A total of 266,000 standard bags of tendu leaf have been collected in Madhya Pradesh this year. A sum of Rs195 crore 45 lakh has been paid as wages by way of procurement of tendu leaf on support price to 31 lakh tendu leaf collectors in just two months. Giving this information, Forest Minister Sartaj Singh said besides timely payment of bonus for tendu leaf collection, attention is also being paid to its quality. Rates of wages for the collectors are also being increased constantly. The rate of tendu leaf collection for a standard bag was Rs550 in the year 2009 and Rs650 in 2010, which has now been increased to Rs750 per standard bag. Through tendu leaf collection, employment worth one crore 12 lakh 19 thousand 875 mandays has also been generated in the State. Madhya Pradesh is the first State in the country where entire net profit from minor forest produce’s sale is made available to primary cooperative forest produce societies. Sixty per cent of the net profit is provided to tendu leaf collectors as incentive bonus in ratio of leaves collected by them. Besides, the cooperative societies spend 20 per cent amount on re-growth of forests and remaining amount on development of basic amenities in their respective villages.