Bamboo Sector To Gain Importance in India's Post-COVID Economy: Dr.Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that Bamboo sector will be one of the important components of India’s Post-COVID economy. Addressing a webinar with various clusters of Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) and persons associated with Bamboo Trade, he said that Bamboo will propel the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in the North Eastern Region and is going to be an important vehicle of trade for India and the sub-continent. The Minister said that Bamboo is not only vital to North East India's Post- COVID economy but it will also herald a new momentum for Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of “Vocal for Local”.

Dr.Jitendra Singh gave the mantra of “Create, Curate and Coordinate” for the Bamboo sector for its full exploitation, branding, packaging and marketing in India and abroad.

Underlining the unexpected potentials of this sector and being neglected for the last 70 years, he said that the Present Government has the capacity and the will to unlock its potential to the highest level as 40 percent of all Bamboo resources lie in North-Eastern Region in the country. He lamented that despite India being the 2^nd largest producer of Bamboo and Cane in the world, it’s share is only 5 percent in global trade.

The Minister said that the sensitivity with which the Modi government views the importance for the promotion of Bamboo is evident from the fact that it has amended the century-old Forest Act by taking homegrown bamboo out of the purview of the Forest Act, in order to enhance livelihood opportunities through bamboo.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has always accorded highest priority to Northeast. Soon after the Modi government took over in 2014, Prime Minister had stated that every effort would be made to bring the North Eastern region at par with the more developed regions of the country. In the last six years, not only developmental gaps were bridged successfully, but the North- Eastern Region was supported in all its endeavours.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri KirenRejiju, MoS, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Minority Affairs said that DoNER Ministry has done well to promote the Bamboo sector and now the onus lies on all the 8 North Eastern States to make it a vehicle of prosperity for the whole region. He also advocated that the Centre must do a hand-holding for the same as the sector has not realized its full potential.

In his address, Shri RameshwarTeli, MoS, Food Processing Industries said that apart from huge employment opportunities, the Bamboo sector can be the main pillar of ecological, medicinal, paper and building sectors in India. He said that through right policy interventions, India could capture a substantial chunk of Asian market in Bamboo trade.

Secretary, Ministry of DoNER, Dr.Inderjit Singh, Special Secretary Sh. Indevar Pandey, Secretary NEC, Sh. Moses K Chalai, MD, CBTC, Sh. ShailendraChaudhari and other senior officers of the Department attended the meet through Video Conference.