BAMFEST 2006 at a glance

The much awaited 3rd   International BAMFEST was held from 16th December, 2006 at Childern’s Park, Agartala. The programme was being organized by Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre, Guwahati in Association with Government of Tripura. The event was sponsored by North Eastern Council and DC (Handicraft).

BAMFEST was an event initiated by CANE AND BAMBOO TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, Guwahati under the UNIDO project. The first of its kind was held at Guwahati in 2003 and the 2nd Bamfest was held in Shillong in 2005. The festival was mainly dedicated to the promotion and propagation of bamboo awareness to the mass in general and to the people who matter in particular.

The 3rd International Bamfest (Bamboo festival) of the North East India was formally inaugurated on 16th Dec. 2006 by the Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh, in the opening ceremony held at Children Park, AGARTALA. Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tripura, Shri Manik Sarkar graced the occasion as the host while Hon’ble Member NEC, Shri PP Shrivatava presided over the function. Besides, other dignitaries viz; Shri Phillip R. Scoltez, Country Director – UNIDO; Shri Tapan Chakraborty, Hon’ble Minister for Industries & Commerce and Agriculture & Family Welfare – Govt. of Tripura; Shri Jitendra Choudhury, Hon’ble Minister for Tribal Welfare, Rural Development and Forest & Environment- Govt. of Tripura, Shri Lok Ranjan, Commissioner & Secretary, Dept. of Industries & Commerce- Govt. of Tripura; Shri George Jenner, Mission Coordinator, Tripura Bamboo Mission and Shri Kamesh Salam, Director, Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre also addressed the gathering. The function was made livelier by various artistes from the State that enthralled the gatherings through their presentation of different cultural items.

 

The 3rd International Bamfest 2006 had three major components:

A 10 days International Training on “Bamboo Industrial Processing & Handicraft” was held during 8th – 17th Dec. at Bamboo and Cane Development Institute, KHEJURBAGAN. Shri Lok Ranjan, I.A.S, Commissioner Industries, Govt. of Tripura inaugurated the Training program in the presence of  Shri S. Dkhar, Regional Director (NER), O/o The Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, Guwahati and presided by Shri Kamesh Salam, Director, CBTC. Including 3 trainees from abroad, about 19 persons were trained on the various aspects concerning bamboo & cane. (Download PDF of the report of Training)

One and half days Technical Session from 16th – 17th Dec. was conducted at SIPARD where in papers on different topics relating to bamboo was presented by experts from UNIDO, WBO, Oprins, BERC, GTZ, NID, Forest Research Institutes, Industry, Financial Institutes, Govt. Departments on different aspects of bamboo. An average of 110-120 persons attended each session.

The Closing Function of the Bamfest 2006 was held at Children Park in the evening of 23rd Dec. 2006. Smt. Vijaya Lakhsmi, Hon’ble Minister for Industries & Commerce and Horticulture, Govt. of Tripura, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, while Mr. Lok Ranjan , Commissioner, Industries, Govt. of Tripura and Mr. L.K. Darlong, Director, Dept. of Tribal Welfare, Govt. of Tripura, were the Host and Functional President respectively. Mr. I.H. Saikia, Manager(Administration) CBTC, delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the Organizer. The prizes for various competitions held during the Bamfest’ 06 were distributed. Varieties of Cultural items and modern song were presented during the function. It was estimated that around 3000 – 4000 people attended the closing ceremony. The program came to an end at 09:00 p.m.

 

Technical Sessions

16th December. 2006 (Saturday, Opening Session)

Technical Session – I Chairman: Mr. R.P. Tangwan, IFS, PCCF & Secretary Forest, Govt. of Tripura Co-Chair: Mr. S.N. Kalita, IFS (Rtd), Adviser, CBTC
National Bamboo Mission, WBO, Vegetative-propagation & Commercial Plantation of Sympodial Bamboo
Time	Paper Title	Speaker
1430-1450	Commercial Plantation of Sympodial Bamboo – Techniques and Management	Dr. Seethalakshmi, KFRI
1450-1510	JFM based bamboo plantation in Tripura- a model for NER	Forest Deptt., Tripura
1510-1530	Bamboo Diversity in Manipur	Dr. Th. Sobita Devi
1530-1550	World Bamboo Organization: Objectives and Scope of Work	Mr. Jose Campose, Co-Chair, WBC, Chile
1550-1610	Micro-propagation of Sympodial bamboo-technology and economic viability, the Indian experience	Dr. Bharati, Growmore Bio-Tech, Bangalore
1610-1620	Tea Break
1620-1640	Vegetative Propagation and Commercial Nursery Development	Dr. Taj, SFRI, Itanagar
1640-1700	Development of the Bamboo sector in India with special reference Bamboo Plantation in India	Dr. Victor Brias, OPRINS Plant, NV, Belgium
1700-1720	Micro-Propagation of Bamboo with special reference to Uttaranchal	Dr. Anjuli Agarwal, Uttaranchal
1720-1800	Discussions and Tea

 

 

Day 2 : 17th December, 2006 (Sunday)

Technical Session – II Chairman: Mr. P.P. Shrivastava, Hon’ble Member, NEC Co-Chair: Mr. Shashi Prakash, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Tripura
Sustainable Utilization of Bamboo & Cluster Development
Time	Paper Title	Speaker
0940-1000	An overview of Tripura Bamboo Mission	Mr. George Jenner, Co-ordinator, Tripura Bamboo Mission
1000-1020	Engineered Bamboo – Constraints and prospects for replacing hard-wood/ softwood products in China and Bamboo Charcoal and Vinegar – present usage and future prospects	Dr. Mingjie Guan, BERC, Nanjing, China
1020-1040	Agarbatti Industry and Potential for Bamboo Sticks – Status and Way Forward	Mr. V.M. Rajasekharan, ITC, Kolkata
1040-1100	Bamboo Resource and Enterprise Management in Nagaland	Er. Kumzuk from NBDA, Nagaland
1100-1120	Need for low cost mechanization of bamboo mat weaving to improve viability of artisans	Mr. S.V. Krishnamurthy, Bangalore
1120-1140	Tea Break
1140-1200	Use of Small diameter bamboos – the experience in Chile	Mr. Jorge Campos, Co-Chair, WBC, Chile
1200-1220	Bamboo Flowering Management in Mizoram	Mr. Rosiama, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forest, Mizoram
1220-1250	Knock-down and Stackable Furniture Systems in Bamboo for rural production	Mr. M.P. Ranjan & Mr. R. Sandesh, NID, Ahmedabad
1250-1310	Product Development for Mass Prodcution focused on Rural Crafts Sector of N.E. India	Mr. Sukumar Haobam, Design Consultant, Manipur
1310-1400	Lunch Break

 

Day 2 : 17th December, 2006 (Sunday)

Technical Session – III Chairman: Mr. M.P. Ranjan, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad Co-Chair: Dr. Victor Brias, OPRINS Plant, NV, Belgium
Capacity Building and Innovative Structures
Time	Paper Title	Speaker
1400-1430	Bamboo Housing around the world	Mr. Xavier Dufrenot, President, Bambou Technologie Caraibe
1430-1450	Skill Upgradation, Certificate Course under NVTS/ GTZ/ CBTC	Ms. Anita Sharma, Technical Adviser, GTZ
1450-1500	Presentation of Short Paper	Mr. Gurudayal Saran, Karnataka
1500-1510	Bridging the gap: Bamboo based Rural Livelihood Development in Uttaranchal	Mr. Nishant Verma, DFO and Mr. Vimal Dhiman
1510-1530	Tea Break

 

Technical Session IV Chairman: Hon’ble Minster, Industries, Tripura Co-Chair: Mr. Phillippe R. Scoltez, UNIDO Representative and Regional Director
Investment Potential and Promotion of Bamboo in Tripura
1530-1600	Investment Climate on Bamboo based products in Tripura	Mr. Lokranjan, IAS, Commissioner, Industries & Commerce, Tripura
1600-1620	Constraints and prospects of investing in the bamboo sector in NER – Sharing of Experience with the first investor in the region in Bamboo sector	Mr. Inderpal Singh Bhusri Joint Managing Director TIMPACK Pvt. Ltd., Meghalaya
1620-1640	Role of FIs in the development of the Bamboo sector	Mr. N.K. Sharma Manager, SIDBI, Agartala
1640-1700	Prospects and Constraints of Bamboo Products Market in Europe and USA	Mr. Robert Hallet UNIDO Consultant, Vienna
1700-1800	Discussion followed by Cultural Programme and Dinner to be hosted by Director, CBTC, Guwahati

Glimpse of inauguration of BAMFEST 2006