The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is now scaling up the “Van Dhan Scheme” and is ready to extend it to all tribal Districts of the Country in phases, starting with the aspirational districts with substantial tribal population. The Prime Minister of India launched the Van Dhan Scheme in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh on 14th April, 2018. The Ministry also expanded the coverage of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce Scheme to 50 Minor Forest Produces. The MSP has also been raised between 30% to 40% in case of each of the Commodities.
On 28th February, 2019 at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi Representatives from 30 State Governments and Stake holding Organizations have been invited for a day-long workshop, where roll out and implementation plan of the scheme will be discussed with the Delegates.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Ministry of Tribal Affairs have decided to set up two Minor Forest Produce Processing Units at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Raigarh in Maharashtra at the cost of almost approximately Rs. 11 Crores. These units will source Minor Forest Produces from tribal gatherers and MSP and process them for marketing through tribal entities all over the country. The major component of this will be mainstreaming of Heritage Mahua, a traditional tribal drink, which will be produced and marketed all over the country.
TRIFED has also launched the “Friends of Tribes” Scheme for sourcing of CSR funds from Public Sector Organizations (PSUs) were requested to fund tribal Entrepreneurship Development Programme through their CSR initiatives. BPCL, IOCL and SPMCL and have sanctioned Rs. 10.00 crores for Van Dhan operations in Barwani, Rajnandgaon, Dewas & Hoshangabad Districts of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
