Raipur: A meeting was held in Raipur on January 7, 2021 to review the progress of the implementation of tribal development programmes in the state of Chhattisgarh. Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED met with Shri Manoj Kumar Pingwa, Principal Secretary, Environment and Forest, Government of Chhattisgarh and Shri Sanjay Kumar Shukla, Managing Director, Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and other senior state government officials. This meeting was the first of the reviews organised during Shri Krishna and the TRIFED’s team’s visit to Chhattisgarh to take stock of the ground realities.
During the hour long meeting, the progress made by the State of Chhattisgarh with respect to the programmes that have been put in place by the government for improving tribal such as the Minimum Support Price for Minor Forest Produce (MSP for MFP), Van Dhan Yojana, ESDP training for tribals was discussed. Pending proposals currently with the Chhattisgarh state government for approval were also discussed. Future plans to take tribal development to the next level were also discussed during this meeting.
One bright spot in these turbulent and challenging times when lives had been completely disrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the record procurement of MFPs under the MSP for MFP Scheme. Conceptualised and implemented by TRIFED in association with State Government Agencies across 21 states of the country, the ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ scheme has emerged as a source of great relief for tribal gatherers injecting more than Rs 3000 crores directly in the tribal economy.
Chhattisgarh has come up as a model state by procuring 46,857 Metric tonnes of Minor forest produces worth a whopping Rs 106.53 crores. Located in east-central India and one of the most fast developing states of the country, Chhattisgarh has a substantial tribal population, with 6616596 forest dwellers who constitute 32% of the total population. 44% of its land is under forest area even today. The State government put all its might behind the implementation of the MSP for MFP Scheme and the systems and processes for procurement were laid across all districts. Chhattisgarh has 866 procurement centres (out of which 837 are being managed by women) and the State has leveraged its vast network of Van Dhan SHGs from the 1324 Van Dhan Kendras and 1500 haat bazaars effectively. Innovations adopted such as door-to-door collection of minor forest produces by mobile units comprising of forest, revenue and VDVK officials contributed to these high procurement values. In fact 72% of the total procurement of Minor forest produces in the country is from Chhattisgarh. 52 MFP items are being procured in the state of Chhattisgarh. In the “Tech For Tribals” initiative which was initiated by TRIFED, in association with Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT Kanpur in October, Vandhan beneficiaries across all districts of Chhattisgarh State are being trained on various facets of micro-enterprise creation, management and functioning.
Ground level implementation, challenges and progress of these tribal development schemes will be reviewed over the next three days.
It is hoped that with review, monitoring and implementation of the programmes at ground level, there will be an impact in generating income for the tribal people and empower them.
TRIFED continues in its mission to effect a complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country.
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