TRIFED under Ministry of tribal Affairs is continuing to explore convergences with different Ministries and Departments to identify and jointly execute schemes and programmes that are being implemented so that a larger impact can be achieved in its mission of transforming tribal lives. In this context, it has formulated a proposal in which it will collaborate with Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and India Post to implement a successful marketing and logistic intervention for promoting the rich and traditional tribal products of the North Eastern states. The aim of this initiative is to create a brand for products from that region, increase awareness of the brand across the globe and provide national and international market access. With the focus on products of the North-Eastern region, and the facilitation and onboarding of more tribal suppliers will result in enhancing tribal entrepreneurship in the region, hence increasing incomes and also generate livelihood for the tribal communities.
The planned interventions include the identification of suppliers and weaving clusters; sourcing of products, training and development of tribal resources, procurement and aggregation of tribal products and transportation and distribution of the selected products to Tribes India outlets and end customers. DoNER will work on these activities through its agencies and TRIFED will use its extensive network of outlets and its e-commerce platforms for the marketing and branding in domestic and international markets.
The collaboration aligns with the ‘Act East’ policy of the government to promote economic, strategic, and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels. The objective is to increase the sale of the North-Eastern products to 4 fold. This will help in enhancing income generation of tribal suppliers and contribute effectively to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and the Vocal for Local, Buy Tribal initiative.
By GI tagging the products, the transparency regarding the origin of the product can be ensured. This will help North East in generating awareness about region, its rich traditions and quality across the globe. It has been decided to collaborate with India Post for all logistics requirements arising from this initiative.
Besides this, as a part of its promotion of GI Tagged products and tribal products, TRIFED will be collaborating with India Post on other initiatives as well. There is a philatelic exhibition being planned by Department of Post in January 2021 where 6 GI items will be exhibited and promoted widely. The same items will be promoted by TRIFED in its GI specific Aadi Mahotsav exhibition in February 2021. Other than that TRIFED and India Post will tie up to host a tribal exhibition at the GPO in Ahmedabad Gujarat. Also, it has been planned to supply lac and gum from Van Dhan Vikas Kendras to India Post. India Post will also purchase products and items made by tribal artisans for all its future gifting requirements.
With the successful implementation of this collaboration and many more upcoming convergences, TRIFED hopes to help in generating income and livelihoods for these people and ultimately help in a complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country.