Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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those areas. Bonai and Athmallik have been quite well known among the OFDC people
where these migrant cutters could be booked. Prahlad Nayak believes that about 2000
cutters used to migrate from the Bonai area.
A contradictory situation was observed in the Pokharigochha area(Nayagarh dist.) when
the operations were started in January 2005. The local people being very poor, it was to be
normally expected that most of them would be interested to join the cutting operations.
However, the concerned RMP had to invite about 70 cutters from the neighbouring state
when it found a shortage of local cutters. What actually happened was that some of the
villagers being still busy in their agricultural work, and some having migrated to other
areas during the period of suspended operations; a shortfall was noticed in the number of
local cutters(per comm., Birat Jani). Since the operation was started quite late hence the
RMP could hardly afford managing with whatever local strength of the cutters.
Suspension of bamboo harvesting severely affected the livelihood of the poor in many
areas. For instance, in Gajalbadi area the local people lost employment for about 9 lakh
mandays, which in turn had a devastating impact on the local small business, as the shopowners’
fate was closely associated with the income of the bamboo labourers. Financial
misery even affected the cultural life because people did not have enough money to afford
the famous danda nacha (a traditional dance festival) of their area(RCDC, op.cit., p.7).
2. Artisans (bamboo-weavers):
A survey in 2001-02 by the Directorate of Handicrafts and Cottage Industries(DHCI),
Orissa has put the number bamboo & cane artisans in the state at 27332 (for details, see
annexure-4 ). However, this estimate is controversial as it is not in consistency with some
other estimates. For instance, the following table shows the number of bamboo artisans
under the jurisdiction of Nayagarh Forest Divn. as 2400 which is more or less supported by
the independent estimation given by the Nayagarh Jungle Surakshya Mahasangh(see
annexure-6). However, the DHCI survey puts the number of bamboo/cane artisans in
Nayagarh district at 64 only. The inconsistency may be due to a census in the strict sense of
the term 'artisan' because, as mentioned earlier, mere basketry does not necessary mean
artistic work.
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