Union Minister Arjun Munda launched the “Van Dhan Internship Programme” organised by TRIFED under ministry of tribal affairs in New Delhi on October 16. 

Eighteen interns from reputed institutes of the country are  participating in the programme. Munda said that these interns will help the tribal population in becoming self reliant and entrepreneurs. These interns will work with the team of TRIFED in various states and districts in tribal areas in development of tribal welfare and inclusive growth. 

Background

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram is primarily a component under the mechanism for marketing of minor forest produce (MFP) through minimum support price (MSP) and development of value chain.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Van Dhan scheme of ministry of tribal affairs and TRIFED on April 14, 2018 at Bijapur in Chattisgarh. 

Under Van Dhan, 10 self help groups of 30 tribal gatherers is constituted. They are trained and provided with working capital to add value to the products, which they collect from the jungle. 

Working under the leadership of a collector, these groups can then market their products inside and outside their states. Training and technical support is provided by TRIFED. It is proposed to develop 3,000 such centres in the country.

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram is an initiative targeting livelihood generation for tribal population by harnessing the wealth of forest. 

The programme aims to tap into the traditional knowledge and skill sets of tribal people by adding technology and information technology for upgradation of output at each stage and to convert the tribal wisdom into a remunerative economic activity. 

Three-stage value addition

Value addition assumes critical importance in ensuring remunerative prices to the tribals in this approach.

Three-stage value addition would be the cornerstone for enhancing incomes of the tribals under the scheme. The grass root level procurement is proposed to be undertaken through self help groups associated with implementing agencies. 

Convergence and networking with other government departments/scheme shall be undertaken to utilise the services of existing SHGs like Ajeevika, etc. These SHGs shall be appropriately trained on sustainable harvesting/collection, primary processing & value addition and be formed into clusters so as to aggregate their stock in tradable quantity and linking them with facility of primary processing in a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.

The stock after primary processing shall be supplied by these SHGs to the state implementing agencies or direct tie up for supply to corporate secondary processor. 

For creation of secondary level value addition facility at district level and tertiary level value addition facility at state level, corporates shall be involved under PPP model. 

This PPP model will be based on utilising private entrepreneur skills in undertaking processing as well as marketing of the produce and central/ state government support in terms of creating infrastructure and providing enabling environment for undertaking value addition of systematic scientific lines. These will be sophisticated large value addition hubs managed by private entrepreneur.

What is TRIFED? 

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) was established in 1987. It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of ministry of tribal affairs. TRIFED has its head office in New Delhi and 13 regional offices across the country.