Arjun Munda launches tribal livelihoods 'Sankalp Se Siddhi- Mission Van Dhan'

Governor of Chhattisgarh, Anusuiya Uikey, who was specially present on the occasion, said that the livelihood of tribals is basically based on forest resources.

Shri Arjun Munda, Minister for Tribal Affairs launches the tribal livelihoods initiative “Sankalp Se Siddhi – Mission Van Dhan” Seven new Tribes India Outlets inaugurated virtually at Jagdalpur, Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Sarnath Immunity boosting hampers, Tribes India Coffee table book, new TRIFED Head Office among other highlights of the mega-launch event ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’ – Mission Van Dhan, was launched by Shri Arjun Munda, Minister for Tribal Affairs at the new premises of TRIFED Head Office in New Delhi today. Earlier at the event, the new premises were inaugurated by  Shri Arjun Munda at Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi.  

The event also witnessed the inauguration and launch of several other programs including “Sankalp Se Siddhi – Mission Van Dhan”, 7 new Tribes India Outlets, Van Dhan website and software application, coffee table book among others. Keeping in line with the Prime Minister's clarion call Vocal for Local and to build and Atmanirbhar Bharat, TRIFED has been coming up with several initiatives, all aimed at sustainable livelihoods for our tribal population.

These initiatives were launched in hybrid mode ie physically as well as virtually. Governor of Chattisgarh, Ms Anusuiya Uikey and Shri Bhaskar Khulbe, Advisor to the Prime Minister joined the event virtually while Smt Renuka Singh, Minister of State,  Tribal Affairs; Ms Pratibha Brahma, Vice Chairman TRIFED,  Secretary Tribal Affairs, Sh Anil Jha; Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED and senior officers were present physically at the function. 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Munda remarked, “I am delighted to inaugurate the new premises of TRIFED and unveil some noteworthy initiatives that TRIFED has been working towards, such as Sankalp se Siddhi – Mission Van Dhan. Implementation of this crucial mission will definitely result in the transformation of the tribal ecosystem in our country. Today is definitely a momentous day for tribal people, as today sees the culmination of such valuable efforts the TRIFED team has put in consistently over the past years. It is commendable that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the TRIFED team has achieved this, despite the difficult circumstances of the past two years.” 

''The goal of TRIFED is to connect the entire tribal community of the country with the employment-oriented program and surely we will achieve success in this program. For this, we have to bring our products on the e-commerce platform. Without digitization, we cannot move forward in today's market. In today's era, we cannot ignore technology. If we move forward with technology, then our market potential will increase even more. TRIFED should market natural products by natural means. The biggest strength of TRIFED is the natural products.'', Shri Munda said. 

Governor of Chhattisgarh, Anusuiya Uikey, who was specially present on the occasion, said that the livelihood of tribals is basically based on forest resources. Because they are nature worshipers and live according to nature,  they have a good knowledge of the herbs found in the forest. The medical value these forests produce is well known. Apart from this, tribals have very good craftsmanship. But the products of the tribals do not fetch a good price at the local level, even though they will be valued highly in national and international markets. Now with the help of new initiatives TRIFED, a good platform will be available to the tribals to sell their products, which will increase their income and improve their standard of living. TRIFED deserves congratulations for having started the Tribes India outlets all across the country including Chhattisgarh, she added.    

Smt Renuka Singh,  Minister of State, Ministry of Tribal Affairs said, “It is noteworthy that the new initiatives being unveiled today take care of all aspects of tribal empowerment, be it spreading awareness about the richness of tribal lifestyle and natural produce with the Immunity Boosting product hampers and the attractively designed high-quality products which are not only sustainable; or preserving the culture through the vivid colourful Coffee Table book.” The Van Dhan Kendras have been kept functional even during the pandemic and have ensured livelihoods to the tribal people in difficult times, she added.  

Shri Bhaskar Khulbe, Advisor to the  Prime Minister complimented the TRIFED team for their new premises and said, “I am happy that a slew of initiatives, all benefitting the tribal population are being launched today.” 

Secretary, Tribal Affairs, Sh Anil Kumar Jha said that education, health and livelihoods are the three key areas of the tribal population that require focus. TRIFED has taken up commendable inter-generational transformative initiatives for livelihoods which will make tribals atmanirbhar, he said. 

Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED said, “TRIFED is working consistently on its mission towards making the tribals atmanirbhar and self-reliant. These are just a glimpse of the activities it has undertaken in this regard. The team is striving in this direction and will continue to do so.” 

The new TRIFED Office premises at NSIC Complex, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-III, New Delhi is around 30,000 sq ft in area and has state-of-the-art infrastructure and is equipped with two conference rooms for video conferencing and other latest amenities. It houses office space for the  Minister for Tribal Affairs, Managing Director, senior officials and all staff. 

Shri Munda also inaugurated 7 more Tribes India outlets, 2 in Jagdalpur, 3 in Ranchi, 1 in Jamshedpur and 1 at Sarnath. Showcasing tribal products from all over the country, the outlets will have specific GI and Vandhan corners and will display the large variety of GI tagged and natural products from different parts of the country. The Sarnath outlet is the first successful collaboration with the Ministry of Culture at an ASI heritage site. With these outlets, the total number of Tribes India outlets have gone up to 141.   

The most notable initiative that was unveiled today was “Sankalp Se Siddhi – Mission Van Dhan”. TRIFED has been implementing several noteworthy programmes for the empowerment of the tribals. Over the past two years, The ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ has impacted the tribal ecosystem in a major way. The Van Dhan tribal start-ups, a component of the same scheme, has emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisans.  In less than two years, 37,362 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), subsumed into 2240 Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) of 300 forest dwellers each, have been sanctioned by TRIFED out of which 1200 VDVK Clusters are operational. Besides, two TRIFOOD Projects at Jagdalpur and Raigarh (Maharashtra) are being shortly commissioned for undertaking value-addition of various forest products being procured by beneficiaries of Van Dhan Kendras. TRIFED now plans to expand its operations through the convergence of various schemes of different Ministries and Departments and launch the various tribal development programs in Mission Mode under “Sankalp Se Siddhi – Mission Van Dhan” for expediting its implementation in a Mission mode. Through this mission, the establishment of 50,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, 3000 Haat Bazaars, 600 Godowns, 200 Mini TRIFOOD Units, 100 Common Facility Centres, 100 TRIFOOD parks, 100 SFURTI clusters, 200 Tribes India retail stores, eCommerce platforms for TRIFOOD and Tribes India brands are being targeted. 

The other initiatives launched today include the Van Dhan Software Application. Designed to receive and process the Van Dhan proposals online, the software application has GIS integration, can monitor Van Dhan Project implementation activities and can generate related reports. A Digital Connect programme under which a two-way communication process is proposed to be established was also launched today. 

A Tribes India Coffee Table Book which showcases the rich cultural tribal heritage and highlights the journey of various tribal artisans practising different arts and crafts and how TRIFED has impacted their livelihoods was also unveiled today. With the mission to make Tribes India the ultimate gifting destination, TRIFED has compiled a hamper of Unique handicrafts, GI products and immunity boosters from different parts of the country. These hampers, unveiled today, will make for unique gifts both in India and abroad. TRIFED has also been providing Skill upgradation & Design Development Workshops for the development of Tribal Artisans through Handicraft and Income Generation Training Programs.  

During the pandemic, efforts were made for the skill development of the tribal artisans and 17 training Programs were approved for benefitting 340 tribal artisans and developing 170 new designed products. Twenty-five newly designed products from the recently completed Design workshop training programs for the Boksa tribal artisans at Rishikesh and Meena tribal artisans at Jaipur were also launched.

(With Inputs from PIB)