To give relief to tribal artisans, The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has tied up with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living, under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Under this agreement, monthly ration kits worth Rs 1,000 will be given to tribal families across India.

Each ration kit includes 5 kg of wheat flour, 2 kg of dal, 3 kg of rice, 500 ml of oil, 100 grams of turmeric powder, 100 grams of red chilli powder, 100 grams of cumin seeds, 100 grams of mustard seeds, 100 grams of curry masala, and two soaps.

Apart from this, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs informed that it is also going to provide of working capital to the artisans. For this, TRIFED is discussing with financial institutions to provide soft loans to the artisans. The ministry said that provision of working capital and liquidity for the artisans will make them easier to employ.

The ministry said that Covid-19 has had a tremendous impact on the livelihood of the vulnerable people, tribal artisans and collectors, poor and marginal communities in the country. This is the peak season for the cultivation and collection of forest products in the country, due to which the tribal artisans are motivated to do business, so their protection is very important now. Therefore, 10 lakh face masks, soaps, gloves and 20,000 PPE kits are being made available to tribal artisans and collectors.

The ministry is also promoting social distancing measures among tribes in collaboration with UNICEF. Apart from this, TRIFED has been repeatedly writing to all the agencies, nodal departments, implementing agencies, VDVK members of all the states to take precautions and security during the time of forest products' procurement.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)