Be Vocal for Local and Go Digital — TRIFED embarks on a massive digitisation drive to connect tribals with the mainstream

The unprecedented situation due to the ongoing pandemic has affected all segments of our society. The livelihoods of the poor and marginalised communities have been seriously impacted and the tribals are some of the worst affected in these trying times.

To ease the burden of the tribal artisans during such troubled times, TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal affairs has initiated several immediate initiatives to re-energise the lagging economic activity for sustaining the livelihood development of tribals. 

“The team of TRIFED warriors will take Tribal Commerce based on forest produces, handlooms and handicrafts to a new high for transforming tribal lives and livelihoods,” says Union Minister Arjun Munda. Addressing a video conference to launch the Trifed Digital Platforms, through VC, he stated that with more and more people going online to meet their various needs, be it for business operations, shopping and communication, an important strategic push has been to adopt an all-encompassing digitisation drive to map and link its village based tribal producers to the national and international markets setting up state of art, e-platforms benchmarked to international standards.

 This was the key focus area of the webinar TRIFED Goes Digital and Be Vocal for Local #GoTribal which was organised by TRIFED on June 27. It was attended by over 200 participants. The main highlight was the launch of the TRIBES India products on the Government e-Marketplace and TRIFED’s new website (https://trifed.tribal.gov.in) by Munda.

Ramesh Chand Meena, Chairman, TRIFED, Pratibha Brahma, Board Member, TRIFED, Rajeev Kandpal, JS& CFO, GeM and Nanu Bhasin, ADG, PIB also attended the launch.

In his address, Munda spoke about the unprecedented situation and how the migrant labour have suffered a lot. He expressed his pleasure at the efforts being put by “the TRIFED Warriors” and the Ministry officials to revive the flagging economic condition of the tribal artisans and tribal gatherers. He emphasised that empowering the tribal communities and utilising their skills, which has so far been disconnected from the mainstream, should be of prime focus and we should capitalise on opportunities that have been thrown open during the unprecedented situation. Munda opined that TRIFED plays a major role in connecting the tribals to the mainstream and congratulated the team for their two major initiatives being launched.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED thanked the Minister  for his presence at the formal launch of the two digital initiatives. He spoke about TRIFED’s ambitious digitisation drive and how this is aimed at creating a level playing field for more than 50 lakh tribals (artisans, gatherers, dwellers) who will be connected with the mainstream using state-of-the art technology.

Rajeev Kandpal, JS& CFO, GeM addressed the webinar next. In his address, he spoke about how the TRIFED and GeM teams have worked hard under the overall guidance and leadership. He pointed out that social inclusion was a major focus in GeM and that niche supplier segments such as start-ups, rural entrepreneurs, tribal entrepreneurs, women, tribals have been encouraged.

Post this speech, a presentation was made about the all-encompassing digital transformation strategy embarked upon by TRIFED and the various measures put forth to help ease the situation of the tribal community.

Keeping every aspect of tribal lives and commerce in mind, TRIFED has also commenced the digitisation of the procurement of MFPs through government and private trade and the related payments to tribals. Leveraging the e-commerce boom, TRIBES India products are available at www.tribesindia.com with all regions working together to ensure that varieties and offerings of all kinds are readily accessible at other platforms too.

In addition, the Tribes India eMarketplace, coming on the heels of the Retail Inventory Management System which has automated the sourcing and sale of stocks, is an initiative to on-board almost five lakh Tribal Artisans on the e-market platform to provide them access to national and international markets. This is likely to be commissioned by end of July.

 TRIFED’s VanDhan Integrated Information Network facilitates the pooling of all information pertaining to forest dwellers engaged in Minimum Support Price Operations and its VanDhan Yojana linking them up to Village haats and warehouses. This scheme has been implemented in 22 states touching the lives of almost 3,61,500 Tribals. The tribal clusters identified and mapped across the country are eligible beneficiaries under Atmanirbhar Abhiyan. The aim is to work in convergence with various ministries and agencies and help bring the benefits to these vulnerable and distressed communities.

Post the presentation on TRIFED’s activities, Meena, congratulated the TRIFED team for its sustained efforts and was positive that the Rs  2 lakh crore tribal economy will definitely get doubled or trebled. Also, he was certain that these efforts would result in the products and produces of tribal gatherers and artisans would get maximum coverage — both in the country and abroad.

Anil Ramteke, ED, TRIFED concluded this inspiring and informative session with his Vote of Thanks.