On April 14th, 2018 Hon’ble Prime Minister of India has announced the launching of Van Dhan Yojana in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh under which one Van Dhan Vikas Kendra was set up, as a pilot project, at a cost of Rs.25 lakhs of which 25% is to be met by the State Government. This Van Dhan Vikas Kendra is to cater to ten Self Help Groups of thirty tribal gathers each.
As the Van Dhan Vikas Kendra was launched as a pilot project only on 14th April 2018, no data is available to assess the impact of the same on tribal rural economy and the income of the people living in tribal areas.
Since Financial Year 2015-16, Ministry of Tribal Affairs has released funds to Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) as under which includes funds for training. No separate funds are earmarked for technical training by the Ministry.
Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products/Produce 2015-2016-Rs 35.00 cores ,2016-2017Rs-39.00 crores and 2017-2018 Rs-39.00 crores besides for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP 2015-2016-Rs 10.67 cores , 2016-2017 – Rs-2.00 crores and 2017-2018 Rs-2.00 crores.
No funds are provided by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to Self Help Groups (SHGs) under its schemes. This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs Shri.Jaswantsinh Bhabhor today in Rajya Sabha.