TRIFED embarks on digitisation drive to promote tribal commerce

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) on Tuesday said it has embarked on an "all-encompassing digitisation drive" to promote tribal commerce and safeguard their livelihoods from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The drive maps and links its village-based tribal producers and artisans to national and international markets by setting up state of art e-platforms benchmarked to international standards, it said. TRIFED -- which functions under the Tribal Affairs Ministry -- is in the process of digitising all the information related to the forest dwellers associated with the Van Dhan Yojana, village haats and their warehouses, a statement said. Van Dhan Yojana is a programme for value addition, branding and marketing of minor forest products by establishing Van Dhan Kendras, each with around 300 tribal members across the country. "This digitization effort wherein all tribal clusters are identified and mapped using geographic information system (GIS) technology will help bring benefits to these people under the 'Atmanirbhar Abhiyan' clarion call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," it said

Due to the pandemic-induced lockdown, stocks by tribal artisans worth Rs 100 crore were lying unsold. TRIFED purchased more than 1 lakh items and launched an aggressive plan to market these goods online through its Tribes India website and also other retail platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart and GeM (Government e-Marketplace).

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