Team TRIFED Van Dhan India shows the way ‘Work from Home

Continuing working from home, located in 27 States of the country, a group of over 500 officials from TRIFED, an organisation under the M/o Tribal Affairs, have unleashed the power of Webinars to keep in touch with each other and keep moving and working.

• Braving all odds, “The Tech for Tribals”, a project to train tribal entrepreneurs at 16 premier IITs & IIMs of the country, was launched on line on 19 March 2020.
• This scheme will link almost 3.5 lakh tribal entrepreneurs living in villages to the premier institutions of the world.
• The Trifed Van Dhan GIS based website, the future medium of communication for 50 lakh tribal gatherers was launched on line for testing with 27 State teams participating, on 27 March 2020.
• TRIFED is arranging at least 2 team meetings every day and the Team is reaching out to partners to keep moving forward.

• Tribes India Sale figures already registered a 30 % increase over the previous year on 29 February itself providing sustenance to 1.50 lakh tribal artisans.
• Lock down for them has not been as hard.

• The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, (TRIFED), under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, is engaged in marketing development of tribal products including art and craft items.
• TRIFED has been marketing tribal products through its own shops called "TRIBES India" and through the outlets of the state emporia on consignment basis.
• TRIFED has developed a system of sourcing products of art and craft made by empanelled tribal suppliers.
• The suppliers comprise of individual tribal artisans, tribal SHGs, Organisations/ Agencies/NGOs working with tribals, who are empanelled as suppliers of TRIFED as per the guidelines for empanelment of suppliers.
• The products procured by TRIFED are then sold through its marketing platform of "Tribes India".

• Trifed completed setting up 1205 VAN Dhan Centers across 22 states of the country, employing 3 lakh 70 thousand Tribals in ventures to promote entrepreneurship, on 29 February.
• It’s double the target of 600 centers. It is now consolidating the early start and improving quality and outcomes of these tribal start ups.
• A proposal is being prepared for the Government of India to consider to provide grants to distressed Tribal gatherers who have to do distress sales in these times.
• The Trifed Social Media team and the Tribes Com team are working round the clock for releasing socially useful messages to the country with telling effect. They have reached 2.5 million people in three days.

• The Van Dhan Scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED. It was launched on 14th April, 2018 and seeks to improve tribal incomes through value addition of tribal products.
• The scheme will be implemented through Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal Department at the Central Level and TRIFED as Nodal Agency at the National Level.
• At State level, the State Nodal Agency for MFPs and the District collectors are envisaged to play a pivot role in scheme implementation at grassroot level.
• Locally the Kendras are proposed to be managed by a Managing Committee (an SHG) consisting of representatives of Van Dhan SHGs in the cluster.