Malavika is an economics graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. Now a master’s student at Delhi School of Economics she has been researching on the uses of bamboo and related policy in India. She got involved with CCS through ISPP and then as a summer intern. She shares her insight and experiences with us.

Q) How did the Bamboo research project come around?

A) I started working on my paper on Bamboo in the summer of 2009. I was keen to work with CCS and when they suggested I look into the question of Bamboo policy I did not hesitate since I had already been introduced to the issue during the ISPP seminar by way of a documentary called Hollow cylinder.

Q) What are the interesting aspects of the issue that have kept you going for over a year now?

A) The deeper you go into the topic the more interesting it gets. What fascinated me about the Bamboo issue is the plethora of other larger issues it sheds light on. The Forest policy in India and its implications for the marginalized sections, the functioning of the government and its departments, policy towards the North east and questions of uneven development. Since CCS works on policy issues the Bamboo question was and continues to be a challenge from every angle right from the formulation of the policy to its implementation.

Q) What is the attitude of the cultivators of bamboo i.e., the people in the north- east towards these anomalies you found in your research?

A) We have been working on the “Bamboo is a grass” campaign and the people in the North East laugh when you ask them what they think Bamboo to be. They simply say Bamboo is Bamboo! They do not seem to view Bamboo as a commercial product but is mostly used for sustenance i.e. everyday use for which they collect Bamboo from the wild (this includes Bamboo on forest land and on village land). This however is what we saw in North East and we have to be careful in applying generalizations since the Bamboo policy in every state is very much dependent on its land ownership pattern. Mizoram where we did our fieldwork has a unique land ownership pattern since it has government land, community land as well as private land. Since my fieldwork was focused in this region the comments I make should be seen in that context.

Q) Can you please shed some light on the state of industrial development with regards the bamboo plantation…

A) In terms of the industry as one entrepreneur pointed out - "We don’t have any industries... resource wise it is not rich in minerals etc. Bamboo is all we have." Bamboo can become a very important resource for the north east in the coming years if and only if the government gets its act together. And by this I mean literally together. The lack of co-ordination between the departments is appalling. It’s based on some really ad hoc data sharing activities but there is no sustained and planned co-ordination.

Q) How deep is the problem and what are its implications?

A) The agriculture department claims that Bamboo is not its concern since it is not a cultivated crop, no matter if it’s scientifically recognized as a grass. The forest department on the other hand clearly perceives the importance of Bamboo and is eager to retain control of it. As a top ranking forest official pointed out to us - Bamboo has always been under the forest department and will always continue to be. When we pointed out that the National Bamboo Mission is under the Agriculture Ministry, he brushed it aside as a mistake on the part of the government. The more rational claim made on their part was that since Bamboo is mostly found in the wild and the forest department has been in charge of it, hence they have the know how to manage the resource. That this has hardly resulted in its proper management as we see in the case of the last Mautam in Mizoram. The dying Bamboo was not harvested. The Forest department reasoned that the costs of cultivating the Bamboo from the dense forests is too high, it would cost less to compensate the farmers affected by the increase in rodent population. While this might be true for the condition of Bamboo at present, it is also true that it has been 50 years since the last mautam and the knowledge of its consequences is well documented in government documents. However the measures to tackle the problem have been all at best short. We found little in fact no evidence of any long term measures to prevent the monumental loss of resource or to develop industries which would buy the bamboo.

Q) What is the demand side situation for the bamboo and its various products?

A) Lack of demand for Bamboo products has been cited as a major cause for not paying enough attention towards harnessing the resource. This is again a lack of vision. Given that China has developed its Bamboo Industry from scratch.  Though the area under Bamboo cultivation is 5 million hectares significantly lower than that in India, due to the higher productivity and government efforts China’s Bamboo economy is worth over US $ 6 billion with export value amounting to US $ 600 million. China has captured 50% of the trade share in Bamboo products by leveraging the first mover advantage. This of course is not an over night phenomena, on the contrary it is the result of 4 decades of planned development.

Q) What are the lessons we can learn from the Chinese success?

A) The success of China’s Bamboo sector is an outcome of liberalization as well as planning. Post 1985 the state system of procurement was abolished and the market for Bamboo was opened and prices completely determined by forces of supply and demand. Thus the planned efforts were geared towards facilitating the better functioning of the market than replacing it. Export and private enterprise culture was promoted; dragonhead enterprises which would spearhead this sector were selected and granted special concessions, Bamboo industry zones were also set up in Bamboo rich areas. Though an unexamined replication of this model is not advisable we must appreciate that the Chinese government not only realized the potential of this sector but also had a clear vision and strategy for achieving it, something that is sorely lacking in India’s approach to the development of its Bamboo sector which is extremely sad. I have not termed Bamboo as green gold in my paper for no reason.

Q) What is it that you feel is the genesis of the problem?

A) The point is we have leaders without vision and our governance takes the path of least resistance rather than optimal utilization. Which really leads us back to the original problem of Bamboo being classified as a tree, which as suggested was done for the sake of convenience and no one bothered to make the change. It will be sad if the change still does not come about. There are ample problems to people utilizing this resource to its potential not to forget the natural obstacles to its cultivation in addition to the man made ones.

Q) What is the plausible solution to the problems?

A) We need people with vision, if not at the executive level then at least at the legislative level who will recognize the potential of Bamboo and its benefits in the long term not only in terms of the commercial gains for the country but the stability it can provide in terms of industrial development in the North East. But at the same time we need to ensure that it does not become a centre-periphery like situations where the resources are mindlessly exploited and exported to other parts of the country once the potential is recognized. Industrial units must be placed in the North east itself so as to ensure that the people of the region get maximum benefit out of the resource from their land.

Q) How does the bamboo issue relate to larger developmental and political issues?

A) While doing research the potential of Bamboo in the north east became apparent but not only because of it’s valuable but also destructive potential. As you might be aware the Mizo National Movement which ultimately led to the formation of the Mizo state was started because of the Famine that occurred during the last Mautam caused by the Bamboo flowering in this region. It is claimed that the then Assam government ignored the warnings of the local people who through their traditional knowledge were apprehensive about the impending difficulties. Since the government did not take effective measures the Bamboo flowering resulted in situation the people had warned against leading to popular mass resentment. Here as we see is an interesting facet of the North East story that is rarely brought to light in the many discussions about insurgency and related problems. The Bamboo issue is our chance to gain greater insight into the real issues of development.

Q) Are there any civil society organizations working in the north-east about this issue? How effective are they?

A) There are local NGOs working there, but these are few and far between. We visited one such well known one called Hanmchhantu which not only sells Bamboo based products but also trains artisans in workshops organized by it with the help of funding from a government agency. But according to the manager capital scarcity is a huge problem as well as inadequate demand. He wasn’t sure about the enterprise’s survival if the same conditions continued.

Another industrialist we visited was making what can be classified as value added products like Bamboo vinegar, charcoal, water purifiers etc. under his own small workshop however these products are not being adequately marketed. The innovation is a personal of the man, without any adequate help from the government. He was also the President of the Mizoram Bamboo Entrepreneurs' Federation and offered a very optimistic outlook about the role of the government.

Q) Tell us something about the fellowship that has been awarded to you and your team.

A) The KN Raj Fellowship is offered by the Centre for Development Economics at the Delhi School of Economics which is open to students of all departments of Delhi School of Economics. It allows students to send in research proposals which are short listed by a panel. Grants are given to teams to cover their expenses for the fieldwork from which we are expected to produce a research paper.

Q) Your team is an eclectic mix of economics and sociology students was there a conscious effort to diversify?

A) It was a very conscious decision to bring together a team with members from the different disciplines as the nature of the enquiry demanded knowledge from both fields. Since we are focusing both on livelihood and commercialization and evaluating the Bamboo Policy in the state of Mizoram we needed to look at both the socio-economic aspects of our case studies.  Equally important was the fact that two of our team members belonged to the region which proved to be decisive in our ability to conduct fieldwork in an area where language and cultural issues were bound to crop up. I sincerely hope that our fieldwork limited though it is in its scope encourages more work in this direction which would substantiate CCS's campaign for removing Bamboo from the list of Trees.