Recently, Prime Minister, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee announced a scheme for augmentation of bamboo resources in the country and launched a thrust on the bamboo workers? employment and their grassroots growth. ?This scheme can generate up to 50 lakh man-days of rural employment. It will specially promote the interest of bamboo workers and boost the production of value-added goods for sale in the domestic market. Bamboo products also have a huge untapped potential for export,? he said, while appealing to the states to change some of their rules and regulations governing bamboo so as to make it more viable as a money-earner.
Making artifacts and other useful items from bamboo is quite an attractive proposition, especially when the world is trying hard to fight the monster of environmental pollution. Bamboo products are environment-friendly and can provide employment to thousands of women workers, the majority of whom lead a hand-to-mouth existence.
