Context
Towards realizing the goal of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, TRIFED has joined hands with NITI Aayog to implement the Van DhanYojana in the aspirational districtsidentified by NITI Aayog.
About the Van DhanYojana
- The Van Dhan Scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.
- It was launched in 2018 and seeks to improvetribal incomes through the value addition of tribal products.
- The scheme will be implemented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal Department at the Central Level and TRIFED will be the Nodal Agency at the National Level.
- At the State level, the State Nodal Agency and the District collectors will be responsible for the implementation at the grassroots level.
- At the unit level, aggregation of produce would be done through SHGs having about 30 members each forming Van DhanVikas ‘Samuh’.
- The SHGs would also undertake primary value addition of the Micro Forest Produce (MFPs) using equipment such as small cutting and sieving tools, decorticator, dryer, packaging tool,etc based on MFPs available in the area.
- The establishment of "Van Dhan Vikas Kendra" is to provide skill up-gradation and capacity building training and setting up of primary processing and value addition facility.
- The Van Dhan Vikas Kendras will be an important milestone in achieving the economic development of tribals who are involved in the collection of MFPs by helping them in optimum utilization of natural resources and providing sustainable MFP-based livelihood in MFP-rich districts.
Aspirational Districts Programme
- The Government of India has launched the 'Transformation of Aspirational Districts' initiative in January 2018.
- Implementation: NITI Aayog anchors the program with support from Central Ministries and the State Governments.
- Aim: The ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ Programmeaims to expeditiously improve the socio-economic status of 117 districts from across 28 states.
- Principles: The three core principles of the program are –
- Convergence (of Central & State Schemes)
- Collaboration (among citizens and functionaries of Central & State Governments including district teams)
- Competition among districts.
- Themes: The program focuses on 5 main themes - Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure.
- Real-time monitoring: NITI Aayog in partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh has created a dashboard ‘Champions of Change’ for monitoring the real-time progress of the districts.
- Ranking: Districts are ranked through ‘delta ranking’ based on progress made on a real-time basis.
- Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu achieved overall first rank.
- Simdega (Jharkhand), Chandauli (Uttar Pradesh), Sonbhadra (Uttar Pradesh), and Rajgarh (Madhya Pradesh) were found to have progressed the most since the beginning of the program.
- Achievements: Under ADP previously neglected districts, including those in remote locations and those affected by Left Wing Extremism, 'have experienced more growth and development in the last three years than ever before.
- The program has strengthened the technical and administrative capacities of the districts.
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