Virtual Office Network to Spearhead Tribal Socio-Economic Development

Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) under Ministry of Tribal Affairs reiterated its commitment towards the transformation of tribal lives on the occasion of its 33^rd Foundation Day on August 6, 2020. Working steadfastly towards its mission of tribal empowerment through enterprise and commerce, more so, during these challenging times, TRIFED has doubled its efforts to aid the tribal people in employment and livelihood generation.

“A large number of people have adopted to online methods – for shopping, banking, work etc. in India during the recent lockdown and the ongoing pandemic; and the trend has been seen to have increased once the lockdown regulations are relaxed. On the supply side, the crisis due to Covid-19 has dealt a serious blow to the livelihoods of the poor and marginalized communities including the tribal artisans and forest dwelling minor forest produce gatherers. TRIFED has had to strategically respond to the emerging situation. It is in this context that our digitization strategy is of great value.” said Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director TRIFED.

With a pandemic raging across the country, when every aspect of life has gone online, TRIFED has launched its own Virtual office on its Foundation Day, August 6, 2020.  The TRIFED Virtual office network has 81 online workstations and 100 additional converging State and agency workstations that will help the team of TRIFED warriors work with their partners across the country – be they from the nodal agencies or implementation agencies –on Mission-mode towards bringing the tribal people closer to mainstream development.

To gauge the level of employee engagement and streamline their efforts, an Employee Engagement and Work Distribution Matrix with Dashboard Links has also been launched. Other digital software which will enable the States and regions to work seamlessly   have also been unveiled.

These organizational initiatives are a part of TRIFED’s ambitious all-encompassing digitization drive to promote tribal commerce and map and link its village-based tribal producers and artisans to national and international markets by setting up state of art e- platforms benchmarked to international standards.

Registered under the then Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 1984, TRIFED came into existence in 1987 as the national nodal agency under the aegis of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, working towards the socio-economic development of the tribal people from all states. TRIFED started its operations in 1988 with its head office in New Delhi and Shri SK Chauhan, IAS as the first Managing Director. ShriPravir Krishna, IAS is the current and the 36^th Managing Director and he assumed charge on July 25, 2017. As of date, the organization has more than 500 employees spread across the Head Office and 15 regional offices. In its mission to empower these downtrodden tribal people, by promoting the economic welfare of their communities across India (through development of marketing and the sustained upgradation of their skills), TRIFED started the procurement and marketing of tribal art and craft items through its first retail outlet called TRIBES INDIA in New Delhi in 1999.