The Chief Minister's Office of Chhattisgarh announced on Monday, 1 June 2026 that Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai visited village Badekanera, district Kondagaon, under the ongoing Sushasan Tihar 2026 programme, meeting tendu leaf collector families and distributing scholarships and financial assistance to beneficiaries.

Context

The Chief Minister's Office post, in Hindi, stated: 'Tendupatta se badhi aay, chhattrvrutti se sanwar rahe sapne' — 'Income has grown from tendu leaves, dreams are being shaped by scholarships.' CM Sai listened to the welfare stories of tendu leaf collecting households and, during the same event, handed over scholarship cheques to students and economic assistance to scheme beneficiaries. The gathering took place in Badekanera village in the tribal-majority Kondagaon district of northern Chhattisgarh.

Policy Backdrop

Tendu leaves — used to wrap bidi cigarettes — are a critical minor forest produce and a primary seasonal income source for hundreds of thousands of tribal households across Chhattisgarh's forested belts. The state government has periodically revised the support price paid to collectors, with upward revisions recorded in 2023–24, aimed at improving earnings for Scheduled Tribe families. Parallel scholarship programmes under pre-matric and post-matric schemes have supported tribal students in the state for several years, providing an educational safety net in districts like Kondagaon where school retention rates historically lag state averages. Sushasan Tihar — literally 'Festival of Good Governance' — is an annual outreach programme under which state officials and the Chief Minister hold direct interactions with scheme beneficiaries, deliver entitlements on the spot, and assess ground-level implementation. Similar formats have been used by the Chhattisgarh government since at least 2024.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of Monday's event were tendu leaf collector families and students from tribal households in Kondagaon. The district falls within Schedule V areas of the Constitution, where special protections and welfare mandates apply to tribal communities. Beyond financial transfers, CM Sai also participated in a tree-plantation drive under the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' ('One Tree in Mother's Name') campaign — a nationally promoted environmental initiative that links plantation activity to maternal symbolism — conveying what the CMO described as a message of environmental conservation. The CMO post summarised the government's stated approach as advancing 'aajivika, shiksha aur prakriti' — 'livelihood, education, and nature' — together.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the state's next announcement on tendu leaf procurement pricing for the upcoming collection season, which directly determines take-home income for collector families. Any expansion in scholarship coverage or enhancement in benefit amounts is likely to surface in forthcoming forest department notifications or the state budget. The Sushasan Tihar format, with its emphasis on on-the-spot delivery of entitlements, is expected to continue across other tribal districts as the programme progresses through 2026.