Replying today an un-starred question of Dr. Amar Ramsing Kolhe the Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey informed Lok Sabha today that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has not launched any dedicated mega projects such as Tribal Hubs or Traditional Hubs in Shirur Lok Sabha Constituency, particularly in Junnar and Ambegaon talukas of Maharashtra.

To facilitate global market access for tribal artisans, Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) under the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM) engages with international bulk buyers and explores strategic partnerships through participating in international trade fairs and expos - domestically and internationally. TRIFED is also pursuing collaborations with Indian Missions abroad to strengthen its presence in international markets and search the opportunities for their sales promotion.

Besides, TRIFED is actively working to promote and preserve the rich cultural heritage of tribal communities through the marketing of Geographical Indication (GI) products. TRIFED currently holds authorized user certificates for around 46 GI products, all of which are crafted by tribal artisans/suppliers. To further strengthen this initiative, TRIFED explores and identifies additional GI items which are made by tribal artisans and initiate the process of obtaining authorized user certificates for these newly identified GI products. Besides, TRIFED is establishing dedicated GI product counters within Tribes India outlets across the country, which will showcase GI-certified tribal products, helping customers easily identify and appreciate the cultural significance of each item.

TRIFED has recently developed a new e-commerce portal ‘tribesindia.com’ to provide online shopping platform of its tribal products to the customers. More than 3,600+ tribal products are live on this website and features a wide range of products, including tribal textiles & apparels, Van Dhan naturals, metal crafts, tribal paintings, pottery, wooden crafts, and tribal jewellery. Besides, the tribal products are also made available on other ecommerce platforms like ONDC, Amazon, Flipkart etc. to enhance market access.

TRIFED has been promoting tribal art and craft by way of organizing exhibitions like Aadi Bazaar, Aadi Mahotsav and AadiChitra besides participating in various exhibition being organsied by other Organisations. However, there is no proposal to establish permanent exhibition centers in Junnar and Ambegaon.

Under the scheme of PMJVM, financial support of INR 15.00 lakhs is provided to the State Governments for setting up of each Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) which are the centers of value addition activities of MFPs/Non-MFPs. In Shirur constituency, TRIFED has established 14 VDVKs under PMJVM Scheme through State Nodal Department (Department of Tribal Development, Government of Maharashtra) and State Implementing Agency (Shabari Adivasi VittaVa Vikas MahamanadalMaryadit Nashik) in the Pune district of Maharashtra for the livelihood enhancement of VDVK members by value addition of MFP, Farm and Non-Farm products and Produce, for which funds of Rs. 210 Lakhs have been sanctioned.

National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, provides credit linkage by extending concessional loans to the eligible Scheduled Tribe persons for undertaking income generation activities/ self-employment under its various schemes. During the last five years, NSTFDC has disbursed an amount of Rs. 39.96 cr to 11,967 tribal beneficiaries in Maharashtra under various schemes of NSTFDC.

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(Release ID: 2159078)