RAJNI SHARMA:- 

Bamboo comprises more than 1200 species of usually woody, perennial plants in the true grass family Poaceae, occurring primarily in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Bamboo are distributed among more than 90 genera in the subfamily Bambusoideae and the tribe Bambuseae.

In addition to its value to the ecosystem, providing food for giant pandas, insect larvae, gorillas, and elephants, bamboo is valued by humans for its culinary, medicinal, construction, artistic, and ornamental uses. The shoots of bamboo are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths; pickled bamboo is used as a condiment; and the sap of young stalks may be fermented to make a sweet wine or used to make a soft drink. Bamboo is used in Chinese medicine for treating infections and as a low calorie source of potassium. When properly processed and treated, bamboo forms a very hard, tough, and yet lightweight wood, useful in house construction, as well as for fences, bridges, furniture, and numerous other purposes, including the making of various musical instruments. The practice of carving bamboo for decorative artwork is widespread, and in China the fiber of bamboo has been used since early times for making paper. Bamboo is also popular as an ornamental plant.

A man can sit in a bamboo house under a bamboo roof, on a bamboo chair at a bamboo table, with a bamboo hat on his head and bamboo sandals on his feet. He can at the same time hold in one hand a bamboo bowl, in the other hand bamboo chopsticks and eat bamboo sprouts. When through with his meal, which has been cooked over a bamboo fire, the table may be washed with a bamboo cloth, and he can fan himself with a bamboo fan, take a siesta on a bamboo bed, lying on a bamboo mat with his head resting on a bamboo pillow. His child might be lying in a bamboo cradle, playing with a bamboo toy. On rising he would smoke a bamboo pipe and taking a bamboo pen, write on bamboo paper, or carry his articles in bamboo baskets suspended from a bamboo pole, with a bamboo umbrella over his head. He might then take a walk over a bamboo suspension bridge, drink water from a bamboo ladle, and scrape himself with a bamboo scraper (handkerchief).

Union minister Jitendra Singh said Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has huge bamboo reserves that can boost its economy in the future. Bamboo cultivation can revolutionise the industry in a cost-effective manner and open new gates for young start-ups.

Referring to a series of workshops and conferences being organised in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said this was the fourth conference within a short span of three months.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has been decided to institutionalise every outreach initiative for the welfare of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh said the UT administration is in the process of identifying 100 venues and will identify the programmes to be held there in the first phase.

According to an official release, the minister emphasised on the fact that it is the time to apply the same amount of focus on Jammu and Kashmir as has been applied to the North East in recent years which has totally transformed the region into a heaven for startups.

There is an expectation that Jammu and Kashmir will too emerge as a great economic zone and successful practices of governance and development can be easily replicated in Jammu and Kashmir.