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Dimapur, Aug. 7 (EMN): Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (Trifed) under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has reiterated its commitment towards the transformation of tribal lives on the occasion of its 33rd Foundation Day on August 6, 2020.
‘Working steadfastly towards its mission of tribal empowerment through enterprise and commerce, more so, during these challenging times, Trifed has doubled its efforts to aid the tribal people in employment and livelihood generation,’ a PIB update stated on Friday.
Trifed has also launched its own virtual office on August 6 with a network of 81 online workstations and 100 additional, converging state and agency workstations. This will help the team work with their partners across the country, from the nodal agencies or implementation agencies, towards bringing the tribal people closer to mainstream development, it stated.
An employee engagement and work distribution matrix with dashboard links has also been launched to gauge the level of employee engagement and streamline their efforts. Other digital softwares, which will enable the states and regions to work seamlessly, have also been unveiled.
‘These organisational initiatives are a part of Trifed’s ambitious all-encompassing digitisation drive to promote tribal commerce and map and link its village-based tribal producers and artisans to national and international markets by setting up state of art e-platforms benchmarked to international standards,’ it read.
Six-time world boxing champion, Mary Kom, who is also an MP, has joined hands with Trifed as its brand ambassador.
Registered under the then Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 1984, Trifed came into existence in 1987 as the national nodal agency under the aegis of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, working towards the socio-economic development of the tribal people from all states.
“A large number of people have adopted to online methods – for shopping, banking, work etc. in India during the recent lockdown and the ongoing pandemic; and the trend has been seen to have increased once the lockdown regulations are relaxed. On the supply side, the crisis due to Covid-19 has dealt a serious blow to the livelihoods of the poor and marginalised communities including the tribal artisans and forest dwelling minor forest produce gatherers. Trifed has had to strategically respond to the emerging situation. It is in this context that our digitisation strategy is of great value,” said Pravir Krishna, managing director Trifed.
Another feather in Trifed’s cap will be the about-to-be-launched exclusive e-marketplace for tribal producers – forest dwellers and artisans, to facilitate the purchase of MFPs, handicrafts and handlooms online. The Tribes India E-Mart platform, expected to be launched on August 15, 2020, will be a facility for the tribals to sell their goods to a large national and international audience in an e-marketplace through their own e-shop.
‘Trifed is in the process of onboarding approximately 5 lakh tribal producers across the country and sourcing their natural produce, handcrafted goods. With digital payments enabled, it will enable the tribal brethren to not only get access to an expanded market but also to improve their credit history,’ it informed.
‘Keeping the overall approach of equipping tribal people with knowledge, tools and pool of information so that they can undertake their operations in a more systematic and scientific manner and capacity building of the tribal people through sensitisation, formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and imparting training to them for undertaking a particular activity, Trifed has put in place several path-breaking initiatives. The ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’ scheme stand out in particular as a beacon of change that has impacted the tribal ecosystem as never before. This scheme that has been implemented in 21 states of India has been successful in injecting INR 3000 crore directly in the tribal economy since April 2020. Aided by the government push in May 2020 wherein the prices of minor forest produce (MFPs) were increased by up to 90% and the inclusion of 23 new items in the MFP list, this flagship scheme of the Min
istry of Tribal Affairs, which draws its strength from the Forest Rights Act of 2005, aims to provide remunerative and fair prices to tribal gatherers of forest produces.
‘1205 tribal enterprises spread across 18500 SHGs have been established to provide employment opportunities to 3.6 lakh tribal gatherers and 18000 Self-help groups in 22 states. The programme ensures that the proceeds from the sales of these value-added products go to the tribals directly. The value-added products benefit largely from the packaging and marketing that these tribal enterprises provide. Manipur and Nagaland have emerged as examples of states where these start-ups have bloomed, with Manipur now having 77 Van Dhan Kendras for value addition and processing of forest produces. These Van Dhan Kendras have reported sales of MFP products worth INR49.1 lakh since September 2019. To make it more worthwhile and to offer a comprehensive development package for tribals and help in their enterprise and commerce and boost their incomes, Trifed is planning the convergence of the Van Dhan Yojana with the MSP for MFP scheme in the next phase of its activities,’ read the statement.
‘To bring more exposure to the empanelled tribal artisans and to bring their skill sets and products to international standards, Trifed has put in place several design initiatives by actively collaborating with renowned designers such as Ruma Devi and Rina Dhaka to train the tribal artisans.
‘With the successful implementation of these initiatives and many more upcoming ones, TRIFED is working towards the complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country through by reinvigorating the flagging economic condition of the affected artisans and gatherers,’ it added.