Bamboo Conclave held through video Conference

The Minister of State for North East Development held Bamboo Conclave through video conference to boost the economy of the country with the help of Bamboo resources.

Highlights

The Ministers of Agriculture and minister of development of North East participated in the conference. The making of Agarbatti and increasing its production was one of the key discussions of the conclave. The total requirement of Agarbatti in India is 2,30,000 per year. The market value of total consumption is Rs 5,000 crore. However, still India is importing Agarbatti from countries like Vietnam and China. The North Eastern Region can help India in becoming self sufficient in the area in the post-COVID era.

In order to boost bamboo production and help the tribal and farmers utilize bamboo to make a living, the Indian Forest Act was amended in 2017.

Significance

North East region of India consists of 60% of bamboo reserves of the country. In the past six years, the GoI has given equal importance to the bamboo sector as that of the north east development. Also, The National Bamboo Mission was launched.

National Bamboo Mission

The restructures Bamboo mission was approved in 2018 and implemented in 2019-20. The mission is being implemented in non-forest Government lands. It aims to provide supplement farm incomes to farmers. Apart from the North Eastern States, the mission was launched in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2020