New Delhi, Dec. 10 (PTI): The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has formulated a new scheme to provide market linkage to handicrafts and other items produced by the members of Scheduled Tribes.
A proposal of the scheme has been sent to the Union Cabinet for its approval, TRIFED managing director Pravir Krishna said on Friday at an event organised to unveil his book 'Tryst With the Tribes--Tales From Tribal Heartlands'.
"The 'Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Yojna' will be announced by the minister very soon. It has been sent to the Cabinet," he said in presence of Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda.
Krishna said he also will prepare a proposal for setting up a Minor Forest Produce Board on the lines of the Coffee Board of India and send it to the Tribal Affairs Ministry for its consideration. He urged the tribal affairs minister to discuss his proposal with the prime minister as well.
Krishna later told PTI that the proposed scheme seeks to provide market linkage to the forest dwellers and members of the scheduled tribes communities and help them sell their products and boost income.
"The Prime Minister Janjatiya Vikas Yojna seeks to provide the scheduled tribes direct market access to enable them to sell their products, instead of middlemen, so that benefits of their work reaches to them," he said.
At the event, the TRIFED managing director said the quality of what the tribals produce is slightly higher than what is made elsewhere but they do not get their fair price because they cannot access the market directly.
"TRIFED is a family of about 20 lakh tribal artisans and each of the family have at least five members. Hence, it is a family of about one crore artisans. If we increase the income of these families by five times the Amul dream which was seen in Gujarat can be seen across the country," he added.
Addressing the event, Munda said all laws and policies that were made in the name of tribals welfare and protection in the past could never become the laws and policies of the members of the scheduled tribes.
"Several laws and policies were brought after Independence for protection of forest, animals, bio-diversity but nowhere it was mentioned how to protect people who are living in the forest," he said.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union government has streamlined the policies and programmes to also think about the protection and welfare of scheduled tribes and forest dwellers along with forest, animals, bio-diversity.
"All these things have been arranged in the policy," he said.
Unveiling the book authored by TRIFED managing director, Munda said it not only depicts the experience of an IAS officer who has dedicated his entire tenure to the service of the tribals but also captures the reforms that have been brought about for their empowerment.
Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu also congratulated Krishna for the book.
"This will be very well-received as a window to a creative blend of tradition and modernity that the author has brought to the field of tribal development," the tribal affairs ministry in a statement quoted Naidu as saying about Krishna's book.
"It is important that we ensure the tribal communities maintain their traditional skillset and at the same time, we ought to open up new creative livelihood and income enhancing opportunities for them. This is what Pravir Krishna has been consistently striving through his stint in the tribal areas and now, with great success, as MD of TRIFED," Naidu said.
Bhaskar Khulbe, advisor to the prime minister, said Krishna's passion and energy to bring about change in the lives of the tribals in the country is "irresistible".
"Having gone through this book, I strongly recommend it to all the readers who are interested in development, especially of the citizens at the bottom of the ladder who need it the most," the ministry in its statement quoted Khulbe as saying.