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Bharatiya Janata Party · 2019
Claim
Not supported by audit
Delivery
Not delivered
The target was 50,000 centres and the programme operates at a fraction of that, with expansion having stopped in the places it reached. The manifesto's tribal section promised 'to establish 50,000 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras in the tribal areas of the country'. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs' answer of 23 July 2026 reports 114 centres sanctioned in a single Lok Sabha constituency and records, for that area, that 'no new VDVKs were established in the region during 2025-26'. Nationally the programme has run in the low tens of thousands of self-help groups rather than 50,000 kendras, and the ministry publishes no national count in this answer.
“We will establish 50,000 'Van Dhan Vikas Kendras' in the tribal areas of the country.”No CAG performance audit published
No CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published. The absence of an audit is not evidence that the claim is either accurate or inaccurate.
No CAG audit of the Van Dhan programme has been tabled in a report we hold. The answer is constituency-specific and gives no national figures.
No audit period to plot — no CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published.
114 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras sanctioned in one Lok Sabha constituency; no new centres established there during 2025-26
The 110 centres under the tribal development mission in that constituency run through 120 self-help groups with about 3,600 members, predominantly women, and generated ₹508.80 lakh of sales income for tribal members across Andhra Pradesh.
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 842, Implementation of PM Van Dhan Yojana — answer by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
The 2019 manifesto's promise to tribal India is numerically specific: "We will establish 50,000 'Van Dhan Vikas Kendras' in the tribal areas of the country to ensure" value addition to minor forest produce.
Fifty thousand centres would be an extraordinary undertaking — roughly one for every two tribal-majority villages in the country.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs' answer of 23 July 2026 is constituency-specific and gives no national figure, which is itself informative for a target of this size. What it does report is the shape of the programme where it exists: "A total 114 VDVKs (110 under PMJVM and 4 under PM JANMAN) have been sanctioned in Rajahmundry Lok Sabha Constituency, covering parts of Eluru, East Godavari and Kakinada districts. The 110 PMJVM VDVKs are operated through 120 tribal Self-Help Groups (SHGs) comprising about 3,600 members, predominantly women."
And then a sentence that says more than its length suggests: "However, no new VDVKs were established in the region during 2025-26."
Expansion has stopped where the programme reached. That is not consistent with a run towards 50,000.
Where the kendras do operate, the ministry reports real if modest results: processing toolkits for honey, tamarind and turmeric, better shelf life and product quality, and "income of ₹508.80 lakh through sales for their tribal members in the State of Andhra Pradesh." Roughly five crore rupees of sales income across a whole state's kendras is a small number set against the promise, and a meaningful one for the households that earned it.
The programme has also been folded into other missions — the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission and PM-JANMAN — rather than run as the standalone 50,000-kendra push the manifesto described. That reorganisation is not itself a failure; the absence of any published national count against a published national target is what makes this promise unverifiable in the government's favour and, on the evidence available, unmet.
Our verdict is not supported.
BJP Sankalp Patra 2019 — Lok Sabha election manifesto
“Through this Sankalp Patra, you would get a glimpse of the challenges of the yesteryears, the indomitable efforts made by 130 crore Indians to overcome those challenges and our collective vision for the future… There are two commitments that I am extremely passionate about — doubling of farmer income and housing for all, by the year 2022.”
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 842, Implementation of PM Van Dhan Yojana — answer by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
“The Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides financial support for establishment of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) through Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) under the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM) and Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha AbhiyaN (PM-JANMAN). A total 114 VDVKs (110 under PMJVM and 4 under PM JANMAN) have been sanctioned in Rajahmundry Lok Sabha Constituency… The 110 PMJVM VDVKs are operated through 120 tribal Self-Help Groups (SHGs) comprising about 3,600 members, predominantly women. Further, 4 PM JANMAN VDVKs involve 20 SHGs with 200 PVTG members. However, no new VDVKs were established in the region during 2025-26… Under the Van Dhan initiative, eligible VDVKs have been provided with modern processing toolkits and basic infrastructure for value addition of MFPs such as honey, tamarind, turmeric… These VDVKs have generated income of ₹508.80 lakh through sales for their tribal members in the State of Andhra Pradesh.”