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 Prahlad Nayak, an experienced employee of OFDC who once worked for Titagarh Paper Mills, believes that the actual number of cutters in the state was within 25000 to 30000(per comm..), 10 to 15% of which would that of the casual cutters who do not regularly depend on bamboo cutting. Interestingly enough, the Empowered Committee on bamboo also said that revival of bamboo cutting operations would benefit around 20000 cutters in the state(vide proceedings of the meeting held on 11-10-04). To ignore 20 to 25% exaggerations in the estimated numbers, the above table suggests that the maximum concentration of the cutters lies in the southern districts. Next comes Kalahandi district of western Orissa followed by the coastal districts beyond Ganjam. In 2005, about 300 cutters were employed by BILT in the Dasapalla area for harvesting around 4000 tons of IB and 11000 pieces of long bamboo within a period of less than 6 months(source:Mr.S.D.Sinha). In 1978, cutters were paid Re.0.30 per bundles of salia(per comm., Dandapani Mohanty) which increased by more than 10 times by 2000. Minimum daily wage was a determining factor in the fixation of cutters' wage although in actual cases there was no guarantee that supervisors working for private lessees would stick to that. In 1989-90, the expenditure on cutting, bundling and stacking was Rs.105/SU of industrial bamboo. The production of IB that year being 231949.53 SU, the total expenditure on this head was Rs. 24354700.65. At that time, the average minimum daily wage being Rs.10.50, this much expenditure would mean 23.19 lakh mandays. Following chart indicates the trend of employment generated from bamboo cutting as against that of the change of minimum daily wages and production of IB over the years 30 : 30 Mandays calculation varies for the same year on the basis of the factors used. For instance, in 1989-90 total working cost was Rs.325, and accordingly mandays generated would be about 71 lakhs. Rs.105/SU implied mandays generated basically in the first stage of harvesting i.e., cutting, dragging and stacking by the cutters. Other cost of production involves rebundling at depots, loading in trucks, etc., which generate additional mandays. 53
All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.in Minimum daily wage, production of IB, and mandays generated from bamboo cutting Average MDW(in Rs.), production of IB(in lakh SU) and employment generated(in lakh mandays) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1988-89 Mandays in lakh Production of IB in lakh SU 1990-91 1992-93 1994-95 1996-97 1998-99 2000-01 Average MDW in rupees 2002-03 Year (vide annexure-2) The opertions in 2005 reportedly generated about 7.9 lakh mandays(vide annexure-7). Protected Areas Suspension of bamboo cutting operations in the Protected Areas like sanctuaries left the dependent cutters of the area in lurch. Exact number of such cutters is difficult to assess, but sources say that in Ushakothi area(Badarama sanctuary) their number was about 800- 1000(per comm.., Prahlad Nayak); in Satkoshia about 5000, in Barapahad(Hirakud) about 1200-1500, and so on. Considering the potentiality of Badarama- , Sunabeda- and Satkoshia sanctuaries at 14740 SUs(as per the estimation of Forest Department), mandays that could have been generated in these areas would be around 210571.4, calculated on the basis of working cost @Rs.750/ton and current minimum daily wage Rs.52.50, 1 SU being considered equivalent to 1 ton. Suspension of operations in sanctuaries could not have had its complete impact on the livelihood of the dependent cutters had the latter found scope for working(as cutters) in other areas. Unfortunately, the suspension in non-PAs owing to lack of Working Plans almost coincided with this; hence the scope was almost lost. And the repercussions were severe in many ways. While some of the cutters worked now as petty timber smugglers(http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.aspslug=SC+order+hits+ bamboo-cutters'+livelihood&id=38187, viewed on 14-9-04), many others migrated to 54
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Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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