The Van Dhan Vikas Yojana is a programme for value addition, branding and marketing of Minor Forest Produces by establishing Van Dhan Kendras to facilitate creation of sustainable livelihoods for the forest-based tribes.
One major scheme that has contributed to increasing employment and income generation among the tribal population is the Van Dhan tribal start-ups programme.
Manipur, in particular, has emerged as the state where the Van Dhan programme has emerged as a major source of employment for the local tribals. Since the time that the programme was launched in the State in October 2019, 100 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras have been established.
More than 30,000 tribal entrepreneurs are involved in collection, processing, value adding, packaging and marketing of value added products from Minor Forest produce.
Van Dhan Products under the brand name Manipur Van Dhan Naturals and CCPur brand have been launched with its wide array of products.
The Van Dhan Kendras in the state of Manipur have turned out to be a model enterprise for the rest of the country.
