Bhubaneswar : The Odisha cabinet under the chairmanship of chief minister Naveen Patnaik Monday decided to procure minor forest produce (MFP) at State government fixed Minimum Support Price (MSP ).

Briefing media persons the chief secretary PK Jena said LABHA – Laghu bana jatya drabya kraya is for development and empowerment of about one crore tribals of Odisha

A. State Government has announced a new scheme for the development of the tribals of Odisha,
What is labha:

  1. LABHA Yojana is a 100% state-funded MSP for MFP scheme .(minimum support price for minor forest produce )
  2. The Minimum support Price will be determined every year by the State Govt .
  3. Under the scheme a primary collector (tribal)will be able to sell the minor forest produce at Minimum Support Price collected at the procurement centres by TDCCOL
  4. Since 99% of primary collectors are tribals and majority of them are women, LABHA Yojana will integrate the efforts with the Mission Shakti’s Women SHGs .
  5. These procurement centres will be managed by SHGs /any other notified agencies assisted by TDCCOL.
  6. Upon collection the amount will be transferred as DBT to the beneficiary account and the SHG /any other agency will recieve Commission(2%) as well.
  7. The Procurement automation System will capture the total collection of MFP and the details of the primary collector and the procurement point. As per 5T principles Procurement Automation System which will using Technology to ensure Transparency will bring about greater benefits for the tribal people.
  8. For further sale TDCCOL will do e- tendering and explore value addition and processing units .
  9. The State Government to further benefit the tribals of is setting up a 25-crore Tamarind processing plant in Rayagada which will use the Minor Forest Produce of Tamarind procured through LABHA Yojana for value-addition .
  10. Due to LABHA Yojana, possibility of distress sale of the produce to any middlemen will also be eliminated.

B. The State Government has approved establishment of Commission for Preservation and Promotion of Tribal Languages of Scheduled Tribes of Odisha.

  1. There are 21 tribal languages in Odisha which the Nabin Sarkar wants to preserve, promote, develop, disseminate and safeguard of the Tribal languages in Odisha through this Commission. Therefore, this Commission which will encourage multilingual education, documenting and preserving tribal languages, promoting the use of those languages, protecting linguistic rights among several enriching activities for the development of the tribal languages.
  2. In the education system under the Multilingual Education (MLE) programme, all 21 recognized tribal languages by the State are included.
  3. The Commission will also work towards inclusion of tribal languages like Ho, Mundari, Kui and Saora in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution by pursuing with the Centre which has been not including these languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution despite several initiatives by the Nabin Sarkar.

C. Unanimous Cabinet resolution was passed by Nabin Sarkar today reiterating the demand for inclusion of 169 communities in the ST list of Odisha.
D. Unanimous resolution passed by Nabin Sarkar cabinet today reiterating the inclusion of Ho, Mundari, Kui and Saora languages in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Hon’ble CM Shri. Naveen Patnaik has repeatedly demanded and written letters for their inclusion.

E. The Cabinet took the decision today to rescind the proposal for amendment to Regulation 2/1956.