In a bid to connect tribal artisans to a larger market, the government is all set to launch a specialised e-marketplace only for tribals artisans this Independence Day on August 15.
‘We will launch the website – Tribes India e-Mart – on Independence Day on August 15. It will be similar to selling your products on e-commerce giants Amazon or Flipkart. The difference is just that it will be only for tribals,’ Praveer Krishna, Managing Director of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India(TRIFED) said.
Ahead of the launch, a trial run of the e-marketplace will be carried out from July 30 to August 14. The tribal artisans will be trained and asked to register themselves as sellers on the website, Krishna said.
‘The staff at our 15 regional offices across the country and state government officials working with TRIFED will train these tribals and help them get registered,’ he said.
TRIFED, which functions under the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry, was set up by the government in 1987 to provide a fair price for products of tribals across the country.
The e-marketplace aims to bring around 5 lakh tribal artisans online, thus connecting them to a larger national and international market. The website will have around 5 lakh tribal items across 20,000 categories, including textiles, paintings, home decor items, jewellery, and metal crafts. The products will be subjected to a strict quality check and a committee will fix prices for each item.
The products will be supplied across the country from local collection centres. For every Rs 100, Rs 70 will go to the tribals sellers, Krishna said. He added that on July 30, they will start with around 5,000 tribal artisans.
‘This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) India. Our motto is ‘go vocal for local, go tribal’,’ he said.
Explaining the economics behind the idea, Krishna said that while the tribals sell a shirt in local markets for Rs 200, in Delhi, it is worth Rs 1,000.
While buyers will get the best quality organic products, they also have the option to return them within 15 days if they are not satisfied.
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