UPA clearing decks to rollout new welfare scheme for tribals

NEW DELHI: At a time when Finance Ministry is planning substantial fund cuts for its flagship programmes, Congress-led UPA is clearing the decks to rollout a new welfare scheme for tribals, considered a core constituency of Congress, in January 2014, just four months ahead of parliamentary elections.

The Centre would unveil its ambitious scheme to provide minimum support price (MSP) for 12 minor forest produce (MFP) next month with a proposed budget of Rs 163.5 crore for just three months of the current fiscal.

The scheme, which was approved by the Cabinet on August 1, aims to benefit about 100 million forest dwellers and tribals, a core constituency of the ruling Congress which has been successfully wooed by the BJP over the last few years.

The scheme would be implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The Centre would declare MSP for 12 MFPs – tendu, bamboo, mahuwa seed, sal leaf, sal seed, lac, chironjee (seed), wild honey, myrobalan (harad), tamarind, gums and karanj.

Though the finance ministry has proposed massive cuts for high-spending ministries to keep the fiscal deficit within the target, the Centre is geared up to introduce the scheme with a promise of a whopping Rs 444.59 crore for 2014-15. The Tribal Affairs ministry has already put in place a pricing mechanism for the ambitious scheme.

The system would be coordinated by Tribal Cooperative Market ing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), the marketing arm of Tribal Affairs ministry. It has constituted a pricing cell. This would have representatives from all states. The pricing cell would work out MSP or what TRIFED calls the best remunerative price for the collected produce. Every state would identify a procurement agency which would acquire the produce from the forest dweller. It would ensure that the forest dweller is not at the mercy of middlemen.

The pricing cell would declare MSP on its website and give i n format ion about acquisition of MFPs, sale price and implementing agencies in different states on the website. Daily prices of MFP and quantity traded at major mandis or markets would also be displayed on the websites of TRIFED and state level agencies.

The first step would be acquisition of MFPs from tribals and the second would be sharing of profits after sale of the produce. In case, there is a loss in acquisition of MFPs, it would be shared between the state and Centre. Funds would be set aside for that. Three states – Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Maharashtra – have already sent their proposals.