Tribal cooperative body holds webinars on Van Dhan Yojana, reviews its progress in Ladakh

New Delhi [India], June 6 : The Union ministry of tribal affairs has taken initiatives to extend the implementation of the Van Dhan Yojana in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The Tribal Cooperation Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) conducted a series of state-level webinars recently to review the progress of the implementation of the Van Dhan Yojana, wherein the one important outreach session was with the state teams and Van Dhan Yojana of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
A Ministry of Tribal Affairs release said that the main focus of the session was to plan the operationalization of the sanctioned Van Dhan Yojana (VDVKs) and the Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs). Attendees from the UT (SIAs, SNAs, VDVKCs) were keyed up and geared to operationalize the currently sanctioned 10 VDVK clusters in the Union Territory with utmost urgency. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is the implementing agency for the UT of Ladakh.
The webinar was initiated to reiterate the need and importance of implementation of MSP.
"The webinar started with a progress update on the status of implementation of the MSP for MFP Scheme and Van Dhan Yojana by the regional manager of the region. It was informed that progress of implementation of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras and VDVKCs had not picked up as the State Implementing Agencies have a shortage of manpower. However, survey work of 5 VDVKCs had been completed. It was agreed to have follow-up meetings at regular intervals," the release said.
Based on the discussion, it was also agreed to formulate and implement the five-step plan for each VDVKC.
Step 1 of the five-step plan involves the identification of items for procurement of MFPS in each VDVKC and strengthening it with a planned development of infrastructure including Procurement Sheds and godowns.
Step 2 entails the appointment of Local NGOs or NRLM Officials as Mentors for each Cluster as per guidelines issued and release of money to each cluster by transferring Rs 10 lakh to each cluster account.
Step 3 will require the preparation of a Business Plan for each cluster for taking up value addition and other formalities including opening of bank account and setting up of signages and boards for identification of each VDVK Cluster and VDVK.
Step 4 envisages the planning and facilitating of each Cluster into Production, Branding, Packaging and Sale of its selected products as per the Business Plan, and in Step 5, ESDP, SFURTI and TRIFOOD schemes will be converged with respective clusters gradually to expand the scope of programme.
A series of Webinars with Top Officials of the partner states across the country has taken place from May 10-May 28.
The Van Dhan tribal start-ups is a programme for value addition, branding and marketing of Minor Forest Produces by establishing Van Dhan Kendras to facilitate creation of sustainable livelihoods for the forest-based tribes.
A typical Van Dhan Vikas Kendra includes 20 tribal members. 15 such Van Dhan Vikas Kendras form one Van Dhan Vikas Kendra cluster. The Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) provide Van Dhan Vikas Kendras economies of scale, livelihood and market-linkages, as well as entrepreneurship opportunities, the release said.