DoNER minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said that Bamboo is vital to India’s Post-COVID economy and country’s bamboo reserves would provide India with an opportunity to emerge as an economic power.
“Northeast consists 60 per cent of India’s bamboo reserve,” Singh said while addressing a bamboo conclave through video conferencing on Sunday.
“The Narendra Modi-led Union government, over the last six years, has accorded highest priority to the development of the northeast,” Singh added
“The Central government has also given the northeast’s bamboo sector the kind of boost which it had never received since independence,” Singh further added.
In this regard, he referred to the amendment in the 100-year-old Indian Forest Act brought about by the Modi government in 2017.
As a result of this Act, the homegrown bamboo has been exempted from it to enhance livelihood opportunities through bamboo.
“The Modi government understands the importance of the promotion of bamboo,” Singh added.
“This has been evident from the fact even during the lockdown period the union home ministry on April 16 allowed the functioning of bamboo-related activities while allowing limited activities in different sectors,” he said.
“The total requirement of Agarbatti in India is about 2,30,000 per annum and the market value of it is up to Rs 5000 crore,” Singh said.
“But we have been importing a large bulk of it from countries like China and Vietnam,” he further said.
“In the Post-COVID era, it is an opportunity for the northeast to help India become world competitive and self-sufficient in the changed scenario,” he added
Soon, Singh said, DoNER will try to work out a time-bound plan for promotion of bamboo manufacturing and trade, and also work out the feasibility of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in this sector.
He said, bamboo can be processed into multiple products, including bio-diesel and green fuel, wooden lumber and plywood, which can change the entire face of the economy and create employment opportunities in multiple sectors.