Adi Bazaar inaugurated at Naga Shopping Arcade

DIMAPUR — In an effort to provide marketing support to tribal artisans, a nine-day Purvottar Adi Bazaar was inaugurated by the minister of Tourism and Higher Education, Temjen Imna Along, at Naga Shopping Arcade in Dimapur near The Garden on Tuesday.

A DIPR report stated that a total of 32 stalls have been put up by artisans from all the states of northeastern region. It stated that the bazaar offers an opportunity to see the unique craftsmanship and skills of various parts of northeast India on one common platform.

The products available included handloom and handicraft, jewelry products, metal craft, cane and bamboo products, gifts and novelties etc.

It mentioned that the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation Of India Limited (TRIFED), on behalf of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, is implementing Minimum Support Price for Minor Forest Produce (MSP for MFP), Van DhanYojana under Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM) and Promotion of Tribal Products in North Eastern Region (PTP-NER) schemes in Nagaland with the help of the Department of Forest, Environment and Climate Change as state nodal department and DUDA, MARCOFED and NBHM as state implementation agencies.

In addition, various other government departments such as Rural Livelihood Mission, DC Handicraft and Handloom, state government as well as district administration of various districts of Nagaland have helped in conduct of various activities in the state.

It stated 87 MFP have been identified so far for which an amount of INR 2.52 crore has been released to Nagaland as revolving fund and a procurement of INR 1.34 crore has been carried out by the state from MFP gatherers. MFP items procured by Nagaland included hill broom grass, zanthoxylum dried, nutgall, rosella, perilla, wild honey, ginger, dried king chilli, elephant apple and bamboo shoot.

Besides, it stated that funds amounting to INR 0.66 crore has been provided for modernisation of Haats and creation of storage facilities in Nagaland.

It added that an amount of INR 42.60 crore has been sanctioned for formation of 284 Van Dhan Vikas Kendra associating 85,198 tribal beneficiaries for Nagaland. It informed that 163 VDVK are reported to be operationlised and have also carried out sale of INR 4.90 crores.

As part of the scheme, TRIFED has also conducted Tribal Artisan Empanelment Melas (TAeM) to identified tribal artisans at their door steps in various districts and blocks. A total of 17 TAeM were conducted in Nagaland, wherein 613 tribal beneficiaries were empanelled and 180 beneficiaries were identified for training.

Besides, 260 sample products amounting to INR 191064 were procured from those artisans. It further stated that so far purchase orders worth INR 112.43 lakh have been given to those artisans and products worth INR 20.06 lakh have already been supplied by those artisans.