.
TRIFOOD Scheme
- It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.
- Under this scheme a tertiary value addition center will be set up in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Raigad in Maharashtra at a cost of approximately Rs.11.00 crores.
- A highlight of this is the production of “Heritage Mahua” drink. The traditional Mahua tribal drink will be mainstreamed and marketed all over the Country under this project. He praised the efforts of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED to take all these programmes to the present level and hoped that TRIFED will leave no stone unturned to reach the tribals residing in forest areas.
Friends of Tribes
- It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. TRIFED has tied up CSR funds to promote tribal livelihoods.
