Bamboo art providing financial wings to tribals
| Date :29-May-2019 |
By Roshan Chachane:
RAIPUR
Giving wings of financial freedom to the tribal women and men by tapping into their innate flair conventional arts, Koriya Forest Division has established a Bamboo Art workshop, where the women from self-help group give an intricate, yet beautiful shape to the Bamboo. Furnishing details of the Department’s initiative, Koriya Forest Division Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Manish Kashyap told The Hitavada that there are presently 20 men and women engaged in bamboo artwork. Each one of them earns up to Rs 8000 monthly even when there is no exclusive showroom as of now. Once the showroom comes up in the Capital city, the income will grow substantially.
They make these creative and stunning artworks from bamboo. Forest Department’s initiative aims to hit two targets with one stone i.e. to create work opportunities for the locals and also to reduce the use of plastic or iron-made home decor and other utilitarian items. This is also a small contribution towards cutting down the effects of global warming and climate change. It also came as stimulation for others to plant bamboos.
They are just starting right now and all their focus is on developing wide varieties of products. Keeping pace with the modern trend, the Department will also sell the products on biggest online shopping website Amazon. Right now, there is one bamboo emporium for sale and display in Raipur, which is run by the Forest Department. But, it’s not exactly a showroom on a commercial scale, which they are planning on to open. They currently have 50 different types of products such as bamboo bouquets, table lamps, wall hangings, flower pots, dustbin, penholder, bottles, chair, and rakes etc for office, homes and functions. Prices of these products range from Rs 200 to Rs 2000.
The Department also arranged training for the artisans with the help of experts from places like Baande, Bhanupratappur and some from North Eastern states. The workers also get all the support like machines, tools and technical assistance from the Forest Department. The products are getting a very reassuring response as they have already booked orders for different products worth up to Rs 1.50 lakhs. These orders are mainly placed by people, small organisations and some forest divisions as well.