Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (Van Dhan Vikas Kendras)

What is Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana?

Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY) is a livelihood programme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, launched on 14 April 2018, with TRIFED as the national nodal agency. Van Dhan Yojana takes the traditional knowledge of tribal forest produce gatherers and adds the missing commercial layer; processing, packaging, branding and market access, so that the collector captures more of the final price.

The delivery unit is the Van Dhan Vikas Kendra (VDVK). Each Kendra brings together around 300 tribal gatherers, organised into self-help groups, and is equipped and funded to convert raw forest produce into a saleable product. Instead of selling raw honey at the forest edge, a Kendra filters, bottles, labels and sells it, and the difference in price stays with the community.

Van Dhan Yojana is a component of the larger Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce through MSP and Development of Value Chain for MFP scheme. MSP sets the floor price for raw produce; Van Dhan builds the value-addition layer above it. Since 2021-22 both components have been administered under the umbrella Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM), so state proposals and funding for new Kendras now flow through PMJVM with TRIFED as the nodal agency.

According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, more than 4,400 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras have been sanctioned across 29 states and union territories since the scheme began, organising several lakh tribal gatherers into self-help groups.

Key objectives

• Generate livelihoods for tribal gatherers in forested districts by turning collection into enterprise.
• Improve tribal incomes through value addition rather than raw sale.
• Convert scattered individual gatherers into organised, community-owned enterprises with bargaining power.
• Provide training, tools, working capital and market linkage that no individual gatherer could arrange alone.

Main features

• Each Van Dhan Vikas Kendra covers about 300 tribal gatherers, organised into self-help groups.
• 15 Kendras form a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Cluster (VDVKC) of roughly 4,500 members, allowing bigger equipment and shared marketing.
• Around Rs 15 lakh of central support per Kendra for training, equipment, working capital and infrastructure.
• Kendras are community-owned; the produce and the profit belong to the members.
• Implemented by state implementing agencies with TRIFED coordinating nationally, in tribal states and union territories.

Who is eligible for Van Dhan Yojana?

You can join if:

• You are a tribal forest produce gatherer or forest dweller who collects minor forest produce.
• You live in a district where a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra has been sanctioned by the state implementing agency.
• You are willing to enrol in one of the Kendra's self-help groups and take part in its collection, processing and sale activity.
• You can attend the training on collection, primary processing, grading, hygiene and packaging run under the scheme.
• Tribal artisans working with forest-based raw material can also be enrolled in Kendra self-help groups where the state agency permits it.

You cannot apply if:

• You are looking for a direct cash grant, loan or subsidy to yourself. Van Dhan Yojana funds a collective enterprise, not an individual. There is no personal benefit transfer under this scheme.
• You are a trader or middleman dealing in forest produce rather than a primary gatherer.
• You live in a state or union territory with no notified Scheduled Tribes; states such as Haryana, Punjab and Delhi are outside the scheme because there are no ST gatherers there.
• You want to set up a private processing business and receive scheme funds for it. Kendras are community-owned, and grants are released to the Kendra through the state implementing agency.
• Your district has no sanctioned Kendra. In that case the route is to approach the district tribal welfare office or TRIFED regional office to propose one, not to apply individually.

What documents are required for Van Dhan Yojana?

There is no application fee and no registration charge for joining a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.

How to apply for Van Dhan Yojana

Van Dhan Yojana has no online application form. Enrolment happens on the ground, through the Kendra.

1. Check the Van Dhan Kendra list on trifed.tribal.gov.in or ask at the district tribal welfare office whether a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra has been sanctioned in your block or district.
2. Approach the state implementing agency; usually the state tribal development corporation or minor forest produce federation — or the nearest TRIFED regional office, and ask to be enrolled.
3. Join one of the self-help groups that make up the Kendra. Each Kendra is built around roughly 300 gatherers organised into SHGs, so enrolment happens at the SHG level.
4. Submit your ST certificate, Aadhaar card and bank passbook for the SHG membership record.
5. Attend the scheme training on collection practice, primary processing, grading, hygiene, packaging and simple book-keeping.
6. Start supplying your collected produce to the Kendra, which aggregates, processes and markets it, and receive your share of the proceeds through the SHG.

How to get a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra sanctioned for your area

1. Form or identify self-help groups of tribal gatherers in the area, enough to make up the roughly 300 members a Kendra needs.
2. Prepare a short note on the minor forest produce available locally. The items, the season, the approximate annual collection and the number of gathering families.
3. Submit the proposal through the district tribal welfare officer or the Integrated Tribal Development Agency to the state implementing agency.
4. The state agency forwards the proposal to TRIFED and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for sanction against the state's allocation.

How much support does a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra get?

Central support of around Rs 15 lakh per Van Dhan Vikas Kendra is provided, covering training, processing tools and equipment, working capital and basic infrastructure. The money goes to the Kendra as a collective, released through the state implementing agency, no part of it is paid into a member's personal account as a benefit.

What a member actually earns comes from two sources: the price paid for the produce they supply to the Kendra, and their share of the enterprise's surplus from selling the processed product. Because a Kendra sells a bottled, labelled product rather than raw produce, that realisation is higher than the forest-gate rate.

The Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Cluster model groups 15 Kendras together, covering about 4,500 members, so that larger machinery, common warehousing and a single marketing channel become viable.

What Van Dhan Kendras actually do

• Collection and primary processing: cleaning, drying, de-stoning, de-shelling and grading of minor forest produce.
• Value addition; filtering and bottling honey, making amla candy or pickles, roasting and packing seeds, powdering herbs.
• Packaging and labelling, often under the Tribes India brand for produce marketed through TRIFED channels.
• Marketing through Tribes India outlets, the TRIFED e-commerce channel, state emporia, local markets and institutional buyers.
• Training and capacity building on hygiene, food safety, grading standards, accounts and enterprise management.

Common problems and how to handle them

• No Kendra in the district. Take the proposal route above through the district tribal welfare officer; individual enrolment is not possible without a sanctioned Kendra.
• Kendra sanctioned but not functioning. Raise it with the state implementing agency and the TRIFED regional office; many sanctioned Kendras stall on equipment or working capital release.
• Produce not being lifted. Kendras buy seasonally and only for the items their processing line handles. Confirm which items your Kendra deals in before collecting in bulk.
• Payment delays. Keep the supply slip issued by the Kendra and take it to the SHG leader and the state agency's district manager.

Help and grievance redressal

• TRIFED head office, New Delhi: 011-20883014
• TRIFED regional offices, contact list published on trifed.tribal.gov.in
• State implementing agency / state tribal development corporation for Kendra-level issues
• District Tribal Welfare Officer or ITDA Project Officer
• CPGRAMS (pgportal.gov.in) for a written grievance with a tracking number

Joining a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra is free. No agent or official can charge a gatherer a fee for membership or for getting a Kendra sanctioned.