Van Dhan initiative promotes enterprise in Karnataka Karnataka Tribal Women take the lead through VDVK clusters

Improving the livelihoods of the tribal population and bettering the lives of the underprivileged and beleaguered tribals has been the mission of TRIFED,  Ministry of Tribal Affairs. With this in mind, TRIFED has implemented several initiatives, keeping in mind the  PM’s clarion call of building an Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Among the various initiatives,  which have helped in alleviating the economic distress of the tribals, are the Van Dhan tribal start-ups and the Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of  Value Chain for MFP Scheme that provides MSP to gatherers of forest produces and introduce value addition and marketing through tribal groups and clusters. These programmes have gained widespread acceptance across the country.

In particular, the initiative of Van Dhan tribal start-ups, especially has been very successful.

In less than 18 months, 37259 Van DhanVikas Kendras (VDVKs), subsumed into 2224 Van DhanVikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) of 300 forest dwellers each,  have been sanctioned by TRIFED as of date. A typical Van DhanVikas Kendra includes 20 tribal members. 15 such Van DhanVikasKendras form 1 Van DhanVikas Kendra cluster. The Van DhanVikas Kendra Clusters will provide the Van DhanVikas Kendras economies of scale, livelihood and market-linkages, as well as entrepreneurship opportunities to nearly 6.67 lakh Tribal forest gatherers in 23 states and 2 UTs. As per TRIFED, 50 lakh tribals have been impacted by the Van Dhan start-ups programme up until now.

During TRIFED’s recent “Sankalp se Siddhi” – Village & Digital Connect Drive from April 1, 2021, which entailed teams visit villages across of the country, several success stories from different states stood out. One of these success stories was from the southern State of Karnataka.