Gadchiroli July 4 (District Correspondent) Since the President of India Her Excellency President Draupadi Murmu is coming to the district for the first time, the Gondwana University is going to gift a special bamboo rakhi to her during this visit.
This design has been made by the students of the Model college under the guidance of well-known Bamboo teacher Ms. Chanda Mukesh Walke. The Vice Chancellor Dr. Prashant Bokare himself will present this attractive rakhi to President Murmu. Through this, a message will be given to revive the dying bamboo craft and strengthen the rural economy by getting permanent employment from it.
This Bamboo design is decorated with Cotton Thread & Holy Basil stones which looks like Indian Tricolour.
The university has started the initiative “Vidyapith Apya Dari’. Under it, a model college has been set up in Jambhli village of Dhanora taluka for the youth who have dropped out of graduation for employment. There are 22 students in this model college and expert professors teach five subjects namely history, forest produce, bamboo handicrafts, wild vegetables and forest management. The students of this four-year BA degree course in the village are mastering bamboo handicrafts and are being taught by the world-famous designer Bamboo Lady Meenakshi Mukesh Walke.
The university aims to enable these students to become self-reliant along with becoming skilled artisans, solve their livelihood problems in the village, start their own business.
The quality of bamboo from Gadchiroli is second in the country. But nothing special seems to be happening here beyond cutting bamboo and selling it. Basically, bamboo art is an art of local tribals. But with the arrival of plastic, more manual skills were left behind. But now the whole world is looking at bamboo as the “future material”. This art has undergone many changes in the modern way and new inventions are coming forward every day. This bamboo will be the support of the tribals and become the backbone of the local economy for the development of the district.
Ms. Meenakshi Walke, who is world famous as “The Bamboo Lady of Maharashtra”, is an associate professor in the university and has taught this design to the students. Notably, Walke innovated 5 new bamboo designs. After making the country’s first bamboo QR code scanner, she was praised by the World Bamboo Organization from the US. It is special that the 3D Bamboo Rakhi made by Meenakshi Walke was earlier sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
