Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), “Tech for Tribals” Initiative will Bridge the Gap between Tribal Entrepreneurs and Urban Markets, India-Mexico Bilateral High Level Group Meeting on Trade, Investment and Cooperation
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)
- AIM is the flagship programme of the Government of India that promotes a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across country.
- Its ATLs are accessed by over 2.5 million school kids in India.
- ATL is a dedicated innovation workspace set-up at schools where students get access to do-it-yourself (DIY) kits and learn to tinker and create innovative solutions using the latest technologies.
- As part of the SOI, CGI has agreed to adopt 100 schools with ATLs across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai to promote and train students.
- CGI volunteers will coach and mentor students at the ATLs to enhance technical literacy and provide immersive learning experiences to the students through hands-on experience using STEM tools.
- CGI will also conduct training workshops for teachers at select schools on topics such as design thinking, computational thinking, robotics and coding.
- CGI has agreed to adopt and support 100 ATL across the country with their technical expertise and proficiency.
- This will enable the ATL students to be more connected to the 4th industrial revolution happening in India.
- Further CGI will also run capacity building Unbox tinkering Workshops for ATL teachers to build innovative mindset in teachers and I am sure it would be super exciting for all of us.
- As part of continuous support to AIM’s one of its kind Atal Tinkering Lab initiative, AIM and CGI India which is one among the largest IT and business consulting services firms has collaborated for creating a successful and innovative workforce from the ATL schools.
- Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, has signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) with CGI India in order to further rev up the innovation across the schools.
- In India, CGI employs more than 14,000 consultants across major cities who provide global delivery support to clients around the globe, ensuring close collaboration, accountability, flexibility, superior service and, most importantly, expected business results.
"Tech for Tribals" Initiative will Bridge the Gap between Tribal Entrepreneurs and Urban Markets
- “Tech For Tribals” initiative was e-launched by TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in association with Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT Kanpur on 13th October 2020.
- TRIFED, in collaboration with Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) under the ESDP programme commenced the “Tech for Tribals” programme that aims at the holistic development of tribals with a focus on entrepreneurship development, soft skills, IT, and business development through SHGs operating through Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs).
- The programme aims to tap the traditional knowledge and skills of tribals and add branding, packaging and marketing skills to optimize their income through a market led enterprise model by setting up of Van Dhan Kendras (VDVKs).
- TRIFED has so far sanctioned 1243 Van Dhan Kendras in 21 States and 1 UT involving 3.68 lakh tribal gatherers.
- Setting the rationale behind this unique initiative “Tech for Tribals initiative” is a unique program to make tribals of India “Aatmanirbhar”, focussing to bridge the gap between tribal entrepreneurs and urban markets.
- Under this initiative, TRIFED has tied up with reputed national institutions such as IIT, Kanpur; Art of Living, Bangalore; TISS, Mumbai; KISS, Bhubaneswar; Vivekananda Kendra, Tamil Nadu and SRIJAN, Rajasthan, for conducting Vandhan-ESDP Training Programs in the States of Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
- Further, the ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ has emerged as a beacon of change impacting the tribal ecosystem.
- The Van Dhan tribal start-ups, a component of the same scheme, has emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisans.
- These Van Dhan Kendras are micro tribal enterprises for processing and value addition of forest produces.
- The scheme is being further expanded to more locations under the ‘Vocal for Local Go Tribal’ initiative of TRIFED during the current financial year.
- TRIFED envisages the setting up of 3000 Van Dhan Kendras across 307 districts in 27 States
- The unprecedented success of the MFP programme in Chhattisgarh and how it has emerged as a Champion for its commendable efforts and how post this success, the “tech for tribals” initiative is the next logical step.
- Over the past few months, Chhattisgarh has procured 46,857 Metric tonnes of Minor forest produces worth a whopping Rs 106.53 crores.
- With the Chhattisgarh Government putting all its might behind the implementation of the MSP for MFP Scheme, the systems and processes for procurement are well in place across all districts.
- Chhattisgarh has 866 procurement centres and the State has leveraged its vast network of Van Dhan SHGs from the 139 Van Dhan Kendras effectively as well.
- Innovations adopted such as door-to-door collection of minor forest produces by mobile units comprising of forest, revenue and VDVK officials have contributed to these high procurement values.
- This programme will mainly entail three aspects of development for sustainable entrepreneurship which can be considered as the three pillars – Engagement, Capacity Building, and Market linkages.
- This will lead to the path of commercialization of the tribal entrepreneurs.
- The course content/ modules developed are specifically relevant to Entrepreneurship in Value Addition and Processing of Forest Produces.
- This capacity building program is expected to ensure higher success rate of the Tribal Entrepreneurs by enabling and empowering them to run their business with marketable products with quality certifications.
India-Mexico Bilateral High Level Group Meeting on Trade, Investment and Cooperation
- The fifth meeting of the India-Mexico Bilateral High Level Group on Trade, Investment and Cooperation (BHLG) has been held on 9 October 2020.
- The two sides appreciated the progress made in the bilateral trade and commercial relations between India and Mexico in the recent years.
- Both sides discussed a number of bilateral ongoing and outstanding issues, ranging from Audio-visual Co-production, Bilateral Investment Treaty, market access for agricultural products, a cooperation framework on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) & Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) measures between the two countries, co-operation in the Intellectual Property Rights, and exploring ways to promote tourism and people-to-people contact between India and Mexico.
- In the meeting, two business to business MoUs were signed, to foster the cooperation in the respective domains.
- A Memorandum of Understanding between the Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) of India and the Mexican Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technologies (CANIETI) was signed.
- A Memorandum of Understanding between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Mexican Business Council of Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (COMCE) for promoting the development of business relations between India and Mexico was also signed.
- They also agreed to expand and diversify the bilateral trade relationship to tap the potential of the complementarities between India and Mexico through enhanced cooperation in pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, healthcare, agro-products, fisheries, food processing and aerospace industry etc.
- A ‘Joint Statement’ after the successful conclusion of the meeting was issued.
