New Delhi: Leading e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart and BigBasket have joined a silent but resilient subaltern movement for economic self-reliance, courtesy Tribal Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED), which is working relentlessly to ensure a holistic development of Tribal community. “Tribal products are being made available on Amazon, BigBasket, GeM, and Flipkart. The response is very amazing. Tribal projects are reaching every nook and corner of the country,” said senior IAS officer Pravir Krishna, TRIFED MD, in an exclusive interview to www.bureaucratsindia.in Editor-in-Chief Dr Navneet Anand and Associate Editor Sweta Bharti on Wednesday.

Krishna said that the people are increasingly getting inclined towards aesthetically designed and crafted Tribal products. Even Tribal food products are very good. The response has been quite fabulous from across the globe. We have tied up with 100 Indian embassies to sell Tribal products in those countries, he said.

TRIFED is currently dealing with 3.21 lakh artisan families and their one lakh products, which are being sold through 137 retail outlets, informed Krishna, an IAS officer of 1987 batch, who has charted a stellar career course over the past 30 years, setting new paradigms of empathic service as DM, Secretary and Principal Secretary to the State Government and Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary and MD (in rank of Secretary to Government of India), TRIFED.

“TRIFED works to create a level playing field for the Tribal community and offers a market platform for their products. Tribal community is very skillful. They need marketing skills. We provide marketing support to them,” added Krishna, who earned the title ‘Imli Krishna’ when he conceptualized and spearheaded the ‘Imli Andolan’ of Bastar helping 2400 tribal Self-Help Groups (SHGs) become the masters of their trade in minor forest produces’ procurement, value addition and marketing.

“We have different schemes for them. We give them access to national and international markets. We have helped them add value to their products and enhance their income as well,” he said. It is worth noting that Krishna led a complete transformation of Bastar through various programmes of health, education, and infrastructure development and most importantly the procurement and marketing of non-timber forest produce in Bastar.

The present turnaround story of TRIFED is a labour of love and sweat, hard work and persistence, taking the ‘Imli Andolan’ mission to a nation-wide platform, thereby serving the tribal cause holistically and substantially. He has earned the image of a participative and transformational leader with strong team-building skills and the unique ability to stand with the team, shoulder all pressure, give due credit and judiciously deal with average performers to turn them  into high achievers.

Talking about Van Dhan Yojana, one of the flagship initiatives of TRIFED, Krishna said: “It aims at promoting Tribal enterprise, value addition, marketing and branding! 45,000 Van Dhan Centres are working across the country! These are primary and secondary centres of processing units for Tribal products. It has enhanced their income significantly. It has created a complete value chain. There has been a magical value addition thanks to Van Dhan Yojana.”

“TRIFED has joined hands with UNICEF to leverage 45,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras to promote Covid-19 vaccines among 50 lakh Tribal people,” said Krishna, who as MD, Civil Supplies Corporation, MP, transformed a loss-making public sector enterprise into a sustainable organization. He ideated and implemented the ‘Sampoorna Swasthya’ program that strengthened the public health delivery systems in Madhya Pradesh catering to 5 lakh people per day ever since.