C&B January 2010

Guwahati based Rhino Bamboo Industry, the only one of its kind in the entire country manufacturing mechanized bamboo products like blinds, handicrafts items etc. was conferred the National Award for Best Enterprise amongst the Small & Medium Scale Industries of the country (2009-10). At a function held in New Delhi on 28th August 2009, the award was received by the proprietor of the enterprise Mr. Rajiv Goswami. He was also awarded by the Ministry of DoNER during the NE Business Summit 2010 held at Kolkata as one of the best performing enterprise from the North East.

Two designer, Mr. Wilfrid and Ms. Marie Le Gac visited CBTC during the month of November, 2009 as part of their project on design building through collaboration between designers and craftsmen in an eco-friendly way. During their month-long stay in Guwahati, they 

A total of 38 persons attended CBTC's training programme on Bamboo Charcoal Making. Held from 16th to 21st November 2009 at the NagaIan Bamboo Resource Centre in Dimapur, Nagaland, th programme was mainly based on practical aspects o utilization of Bamboo and manufacturing of Bambc Charcoal.

The CBTC was formed in the year 2000 under the UNDP/UNIDO Country Program for India and since it inception the CBTC has the mandate to develop the bamboo sector in the region. Since then it has embarked upon a concerted effort to contribute to the development of bamboo resources and development of craft and uses of bamboo in the region with the sole objective of improving the life and habitat of people form the region through the locally available materials.

Background

Wood has been used for centuries as a common material in construction of buildings and other structures. Similarly, bamboo has also a long and well established tradition for being used as a construction material throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.

The Costa Rican National Bamboo Project (NBP) was created to offer low-cost houses to help in the solution of the housing deficit. Initially, in 1988 the NBP worked under the administration of the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), (Projects COS 87/001 and COS 90/005), with financing from the Royal Government of the Netherlands (Chaves y Gutierrez, 1990).

 The bamboo culm is a unique building material for all kinds of structures. Most important are bamboo houses of different types, which provide worldwide homes for many millions of people, not only in rural areas, but also in urban environments. Its use as a substitute or alternative for wood is accelerated by the increasing shortage of timber in most bamboo producing countries.