Mohua seeds and tree (IE image)

With an aim to popularise and increase visibility of authentic tribal products, including, mahua, tribal drinks and staples such as tamarind and amla, the Centre is mulling to brought those products and sell it in the open market across the country. Tribal Affairs Ministry has planned to bottle he traditional tribal drink mahua and sell it, according to Indian Express report. In a first, the ministry will be involved into bottling and sale of alcoholic beverages “Presently, we are in the process of getting clearances and licences for the same, and the product should be out within this year itself,” Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) Managing Director Pravir Krishna said.

Krishna said that mahua will be sold as a mildly-alcoholic drink. “We plan to add various flavours to mahua such as ginger, pomegranate and ajwain (carom seeds), and sell it in the market like a mildly-alcoholic beverage, on the lines of the (Bacardi) Breezer.” Krishna said that “sourced mostly from Bastar, and will be sold all over the country under the brand name Mahua”. TRIFED has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT-Delhi in this regard.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched Tribal Affairs Ministry’s value-addition scheme Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur. Rs 500-600 crore has been enmarked for nation-wide programme and the entire marketing plan will be carried out under this scheme. “The first model Van Dhan Vikas Kendra under the project has been set up in Bijapur, at a cost of Rs 43 lakh, with a capacity to train 300 people, and provide equipment for primary-level processing. It will focus on tamarind brick making, mahua flower storage facility and chironjee cleaning and packaging,” a ministry official was quoted as saying by IE.

According to the report, products will include handicrafts, textiles, food items, jams and pulps, and jewellery. “What Amul did for milk, we want to do for non-timber forest produce through this scheme. Milk sold as milk wouldn’t have got the people of Anand anything. But if you turn it into yoghurt, ice-cream, desserts, the income increases manifold. That’s the model we will replicate,” he said.