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4,712 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras covering 12.94 lakh beneficiaries have been sanctioned in 28 States and UTs with a total sanctioned amount of ₹642.19 crore, of which 3,406 are operational.
The split across schemes is 4,172 VDVKs and 12.48 lakh beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (₹619.17 crore) and 540 VDVKs with 0.46 lakh beneficiaries under PM-JANMAN (₹23.02 crore) in 18 states and UTs.
A maximum of ₹15 lakh is provided per Kendra for raw material, training, tool kits and machinery, mentoring, packaging, branding, transport and storage; no revolving working capital is given to VDVKs.
Under the Minimum Support Price component, a revolving fund goes to State Implementing Agencies to procure minor forest produce when market prices fall below MSP; ₹2.50 crore was released to Meghalaya's agency in 2025-26.
Chhattisgarh has 148 operational VDVKs and has received ₹153.66 crore in revolving funds since 2013-14, procuring MFP worth ₹467 crore up to 2025-26.
Give tribal gatherers of minor forest produce a local unit for value addition, processing, packaging and marketing rather than selling raw produce to traders
Key: The Van Dhan scheme was launched on 14 April 2018 at Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, on Ambedkar Jayanti, by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with TRIFED. Each Kendra receives a maximum of ₹15 lakh to the State Government covering raw material, training and capacity building, tool kits and machinery, mentoring charges, packaging and branding, transport and storage. Revolving working capital is not part of this support.
Promote tribal livelihoods and entrepreneurship, chiefly through VDVKs and MFP marketing
Key: The larger of the two funding routes for Van Dhan: 4,172 VDVKs covering 12.48 lakh beneficiaries in 28 States/UTs, with ₹619.17 crore sanctioned. Implemented through TRIFED.
Protect MFP gatherers from price crashes by guaranteeing a floor price
Key: Introduced in 2011 by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, it began with 12 minor forest produce items — tendu, bamboo, karanj, mahua seed, sal leaf, sal seed, lac, chironjee, wild honey, myrobalan, tamarind and gum karaya — and the list has been expanded since. A revolving fund is released to State Implementing Agencies to procure MFP at MSP when the market price falls below it.
Let well-performing Kendras graduate into larger enterprises for value addition, aggregation and market linkage
Key: The next tier above a VDVK, offered to operational Kendras on the basis of performance; one proposal from Madhya Pradesh has been approved in principle.
Provide concessional credit for income generation, self-employment and livelihood activities to Scheduled Tribe persons
Key: A Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs; over the last five years it disbursed ₹1,648.39 crore to 4,95,090 ST beneficiaries under its various schemes.
Minor forest produce is defined in Section 2(i) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, including bamboo, brushwood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots and tubers. The Act vests ownership of MFP in forest dwellers, which is what makes a price-support mechanism meaningful — the gatherer owns the produce and therefore bears the price risk. The MSP mechanism answers that risk with a revolving fund: money given to a State Implementing Agency to buy produce at the floor price when markets fall below it, which is then recovered when the produce is sold on, and lent out again. That is structurally different from the ₹15 lakh capital support for setting up a Kendra, which is spent once on machinery, training and branding and is not returned. The reply's repeated statement that 'revolving working capital is not provided to VDVKs' is the practical consequence: a Kendra gets the equipment but must fund its own purchases, which is why some states have been advised to transfer funds directly to VDVK bank accounts.
Simple Analogy: One payment builds the shop; the other is a float to stock the shelves when prices collapse. The scheme gives the first to every Kendra and the second only to state agencies.
Implements the Van Dhan programme and markets tribal produce; runs the Tribes India retail brand
Receive the revolving fund and undertake MFP procurement at MSP within the state; also receive VDVK funds through Treasury Single Account arrangements
Apex Central Public Sector Enterprise for the economic development of Scheduled Tribes, lending concessionally through implementing agencies
The Act's grant of ownership over minor forest produce to forest dwellers is the legal foundation on which the MSP mechanism and Van Dhan value addition both rest.
Fund release through the TSA system — giving the treasury and central bank oversight of liquidity, eliminating idle cash in commercial banks and enabling just-in-time release — is a public financial management reform that appears well beyond tribal schemes.
VDVKs graduating into Van Dhan Producer Enterprises mirrors the SHG-to-producer-company pathway under DAY-NRLM — aggregation is the common answer to smallholder market weakness.
MSP for minor forest produce is administered by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs rather than through the agricultural MSP machinery, a distinction frequently tested.
GS Paper 2 > Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections; GS Paper 3 > Inclusive Growth
General Awareness > Government Schemes
General Awareness > Rural Credit and Livelihood Finance
Consider the following statements: 1. Moringa (drumstick tree) is a leguminous evergreen tree. 2. Tamarind tree is endemic to South Asia. 3. In India, most of the tamarind is collected as minor forest produce. 4. India exports tamarind and seeds of moringa. 5. Seeds of moringa and tamarind can be used in the production of biofuels. Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer: 3, 4 and 5
Van Dhan, TRIFED and MFP-MSP recur in Prelims and in GS2 answers on tribal livelihoods
A tribal enterprise unit for value addition to minor forest produce; 4,712 sanctioned and 3,406 operational.
All non-timber forest produce of plant origin, defined in Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 — bamboo, cane, honey, wax, lac, tendu leaves, medicinal plants, roots and tubers among others.
The state body that receives the revolving fund and procures MFP at MSP when market prices fall below the floor.
The next tier above a VDVK, for value addition, aggregation and market linkage; one Madhya Pradesh proposal approved in principle.
A Ministry of Finance system giving the treasury and central bank oversight of liquidity and enabling just-in-time release of funds, used for VDVK fund transfers.
TRIFED's retail brand through which tribal produce and handicrafts are marketed.