The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh chaired a high-level coordination meeting here today for the upcoming Global Bamboo Summit to be held in Indore next month. Dr. Jitendra Singh said that efforts must be made towards greater economic viability and social application/use of bamboo. Any project cannot succeed without these two elements, he added.Dr Jitendra Singh said that start-ups should be encouraged in this area and the economic stakes need to be generated for the success of the summit. He also suggested that such Bamboo summits should also be organized at the regional level e.g. in Mizoram. This will provide an identity to these states, he added. He also said that sustained efforts should be made for the long-term viability of these initiatives. He offered his full cooperation in the upcoming summit. He said that states from North East will participate in the summit by sending their delegates, artisans and setting up stalls in the summit.
The three-day Global Bamboo Summit will be held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh beginning April 8, 2016. It is being organized by Madhya Pradesh Government with National Bamboo Mission, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India and Indian Federation of Green Energy (IFGE). The summit aims at discussing and exchanging opinions about the challenges faced by different stakeholders, discussing policy framework and importance of Bamboo in economic and social development and to promote the enterprise development in this sector. Different sessions to be held in the summit will focus on Make in India with bamboo, mainstreaming bamboo in Government programmes, promoting of R&D for appropriate technology, streamlining policy and legal framework and bamboo as a change agent in poverty alleviation, employment generation and climate change.
Officials at the meeting discussed the statutory provisions regarding bamboo such as classifying Bamboo as a timber or a grass under the acts. This is proving to be major hurdles towards commercial exploitation of bamboo and as a result of ambiguity the inter-State transport and trade in bamboo is also hampered. They also emphasized that efforts need to be made in the direction of processing of bamboo for industrial use. They mentioned that North East has around 40% area under bamboo cultivation and Arunachal Pradesh is the leading state in it. They said that keeping in view the importance of bamboo for the north eastern economy, the summit should aim at discussing various issues pertaining to the commercial use of bamboo. Shri Naveen Verma, Secretary, Ministry of DoNER and Resident Commissioners of North-Eastern States attended the meeting. Officers of NITI Aayog, North Eastern Council, IFGE and Ministry of Agriculture were also present on the occasion.