(a) the efforts made by the Government to improve the situation of Handicraft and cottage industries which have the potential to become a means of livelihood for the tribal community;
(b) whether there is any smooth process for involvement of the Union Government, the State Government and the district level administration for effective implementation of such schemes and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI JASWANTSINH BHABHOR)
(a) The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) which is a cooperative society registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has been implementing the scheme namely “Institutional Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products/Produce" of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for socio-economic development of tribal communities of the country. The details of the scheme being implemented by TRIFED for improvement of tribal handicraft industries in the country is annexed.
(b) TRIFED operates the scheme through the various State Tribal Development Cooperative Corporations (STDCCs) and State Forest Development Cooperative Corporations(SFDCCs) for smooth operation, thus involving the State Governments.
(c) National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC), under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, extends concessional financial assistance to individuals or group of STs for undertaking income generation/ business activities for their economic empowerment. The financial assistance is extended through State Channelizing Agencies and certain PSU Banks/ RRBs and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) having refinance agreements with NSTFDC for eligible STs up to Double the Poverty Line Income limit which is Rs.98,000/- p.a. for rural areas and Rs.1,20,000/- p.a. for urban areas.
Some of the prominent schemes of NSTFDC are:
• Term Loan scheme: NSTFDC provides Term Loan for any income generation scheme costing upto Rs.25.00 lakhs per unit. Financial assistance is extended upto 90% of the cost of the scheme and the balance is met by way of subsidy/ promoter’s contribution/ margin money. Interest rate chargeable is 6% p.a. for loan upto Rs. 5 lakhs, 8% p.a. for loans ranging between Rs. 5 lakhs to Rs. 10 lakhs and 10% p.a. for loan exceeding Rs.10 lakhs on the entire amount of loan.
• Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana (AMSY): Under the scheme, Scheduled Tribes women can undertake any income generation activity. Loans upto 90% for scheme costing upto Rs.1 lakh are provided at a concessional rate of interest of 4% p.a.
• Micro Credit Scheme for Self Help Groups: The Corporation provides loans uptoRs.50,000/- per member and Rs.5 Lakhs per Self Help Group (SHG). Interest rate chargeable is 6% p.a.
• Adivasi Shiksha Rrinn Yojana: Under this scheme, financial assistance upto Rs.5.00 lakh at concessional rate of interest of 6% per annum is provided to ST students for pursuing professional/ technical education including Ph.D. in India. Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India provides interest subsidy for this scheme, whereby, no interest is payable by a student during the course period and one year or six months after getting the job, as the case may be. There is also a provision for providing further concessional finance for undertaking any income generation activity after completion of studies.
• Tribal Forest Dwellers Empowerment Scheme: Under the scheme, NSTFDC provides financial assistance to Scheduled Tribes given land rights under Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Loan upto 90% of the scheme costing upto Rs.1 lakh can be provided at rate of interest of 6% p.a. This is a new scheme introduced and NSTFDC has requested the SCAs to implement the same.
• Scheme for NGOs/ EVAs: This is a newly launched scheme under which NSTFDC provides loans uptoRs.50,000/- per member and Rs. 5 Lakhs per Self Help Group (SHG) through NGOs/ EVAs. The interest rate chargeable is 12% p.a. from members of SHGs against which they will get an interest incentive of 4% on timely payment thus making the effective rate of interest to 8%.
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ANNEXURE
Statement in reply to part(a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred No.5918 for 10.04.2017 by Shrimati Rekha Verma and Shrimati Bhavana Pundalikrao Gawali Patil regarding ‘Tribals in Handicraft and Cottage Industries’.
The details of the activities under the scheme of “Institutional Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products/Produce” are as under:
1. Retail Marketing Development Activity:
TRIFED is the only body of the Government of India at the national level engaged in marketing development of tribal products including art & craft items. TRIFED has been marketing tribal products through its own shops called “TRIBES India” & through the outlets of the state emporia on consignment basis. Starting with a single shop in New Delhi in 1999, TRIFED now has 30 shops of its own and 13 outlets on consignment basis located all over India.
2. Sourcing of tribal products:
TRIFED has developed a system of sourcing products of art & craft made by empanelled tribal suppliers. The suppliers comprise of individual tribal artisans, tribal SHGs, Organisations/ Agencies/NGOs working with tribals, who are empanelled as suppliers of TRIFED as per the guidelines for empanelment of suppliers. The products procured by TRIFED are then sold through its marketing platform of ‘Tribes India’ showroom. Such tribal products are categorized under --
? Metal Craft
? Tribal Textiles
? Tribal Jewellery
? Tribal painting
? Cane & Bamboo
? Terracotta & Stone Pottery
? Gift and Novelties &
? Organic and Natural Food Products
3. Organizing Tribal artisan Mela (TAM)
In order to enhance the number of tribal suppliers so that they are associated with Retail Operation, TRIFED organises Tribal Artisan Mela (TAM) at District/tehsil level as an exercise to reach tribals located in the interior tribal areas and source tribal art and craft directly from the tribal from the tribal artisans/group of artisans.
4. Exhibitions:
TRIFED also organises and participates in exhibitions for promotion and development of tribal product, the details of which are given below:
o “Aadishilp” – TRIFED organises National Tribal Craft Expo by the name of ‘Aadishilp’, in which individual tribal artisans, tribal SHGs, Agencies/Organizations working with tribals are invited to participate and showcase their rich tribal heritage. The main objective in holding these events is to provide an opportunity to tribal artisans to interact directly with art lovers for getting their feedback about their taste and preferences, which helps them in modifying their product designs and creations accordingly..
o “Aadichitra” – TRIFED has started an exhibition by the name of ‘Aadichitra’ since 2010, in which tribal paintings like Gond from Madhya Pradesh, Saora from Orissa, Warli from Maharashtra and Pithora paintings from Gujarat, are exclusively displayed and sold for promotion of tribal painting. The tribal artists are also invited to demonstrate their skills during such exhibitions.
o Octave– is a dance festival of North Eastern Region, organized by Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. TRIFED has collaborated with Ministry of Culture to organize participation of tribal artisans from North Eastern States in such events for promotion of tribal art and craft which are organized at various places across country.
o Besides, TRIFED also participates in a number of exhibitions across the country for promotion and sale of tribal products.
5. Handicraft Skill Development Activity:
TRIFED had/has been undertaking handicraft development trainings for tribal artisans in 5 modules which are as under:
• Primary Level Training (PLT) - Aimed for fresh batch of 20 tribal artisans in which training on basic techniques of craft imparted to equip them for producing the craft. The duration of the program is 3 months.
• Advance Level Training (ALT) - This training was meant for those tribal artisans who perform well in the PLT and show potential of becoming craftsperson of a better quality, whose craftsmanship was honed by design and technology inputs through a Reinforcement Training for 15 artisans for a period of 45 days. This training program has been discontinued since 2014-15 after introduction of Comprehensive Training Program (CTP) in 2013-14.
• Comprehensive Training Program in Handicraft (CTP) - Revision of the Training programs was undertaken during the year 2013-14 and a new module of training program was inducted by merging the above two training programs, which aimed at honing the skill of the semi-skilled tribal artisans to capacitate them for manufacturing quality craft items to be competitive in the market. This training program is for a Batch of 20 trainees with duration of 90 days with a view to upgrade their skill through design and technical inputs to enhance the marketability of their handicraft products and empower them for entrepreneurship development.
• Design Workshop Training (DWT) for a Batch of 20 Artisans, who are already supplier to TRIFED, in 21 days with a view to hone their skill through design input on the basis of the Market feedback to enhance the quality and marketability of their products.
• Training of Trainers (TOT) which aims at creating a pool of Master Craftsperson out of those expert artisans, who will carry the craft and technology to those artisans whose skill need upgradation. The duration and the batch size vary as per the nature of the craft and availability of training resource.
• Besides above, TRIFED has initiated a new concept of Product development programmes (PDPs) during the financial year 2016-17 for development of new products from the empanelled tribal artisans and artisans trained by TRIFED.
From the year 2015-16 TRIFED is only conducting 2 types of training i.e., Comprehensive Training Program in Handicraft (CTP) and Design Workshop Training (DWT).
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