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TRIFED and NITI AAYOG to partner for implementing the Van Dhan initiative

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Economy
  • Published
    26th May, 2021

Context

TRIFED will be partnering with NITI Aayog to implement the Van Dhan Yojana in the Tribal clusters in those districts that have been identified as aspirational districts by NITI Aayog.

About the initiative

  • TRIFED along with the NITI Aayog team will work out the follow-up-plan for the implementation of the Van Dhan Yojana in each of the 39 Tribal Aspirational Districts.
  • States: These include districts in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Telangana and Tripura.

Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Cluster

  • A typical Van Dhan Vikas Kendra includes 20 tribal members.
  • 15 such Van Dhan Vikas Kendras form 1 Van Dhan Vikas Kendra cluster.
  • Features: To this accord, a VC will be planned with the District Collectors of all districts.
  • As a part of this association, a special focus will be on these aspirational districts where tribal population constitutes more than 50%. 
  • NITI Aayog will also support TRIFED in the concept of convergence for the Mission with Article 275(1), DMF, and STC component of different Ministries, and will help in professionally monitoring and promotion for effective implementation and feedback.
  • Significance: The Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters will provide the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras economies of scale, livelihood and market-linkages, as well as entrepreneurship opportunities.

Aspirational Districts Programme

  • The Government of India has launched the 'Transformation of Aspirational Districts' initiative in January, 2018.
  • NITI Aayog anchors the programme with support from Central Ministries and the State Governments.
  • The ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ Programme aims to expeditiously improve the socio-economic status of 117 districts from across 28 states.
  • The three core principles of the programme are - Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (among citizens and functionaries of Central & State Governments including district teams), and Competition among districts.
  • The programme focusses on 5 main themes - Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure.
  • NITI Aayog in partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh has created a dashboard for monitoring the real-time progress of the districts.
  • Districts will be ranked based on progress made (‘delta ranking’) on a real-time basis

 Some other Initiatives of TRIFED

  • Van Dhan tribal start-ups
  • Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP)
  • Development of Value Chain for MFP’ Scheme
  • Value addition and marketing through tribal groups and clusters

Van Dhan Scheme

  • The Van Dhan Yojana or Van Dhan Scheme is a component of the ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’.
  •  It was launched on 14th April, 2018.It was implemented by TRIFED as the nodal agency at the national level, the Van Dhan start ups is a well thought master plan for the socio-economic development of the tribal population of the country. 
  • It is an initiative that targets livelihood generation for tribal gatherers and transforming them into entrepreneurs.

Objectives

  • The idea is to set-up tribal community-owned Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) in predominantly forested tribal districts.
  • A VDVK Cluster shall constitute of 15 tribal SHGs / Van dhan Kendras, each comprising of up to 20 tribal NTFP gatherers or artisans i.e. about 300 beneficiaries per Cluster.
  • 100% Central Government Funded with TRIFED providing Rs. 15 lakhs for each 300 member Van Dhan Kendra Cluster.

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