TRIFED initiatives proving beneficial for tribals

New Delhi: Keeping in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for "Atmanirbhar Bharat" aligned to the slogan of "be vocal for local buy tribal", towards realising the goal of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', TRIFED has been implementing 'Sankalp Se Siddhi – Mission Van Dhan". As part of this initiative, Mission Van Dhan was launched by Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda on June 15, 2021. Under the guidance of the minister, the mission to establish 50,000 Van Dhan SHGs subsumed into 3,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs).

According to TRIFED MD Pravir Krishna, the TRIFED has successfully now sanctioned 52,976 VDSHGs subsumed into 3,110 VDVKCs covering 9.27 lakh beneficiaries and 27 states/UTs in a short span of two years.

"These VDVKCs are at different stages of development and many success stories have emerged till date. The VDVKCs in Maharashtra, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala, Tripura, Gujarat, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, to name a few along with all the 27 participating states have begun producing almost 600 varieties of products," he said. "The activities of the mission would be implemented all over India for Scheduled Tribes beneficiaries and is an ongoing intervention, covering all the 27 states and 308 tribal pre-dominant districts under the Van Dhan programme and MSP for MFP Scheme," the TRIFED MD said.

"The initiatives are expected to provide active employment and livelihoods for one million tribal families enabling them to engage in productive economic activities leveraging forest resources and activities they are already familiar with, without any dislocation or migration needs," he said.