A seminar on Bamboo Development for NE region was inaugurated today by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). The two-day seminar is being organized by Ministry of DoNER to discuss the gaps pertaining to development of bamboo in the North Eastern region.
There is approximately 8.96 million hectare of forest area of this country which is covered by bamboo and Northeast is the home for over 60% of India’s bamboo reserves. Bamboo finds its utility in diverse ways in the manufacture of furniture, paper and handicraft, besides its utility in building construction particularly in the earthquake seismic zones like Northeast.
Dr Jitendra Singh called for a “green gold” revolution through promotion and trade of bamboo which, he said, had a vast unexplored potential to bring about a quantum jump in the economic growth of Northeast in particular and whole of India in general. The expression “green gold” has been coined to refer to bamboo because it is a miracle plant which is often placed in the category of grass product rather than forest product and matures faster than its other peers, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, statistical projections indicate that by the year 2017, bamboo sector has the ability to create 8 million jobs and lift 5 million families above the poverty line. He offered Venture Fund for those of young entrepreneurs who would wish to try their fortune in bamboo industry in Northeast and this will be an additional incentive besides the other provisions available through the Government of India’s Startup initiative.
