Bamboo to revive North East Economy from Covid-19, Claims a State Minister in the Prime Minister Office

Will Green Gold from North East would revive North East Economy

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

The centre is eying on Bamboos to revive North Eastern Economy and seeing it as “an important vehicle of trade” in the post Covid-19 era.

The bamboo sector would propel the Atam Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan in North Eastern Region claimed the Union Minister of State for DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) Jitendra Singh here on Tuesday. He is also a Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office.

During a review meeting through video the conference, in which senior officers from the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) and North Eastern Council (NEC) Shillong participated, the Minister said Bamboo is not only vital to India's Post- COVID economy but it would also herald a new momentum for Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of “Vocal for Local”.

He said that the sensitivity with which the Centre views the importance of the promotion of Bamboo is evident from the fact that even during the lockdown period, the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed the functioning of bamboo related activities like planting, process.

Bamboo is also called Poor man’s timber and no doubt has great potential to the rural economy of India. It is one of the most abundant and environment-friendly resources available in rural India. In India, it accounts for 12.8 % of forest cover in about 14 million hectares of land. India is the second only to China in Bamboo production and it is immensely popular in the northeastern region. Because of its role in NE Economy, people in NE also call it ‘Green Gold’.  

Dense bamboos are found mostly in Arunachal Pradesh followed by Mizoram and Manipur. Mizoram occupies the largest forest area under different bamboo species, followed by Meghalaya. As this region is the largest reservoir of bamboo resource in India, screening is required to identify the most delicate bamboo species the development of the package of practices for their mass multiplication. Four States of Northeast i.e. Tripura, Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland have formulated their own policies for the development of Bamboo and conservation of Bamboo forests.

 

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