The Kendu Leaf Trade: Problems & Prospects in Orissa - Vasundhara

9..3..2: Non-smoking utilities:
It has been always found that an item having only one end use is at risk of a dwindling business
when there is any disturbance in the end market. Sal seed has been a good example of this.
To save kendu leaf from such a situation, its other useful properties should be explored and
verified for commercial purposes. For instance, it should be verified if taking meals in the platter
made with kendu leaf accelerates digestion.
Vasundhara made an attempt to see the effectivity of the aqueous extract of kendu leaf on water
contaminated with arsenic, or fluoride, or some other toxic radicals. The R&D work, that was
conducted with the paid technical assistance of the Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar
demonstrated that the KL extract was indeed effective in removing arsenic and lead from
water(demineralised). Some effectivity was also recorded in case of nitrate and fluoride 13 . This
awaits further validatory work, but at the same time it has demonstrated that alternate utilities of
KL can be developed for commercial purposes.
The Regional Research Laboratory was entrusted with the responsibility of developing some
alternate utilities for KL, but its performance in this direction has not been very satisfactory so
far. The KL wing, which paid RRL for the research work related to KL, is now expecting refund
of atleast a part of its payment.
10.. The issue of smuggling:
Smuggling of kendu leaves from the state has been a comparatively subsided but hot issue since
some years. There has been even a private/media assessment that the turnover in this illegal
sector is almost equal to that in the legal sector(government trading).Although some experienced
officers of the Forest Department(KL wing) dismiss this assessment as an exaggeration, they do
admit that smuggling of KL is actually taking place in considerable quantities.
What is quite interesting is that in some areas, it is the production of government’s bush cutting
that is smuggled out. This happens when the government fails(intentionally or unintentionally) to
harness the full potential of the area where bush cutting has been done. When the pluckers find
that the government is not going to procure their collection, they see no fault in giving the same
to the smugglers. And sometimes the smugglers are in a position to offer better price as they save
on bush cutting and some other legal liabilities. However, the ground reality can be a more
complex affair sometimes involving officials of the Forest Department who are known to help
the smugglers (for instance, vide the media report published in the ‘Samaj’,17the June’06, p.10,
Bhubaneswar edition).
Two major smuggling routes have been identified: one in western Orissa, and the other in
southern Orissa. Field- as well as media reports indicate one Masum(Mausum) Khan to be the
mastermind behind the smuggling from atleast three KL ranges(Kalimela, MV79, and
Malkangiri) in the Malkangiri district. Few years ago, Khan’s exploitation of the potentiality of
13 For more details please log on to:
http://www.vasundharaorissa.org/Technology/New_Clues_to_Organic_Detoxication_of_Water_revised_.pdf
42