Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.in Department has proposed them to hand over the operation to OFDC and to get 50% share in the royalty to be realised. The VSS committee is yet to take a decision on the same(as on 8-01-05). The Department is hesitant in recognising the claim of the Committee over more than 500 hectares of the protect patch since as per rules each VSS can exercise its power within maximum 200 hectares. Some forest officials have informally suggested that let the five villages do their protection work independent of each other so that there would be five VSSs instead of one, and @200 hectares per VSS, they would be able to assert their claim on the whole patch; but the villagers are not ready to sacrifice their unity. Post-suspension scenario Regular felling by OFDC had earlier affected the resource of bamboo in the state because mere OFDC's 'control' was not sufficient to ensure sustainable harvesting. After that, since bamboo has a shorter life span, suspension of cutting operations reportedly resulted in the natural destruction of many bushes since the mature ones were not felled in time. At the same time, regeneration was affected. Besides, unauthorised and unsustainable felling was continuing; and elephants were also a damaging factor for the resource in some places. As a result, when the operation was resumed in the Narsinghpur-Hindol area, the cutters found it difficult to work for OFDC because now they had to put much more labour in the forest than in 1990s whereas they were still being paid at the old rates. Ten years ago, what they could harvest (5 bundles of daba) in one hour, per cutter, has now been reduced by 80%(i.e., one bundle) in the same forest (per comm.., Sarat Rana). This means that in the area of their working their daily labour would not fetch them atleast what they earned in 1999 unless the wage rates are revised proportionately. Since OFDC is not ready to make a compensatory increase in the wages, working as cutters no more interests many unless they are left with no options. Years of uncertainty regarding the resumption of cutting operations had forced many cutters to migrate to other areas, either temporarily or permanently, in search of some alternative as a result of which their number has been reduced more or less by 50% in many areas. Some cutters are least interested in joining the operation because their earlier wages are pending with OFDC as we were told at Debhuin near Hindol. At Purunakot, the Kolhas told that only one of their colleagues had some money(which is quite significant, i.e. about Rs.1500/-) due to the employing authority 6 . Betrayal to the tenants Although the government tried to assert its commitment to not overlook the interest of the tenants for corporate interest, in practice things happened otherwise. The paper mills exercised maximum control over the best bamboo forests of the state and did not care to fulfill the needs of tenants. Moreover, the bamboo they exploited cost them significantly 6 They were not sure if OFDC was directly responsible for this, because misappropriations can occur at the supervisor level, etc.. 25
All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.in less than what the tenants were required to pay simply because the rate was subsidised for the former. 7 The Emp. Committee observed in their meeting on 6.10.1988 that out of the expected production of 3.5 lakh MT of forest bamboo in the state, 2.8 lakh MT would be kept for paper mills, 0.50 lakh MT for nistar-payers and artisans, and 0.20 lakh MT as commercial bamboo. In the subsequent period, no special quota was fixed for nistar-payers and artisans, and only two categories of production viz. IB and CB were recognised. Although the paper mills were usually required to harvest required quantities of commercial bamboo to meet the local needs, Saxena found in 1995 that they did not follow this instruction on the plea that the poor people did not turn up to purchase this bamboo from them(Saxena, op.cit., p.15). It is not surprising to find that those who tried to ensure maximum production for their own use, were not sincere in giving the tenants their share in the bamboo forests under their operation. Further, it has been learnt from a confidential source that there was a secret instruction from OFDC headquarter which discouraged the paper mills in harvesting long bamboo since from commercial point of view OFDC found it unprofitable. In fact, working cost for commercial bamboo was calculated to be significantly higher than that of industrial bamboo (like, Rs.420/MT for CB against Rs.310/MT of IB, for salia species, in 1988-89). The Emp. Committee had allowed the Corporation to include working cost in the price of CB, and hence OFDC was no more legally bound to follow the schedule of rates. On the other hand, people of forest-fringe villages, who had easy access to forest bamboo, found it more affordable to bring their requirement from the local forests(of course, without permission) than paying to OFDC. Still, the Corporation did supply some bamboo to the tenants at various places at subsidised rates, and even purchased bamboo from the neighbouring state and sent to the districts affected by super cyclone in 1999 against a transportation charge only. In 2002, the government allowed various relaxations so that the paper mills or other big customers/traders would be interested to purchase stocks available with OFDC, but did not make any consideration for the artisans. Those living near bamboo forests have some opportunity to somehow cope with the situation; but for those having no chance for an access to bamboo forests, depots of OFDC or private traders are the only source of getting bamboo; and in the latter case non-availability of and/or higher price of bamboo at the Corporation depot is natural to lead to resentment particularly because OFDC is a govt concern. Contradictory decisions While the state was taking steps to tackle with the situation of non-disposal of bamboo, the government decided in 2003 to impose 1% Forest Development Tax on the bamboo 7 For instance, for cutting one SU(approx. 50 bundles) of IB the labour charges would be Rs.250 @Rs.5/bundle. With the same money, cutting of 250 pieces of long bamboo would be possible if the cutting +charge is kept at the lowest possible rate, i.e., Re.1/piece. 250 pieces of CB is equivalent to 0.71 SU; hence the production would be almost 30% less in this case despite the same investment. 26
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Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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