Govt announces six forest-based projects in Naxal affected areas

Government has announced creation of six projects in Non-Timber Forest Produce, NTFP covering around 60 naxal-affected districts in the country. The projects to be executed within six months will be in the Public Private Partnership mode and will cover the States like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Addressing a National Conference on the NTFP here, Union Rural Development Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh said, the projects in Lac, Gum, Medicinal Plants, Tasar, Bamboo and Non-edible oil seeds like Neem and Mahua will maximise the return for the tribal engaged in collection of these forest products. He said that expansion of market and regeneration of NTFP in a sustainable manner are the other two challenges facing this sector. He added that the projects will be part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission and will focus primarily on livelihood generation and value additional in the non-timber forest products in naxal affected areas and called for cooperative arrangement between forest departments and the local self help groups and other such organizations. He underlined the need for involvement of Panchayats in the execution of projects and stressed for large scale intervention to improve the livelihood security of the people depending on the collection of NTFP. Shri Ramesh informed that his Ministry will also explore whether MGNREGA can be used as a convergence in the implementation of the projects. The National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Ministry of Rural Development is planning a special intervention to promote NTFP collectives to increase the income of tribal NTFP collectors through sustainable harvest and scientific post-harvest practices for higher returns, negotiate better with market forces while also take up various value addition activities at appropriate levels. The intervention envisages strengthening the NTFP value chain on end-to-end basis and creating strategic public-private partnerships for the benefit of all stakeholders.