In a bid to improve the livelihood of the indigenous people, the state of Tripura has recently introduced the Bamboo drinking water bottle. It is a unique fancy bamboo handcrafted utility made by the local artisans of Tripura. The bottles are made of an outer bamboo shell and an inner copper lining.
The product is a step towards improving the lives of tribal people and local artisans. Apart from that, the product is made without the use of plastic to encourage eco-friendly values.
Tripura is proud to introduce the Bamboo drinking ware to the world, which is a unique fancy bamboo hand crafted utility product made from the hands of the artisans. This product can bring laurels to the state along with foreign exchange by export. Is deviced & promoted by TRPC. pic.twitter.com/xwb0WONwPO
— Prasada Rao IFS (@IfsRao) June 24, 2020
The bamboo bottles are the result of efforts by IFS officer Prasad Rao, who is providing tribal artisans training to create daily use items from bamboo, an abundantly available crop in the state. Earlier, he had trained 1000 people to make bamboo broom handles. After the success of that initiative, six months ago he began training artisan families to manufacture bamboo bottles. Talking to The Better India, the Managing Director of Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation Limited said, “For almost three to four months we have been immersed in the research and development of this product. We wanted to create something that not just looks good but is of international standards.”
The project has been implemented in collaboration with the Bamboo and Cane Development Institute (BCDI) and Forest Research Center of Livelihood Extension at Agartala. The program started with training by 10 master trainers. Now the trainers are in the process of training 1000 artisans under the Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDVK) and National Bamboo Mission (NBM) schemes.
Rao said that they decided to use copper lining in the bottles to prevent fungus growth that is common with bamboo products. Copper is known to kill pathogens like bacteria, fungus and viruses. Due to this inner lining, the bottles are also leak proof.
The bottles are available in different sizes like 300 ml, 500 ml, 750 ml and 1 ltr, and they cost between Rs 700 and goes upto Rs 1200, excluding tax and shipping charges.
The bamboo bottles were first introduced by the state of Sikkim to avoid the use of single-use plastic bottles and unusual littering earlier this year. The Lachen town in Sikkim was the very first to ban packaged drinking water and introduce the Bamboo water bottles to avoid any kind of environmental desecration.
Sikkim attracts thousands of tourists every year who leave loads of plastic waste behind. Noting this the local community imposed a complete ban on plastic bottles and later introduced these handcrafted fancy bamboo bottles. Till 2016, the state also banned the use of plastic bottles in events and government offices.
Bottles made under Van Dhan Vikas Yojana in Tripura
Earlier this year, the Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had launched Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Vikas Yojana to boost the morale of tribals who are specializing in crafting products from local natural raw material. The Chief Minister had thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching this scheme and claimed, “The center has provided rupees 1,21,90,000 for nine projects under the scheme.”
He added that the Tripura government has sent a total of 11 projects under the PMVDY scheme, of which a total of 9 projects have been approved to get it to implement in the state.
He stated that the scheme is designed to improve tribal incomes through value addition of tribal products. It is based on Value addition, collection, packaging, and marketing of the forest products.
The recent introduction of Bamboo bottles is a result of this initiative in Tripura. There are several incredible features of Bamboo, like it is a sustainable alternative and a rigid packaging material as well. Also, no pesticides or fertilizer is used in growing a bamboo plant, the bottles are safe to store water and free from any kind of chemical.
