Observe World Bamboo Day
18092013
Observe World Bamboo Day
by giving Indian bamboo freedom from all unnecessary laws: CCS | |
Press Release – For Immediate Release - 17 September 2013, New Delhi
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These are the questions that we would like to highlight as we observe World Bamboo Day this year. Though India celebrated Independence 66 years ago and though most Indian industry got freedom in 1991 from the License-Permit-Quota-Raj, the small and marginalized individuals who rely on Bamboo for their livelihood, continue to bear the burden imposed on them by the Transit-Permit-Raj. We recommend that the government revisit and revise some of the laws and regulations currently restricting the Bamboo sector.
Bamboo—also known as Green Goldhas has 1,500 documented uses and occupies 12.8 percent of the total area under forests in India. It has enormous potential for employment generation, industrial use and environmental benefits as documented by the Planning Commission. For the 12th Plan, the sub-group working on NTFP (Non Timber Forest Produce, which includes Bamboo) and their sustainable management, estimated that 275 million poor rural people in India— about 23 percent of the total population—depend on NTFPs for at least part of their subsistence and cash livelihoods.
However, because it is governed by a complex web of forestry laws and policies, there are serious restrictions by most Indian states on the cultivation, harvesting and transportation of Bamboo in particular and NTFP in general. Consequently, the numerous industrial uses and environmental benefits of Bamboo lie unexplored apart from the huge employment potential that remains untapped.
A celebration of World Bamboo Day can be possible only when these laws are simplified, reformed significantly, and implemented fairly. CCS and the South Asia Bamboo Foundation ask that:
Only then can World Bamboo Day have any productive meaning for tens of millions of Indians.
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This release has been issued by the Centre for Civil Society (New Delhi), a public policy research and advocacy think tank working in the areas of livelihoods and education and the South Asia Bamboo Foundation, which works on Bamboo development.
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