You may be soon able to have a tribal drink, thanks to the Tribal Affairs Ministry. In a bid to let tribal products get their due credits, the government has planned to make one of their drinks popular. Mahua, a traditional tribal drink is soon going to be available in markets across the country. It will be sold as a mildly-alcoholic drink. It is made the Mahua tree which is mainly found in West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. It is known as Iluppai or vippa chettu in some states.

Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) told The Indian Express, "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." He also said that sourced from Bastar the drink will be branded as Mahua. TRIFED has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT-Delhi in this regard.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched value-addition scheme Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram in Tribal Affairs Ministry in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur. For the nation-wide programme, Rs 500-600 crore has been set assigned. Reportedly, the tribal products will also include handicrafts, jewellery, food items like jams and pulps.

The report quoted a ministry official was quoted as saying, "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."

He added saying, "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"

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2018 12:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).