MPPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 66 of 100

Correct — B, 1987. TRIFED, the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited, was set up in August 1987 as a national-level apex cooperative body registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act. Its purpose is the socio-economic development of tribal people by taking over the marketing of the minor forest produce and handicrafts they gather and make, so that tribal collectors are not squeezed by middlemen. It began under the erstwhile Ministry of Welfare and moved to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs when that ministry was created in 1999; its retail arm is the 'Tribes India' chain of outlets.

• (a)1986 — One year too early — TRIFED's registration as a multi-state cooperative dates to 1987, not 1986.
• (c)1988 — A year after the actual date. Nothing in TRIFED's founding record corresponds to 1988.
• (d)1989 — Two years late. By 1989 TRIFED was already functioning as the apex tribal marketing federation.

TRIFED is the Union government's marketing institution for tribal producers. Tribal households across central India earn a large share of their cash income from minor forest produce (MFP) — tendu leaves, mahua flower, sal seed, honey, lac, gum, tamarind — and from handicrafts, but they historically sold to local traders at throwaway rates. TRIFED intervenes on the demand side: it procures, adds value, brands and retails tribal produce, and it implements the Ministry of Tribal Affairs' scheme that fixes a Minimum Support Price for listed minor forest produce.

'In which year was X established' is pure recall, so the safe method is to carry a dated ladder of tribal-affairs institutions rather than a single isolated date: NAFED 1958 (agricultural marketing), NABARD 1982 (rural credit), TRIFED 1987 (tribal marketing), Ministry of Tribal Affairs 1999 (the nodal ministry), Van Dhan Yojana 2018 (value-addition to MFP). Once the ladder is in place the four close-together options stop looking interchangeable.

• TRIFED = Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited, established 1987, headquartered in New Delhi
• It is a national apex cooperative registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, working under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
• Mandate: marketing development of tribal products — minor forest produce and tribal handicrafts — to raise tribal incomes
• Retail brand: 'Tribes India'; it also implements the Van Dhan Vikas Kendra programme and the MSP-for-MFP scheme
• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, TRIFED's present parent ministry, was itself created only in 1999

• Mixing TRIFED (1987, tribal produce) with NAFED (1958, agricultural produce) — similar acronyms, different mandates
• Assuming TRIFED sits under the Ministry of Rural Development or MoEFCC; it is under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
• Dating TRIFED to 1999 because that is when the Ministry of Tribal Affairs was created — the federation is older than its parent ministry

MPPSC asks the establishment year or the parent ministry of tribal institutions as a one-liner; UPSC prefers the functional angle — which ministry is nodal, or who owns minor forest produce under the Forest Rights Act.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  TRIFED functions under which Union Ministry?

  • (a)Ministry of Rural Development
  • (b)Ministry of Tribal Affairs
  • (c)Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
  • (d)Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare

  Answer(b) Ministry of Tribal Affairs — TRIFED is the marketing arm of the tribal-affairs ministry.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The 'Van Dhan Vikas Kendra' initiative, which promotes value addition to minor forest produce by tribal collectors, is implemented by:

  • (a)NABARD
  • (b)TRIFED
  • (c)Food Corporation of India
  • (d)NAFED

  Answer(b) TRIFED — it runs the Van Dhan programme under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.