Loading…
A PIB Backgrounder issued on 20 August 2026 sets out how the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM) is restructuring the minor forest produce trade, on which India's 10.4 crore Scheduled Tribes depend for 20-40% of their annual income.
Under PMJVM, 4,172 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras have been sanctioned and 2,911 are functional, reporting sales of about Rs 168 crore as on 31 July 2026; 12.48 lakh tribal members are linked to them.
Minimum Support Price has been notified for 87 minor forest produce items; since 2013-14 State agencies have procured 2,67,954 metric tonnes of MFP worth Rs 693.98 crore.
The legal backbone is the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which defines minor forest produce and grants collection and disposal rights, and the PESA Act, 1996, which vests ownership of minor forest produce in tribal Gram Panchayats in Scheduled Areas.
TRIFED, the apex tribal marketing cooperative under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, procures at the notified MSP through State implementing agencies irrespective of the prevailing market price.
Move forest-dwelling tribal households from selling raw minor forest produce to owning value-adding community enterprises, and guarantee them a floor price through MSP procurement
Key: Launched in 2021-22 by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and implemented through TRIFED for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26; it merged earlier tribal marketing and livelihood schemes into one framework covering MSP procurement, skilling, primary processing equipment, working capital, storage, branding, geo-tagging and e-commerce linkage
Organise MFP gatherers into Self Help Groups and cluster them into community-owned processing and marketing units
Key: Launched on 14 April 2018 and now a component of PMJVM. Fifteen SHGs (about 300 members) form one VDVK, at least 60% of whose members must be Scheduled Tribes. Each Kendra receives primary processing equipment such as cutting and sieving tools, decorticators, dryers and packaging tools, plus training for 30 members in sustainable harvesting and value addition
Give MFP gatherers a guaranteed floor price so that distress sale to intermediaries stops setting the price
Key: Introduced by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs by an order of 6 August 2013 and operational from 2013-14, initially with 10 MFP items in 9 States; it now covers 87 items across 22 States. TRIFED buys at the notified MSP through State implementing agencies including tribal development cooperatives and forest development corporations
Saturate Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group habitations with 11 critical interventions such as housing, road connectivity, piped water, electricity and mobile connectivity
Key: Launched on 15 November 2023 (Janjatiya Gaurav Divas) with an outlay of Rs 24,104 crore (Central share Rs 15,336 crore, State share Rs 8,768 crore), covering 75 PVTG communities in 18 States and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Saturate tribal-majority villages and aspirational blocks with existing Central and State schemes through convergence
Key: Launched from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand on 2 October 2024 with an outlay of Rs 79,156 crore (Central share Rs 56,333 crore, State share Rs 22,823 crore), covering about 63,843 villages in 549 districts and 2,911 blocks across 30 States and Union Territories; the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is nodal, working with nine line ministries
Provide free residential schooling of a quality comparable to the best available, to Scheduled Tribe children in remote areas
Key: Begun in 1997-98 under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs; each school is designed for 480 students from Class VI to Class XII
National-level apex cooperative for the marketing and development of tribal products; it procures non-timber forest produce at the notified MSP regardless of market price, through State implementing agencies, and disseminates market intelligence such as daily rates and e-commerce avenues to VDVKs. It is the implementing agency for PMJVM.
Nodal ministry for the overall policy, planning and coordination of programmes for the development of Scheduled Tribes; it runs PMJVM, the MSP for MFP mechanism, PM-JANMAN, DAJGUA and the Eklavya Model Residential Schools
Provides concessional finance for income-generating activities to Scheduled Tribes; under PMJVM it is one of the channels through which VDVK Self Help Groups are tied up with working capital
Recognises that forest-dwelling communities have historically depended on forest produce for sustenance, and gives tribals the right to procure and sell non-timber minor forest produce. It supplies the statutory definition of MFP: all non-timber forest produce of plant origin including bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers and the like.
Separately from the Forest Rights Act, PESA grants tribal Gram Panchayats in Scheduled Areas ownership rights over minor forest produce. This distinction — FRA gives rights of access, use and disposal to forest dwellers, PESA vests ownership in the Panchayat in Scheduled Areas — is a standard examination trap.
The law under which TRIFED was registered in 1987 as a national-level cooperative society, which is why TRIFED is a cooperative federation and not a statutory authority or a public sector undertaking.
MFP is everything a forest yields other than timber — honey, tendu and kendu leaves, mahua flowers, tamarind, lac, bamboo, cane, wild herbs, roots and tubers. It is legally defined in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 as non-timber forest produce of plant origin. Because it regenerates seasonally and is gathered rather than felled, it can be harvested without depleting the forest, which is why the State permits tribal access to reserved areas for it. The economic problem is not supply but price: gatherers historically sold to intermediaries at rates below the value of their own labour. The Van Dhan chain attacks this at three points — a guaranteed MSP so the floor price is not set by the intermediary, a community-owned Kendra so the value addition happens locally, and market linkage through haats, exhibitions, geographical indication tagging and e-commerce so the final product reaches a national buyer.
Simple Analogy: Think of a milk cooperative. Individually a farmer sells milk to whoever turns up at the gate; pooled into a society that chills, processes and brands it, the same milk fetches several times the price and the farmer owns a share of the margin. A Van Dhan Vikas Kendra does for forest produce what a dairy cooperative does for milk.
| Aspect | Forest Rights Act, 2006 | PESA Act, 1996 |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act | Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act |
| Who benefits | Forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers | Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas |
| What it does for MFP | Recognises the right to access, collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce; supplies the legal definition of MFP | Vests ownership of minor forest produce in the tribal Gram Panchayat |
| Geographical reach | All forest areas where the claimants qualify | Areas notified as Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule |
| Nodal ministry | Ministry of Tribal Affairs | Ministry of Panchayati Raj (with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on Scheduled Area matters) |
PESA operates only in Scheduled Areas notified under the Fifth Schedule, so the ownership right over minor forest produce is geographically bounded in a way the Forest Rights Act's rights are not.
PMJVM supports securing geographical indication tags for tribal produce. A GI is a sign used on products with a specific geographical origin, whose qualities or reputation are due to that origin — for forest produce it converts a location advantage into a price premium.
The VDVK is built on the SHG, the same unit used by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission and by the Lakhpati Didi target; PMJVM is effectively the forest-economy application of the SHG model.
Most MFP collection and sale is done by women, so VDVK ownership transfers an income stream and an equity stake to tribal women rather than paying them a wage — the Arunachal Pradesh Kendra cited in the Backgrounder is entirely women-owned.
Training at VDVKs includes scientific harvesting practices, linking a livelihood scheme to forest regeneration — the same logic that lets the State allow tribal access to otherwise protected forests.
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections; GS Paper 3 > Inclusive Growth
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Static GK
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Financial Inclusion
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Schemes
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
Tribal welfare schemes and the Forest Rights Act appear almost every year in UPSC Prelims and recur in SSC and Railway general awareness.
All non-timber forest produce of plant origin — bamboo, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu leaves, medicinal plants, roots and tubers — as defined by the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
A community-owned MFP processing and marketing unit formed by clustering 15 Self Help Groups (about 300 members), of whom at least 60% must be Scheduled Tribes.
A pre-determined minimum support price notified for 87 minor forest produce items, at which State implementing agencies procure through TRIFED regardless of the prevailing market price.
The periodic village market that is the primary point at which tribal gatherers sell MFP; over 5,000 exist in tribal areas and VDVKs are sited around them.