Chhattisgarh tops in Van Dhan Yojana and MSP Scheme, bags 10 national awards for exemplary performance

New Delhi: Chhattisgarh today bagged ten national awards for exemplary performance in Van Dhan Yojana and Minimum Support Price scheme.

Chhattisgarh topped in eight different categories in procurement, processing and marketing of minor forest produces and was conferred upon two awards for news products and innovation by Tribal Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED).

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda presented these awards to Chhattisgarh at a virtual function.

Expressing happiness on the achievement, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that Chhattisgarh has set a new record by purchasing maximum forest produce in the country. He said that procurement of minor forest produce from tribals at minimum support price has played an important role in providing employment to tribals and forest dwellers and improving their economic condition during Covid-19 pandemic.

Thanks to the revolutionary decisions taken by the Chhattisgarh government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, for the last two years, Chhattisgarh has maintained the top rank for procurement of forest produce and has become the first state in the country in terms of collection of minor forest produce. State Government is procuring 52 minor forest produces instead of seven, and has also increased the support price to provide fair value of the produce to the collectors. More than 6 lakh forest produce collectors are being benefitted under the scheme.

Chhattisgarh received the first prize for inclusion of maximum number of forest produce (52 new produce) under the Minimum Support Price scheme for minor forest produce in year 2020-21, for procurement of minor forest produce at the highest price from State Government's and Central Government's funds, maximum utilization of the funds sanctioned in year 2020-21, completion of maximum survey under Van Dhan Yojana, for maximum training for forest development center clusters, for manufacturing maximum products through value addition, for maximum sale of products after value addition.

Besides, under the 'new product and innovation category', Chhattisgarh was awarded for producing new products from tamarind ('Tamarind Chaska') and also shared the prize with Maharashtra for innovative manufacturing of sanitizer from Mahua.

Under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for MFP Scheme, Chhattisgarh got the first prize for inclusion of maximum number (52) new minor forest produce in the MFP list in the year 2020-21 and for procurement of minor forest produce at maximum value (worth Rs 180.51 crore), utilizing the funds sanctioned by the Centre.

Under procurement of minor forest produce from Central Government's and State Government's funds, Chhattisgarh got the first prize for procurement of forest produce worth Rs.1173 crore. In the category of maximum utilization of funds till year 2020-21, Chhattisgarh was awarded for utilization of Rs 127.09 crore.