I have just uploaded 12 images of highly affordable but ergonomically designed
bamboo furniture by Mukul Mahanta at :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmahanta-stl/
Enjoy.
cm
Nothing can make MORE SENSE than this proposal. It does not require
great skills, does not require sophisticated machinery or tools, does
not require huge capital expenditures, does not require large factory
structures, does not even need an un-inturrpted power/energy supply.
All it requires is design ingenuity, which is available , waiting to
be exploited.
It demonstrates once again the paralysis of Indian governance, one
that has usurped the role of protector and provider to all, while
failing miserably at every step.
I don't know if the photographs went thru to the list. If netters
tell me, and if they did no go thru, I will post them at Flick'r for
all to see. Pictures tell the story far better than words ever will.
cm
At 4:59 PM +0530 3/7/07, mc mahant wrote:
My 1990 declaration in BOODHBAR(Late Parag Daas')that "Assam's
future will be through Saah,Baanh,Maah,Ghaanh" got widely debated
and overpublished/Underacted through the formation of "National
Bamboo Mission"(NBM).
Located at Delhi, NBM's bevy of beauties went worldwide attending
seminars ,employing Consultants , importing Taiwan/China/Japan
machinery - now wasting at many NBM backed Units.
Lately Bodoland Delegation was in China chaperoned by(you guessed
it)NBM 's many consultants.
At one time -some 8 years back NEDFi's --Dr. Jayanta Madhab + our
Dear Manoj Das went with Secret Service Delegates to China--also on
related Mission Bamboo.
I thought nothing would happen TILL........!
But ever optimistic Manoj goaded me to give one more try. I
presented a plan to Dr.JM-this time as Assam Govt's New Employment
Generating Minister(de Facto) to RE- kickstart OXOM Bamboo.
"Begin by marketing my Wonderbed/Wonder Chair kits India-wide
where they will make their Steel frames with tiny investments
Districtwise, and bind Oxom-originated BambooKits to frames and sell
to local 1 lakh Janata. Everybody would have gained. 10000 such
assemly points would shape up.
Saved trees, import by India for Petro-Plastics would have fallen -
small low-Tech Distributed Industry all over India would have boomed.
By the way--the Minister who is supposed to develop the NE and
to increase Employment all-over India is the same Mani Shankar Aiyar.
JM kept quiet. So I told Manoj--"Ask your NEDFi boss to bell the
cat--otherwise National Bamboo Mission will be another farce"
Poor Manoj has his limits. He did pass on. K.HAZARIKA did a little
move.When I asked -What's up-he said in true Indianese"We should
make a small start". And:" NeDFi cannot be in the Entreprenuer's
seat".
That is the State of the Art today!
Like SEZ's, India is waiting for a brave Knight with lots of Dollars
to come in and take charge-of everything-including Governing.
Note:, barring seasonal Tea ,thousands of Trucks/Rail wagons return
empty to all-over -- daily.
Kits can go any way. Furniture cannot. Freight of 1 WonderChair
would beRs500/-+. But MRP should be 200/-!!That is why KITS is a
must.
MM
From: Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Dilip/Dil Deka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Rajib Das
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,assam@assamnet.org
Subject: Re: [Assam] Engineered Bamboo Furniture
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 14:23:41 -0600
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li {padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;}
First off, you got it mixed up again:
Rajib was NOT speaking about manufactured goods. He was talking
about the raw material : bamboo.
> Also I wouldn't be surprised if today's transportation cost from
Assam to >Delhi is higher than that between China and Delhi due to
all the gate fees and >goonda fees one pays in Assam.
*** So it is the MIDDLEMEN . Goonda-tax / gate charges are NOT
charged by the growers if I am not mistaken. Then WHO is it? And
where is the benevolent Indian governance -- is it not supposed to
PREVENT that?
Oh, I see now! It must be the ULFA!!!
Are you serious?
At 12:16 PM -0800 3/5/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
OMG!
There is no government control in domestic furniture business and it
is a free market in India at least in furniture.
The furniture dealer in Delhi knows only profit, he does not care
about politics between Assam and India. He sells the products for
which he can make the maximum profit - based on quality of the
product, ready availability and reliable supply. The product may
come from China or from Assam, he doesn't care and doesn't have to.
The middlemen between him and the bamboo grower work on the same
principle - supply a product and make money. At the end if he can't
sell because he is charging too much money due to greed, he is the
one who is losing the market. So, who is the middleman in the chain
who is charging too much and spoiling the whole show? The furniture
manufacturer? The wholesaler? The transporter? I suspect it is the
manufacturer because he doesn't have the machinery his counterparts
in East Asia have. Also I wouldn't be surprised if today's
transportation cost from Assam to Delhi is higher than that between
China and Delhi due to all the gate fees and goonda fees one pays in
Assam.
Dilip
===============================================================
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I don't know. Low import prices could be due to dumping or a ploy to
build market-share or there could be a number of other reasons. High
prices of bamboo MUST be due to Indian middle-men's mark-ups. Surely
bamboo producers get pea-nuts, around Rs. 10 in upper Assam if I am
not mistaken,for a normal sized mature bamboo. I am no expert. You
are the guys who should know.
If SE Asian countries' bamboo producers are selling bamboo for export at say
Rs. X per piece, with transportation cost ( must be a whole lot more
than from the NE), that HIGHER import duty and dealers' profit added;
still selling it at a price at Dilli lower than those from the NE,
then the value of X must be less than zero ( being donated or heavily
subsidized ). That being unlikely, the answer must be:
A: That Indian middle-men making a killing, while robbing
the producers blind.
OR
B: The whole story is another Indian myth, concocted to demonize
the NE, no doubt to shore up the other myth---that the place
has nothing of value to India, like so many of our assamnetters
argue to support their claim that Assam or the NE cannot survive
without Indian handouts/dole.
What do you think or believe?
At 9:39 AM -0800 3/5/07, Rajib Das wrote:
Actually what I heard was that the cheaper prices were
despite higher import duties on raw materials. And
that there was better reliability of supply and
quality.
Any guesses why free market efficiencies are not
coming to the picture?
--- Chan Mahanta wrote:
I don't know Rajib. Why, if it is so?
Do SE Asian countries export bamboo to Dilli?
If so, that would be yet another case of blatant
discrimination and
exploitation of the NE: Thru Dilli's protectionist
policies of import
restrictions of essential commodities to deprive the
consumers of the
NE of competitive pricing for quality goods, while
rewarding its
business classes elsewhere in the country by
allowing entry of cheap
raw material from outside and thus depriving its own
>> of its market
share.
As an MBA dedicated to the free market economy and
as a
desi-patriot, how does that grab you :-)?
At 6:32 PM -0800 3/4/07, Rajib Das wrote:
>For a workshop in Delhi, why is bamboo costlier to
buy
>from Assam today than importing from the south east
>asian countries?
>
>
>
>--- Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
>
>> O'Mahanta,
>> I think I read your mind. That is exactly what
I
>> was thinking. Can the lumber stock be made in
Assam
>> from the bamboos widely available in Assam - for
>> example zati or Bholuka banh in kamrup? What
>> preservatives are needed and are they readily
>> available? The bamboo has to be cut at the right
>> >> time, it has to be stored at a certain
temperature,
>> need the right preservatives, need the right
>> >> shrinkage, need the right machines to process
the
>> stock and what else?
>> Would we need know-how from China, Taiwan or
>> Japan? If so, who and what prevents us from
getting
>> it?
>>
>> Bamboo is becoming expensive in Assam also, a
sign
>> of globalization I guess. Still if there is a
margin
>> in the end product, cost of raw material should
not
>> be a problem.
>>
>> See there is a prospect for the unemployed in
>> Namti. :-)
>> O'Deka
>>
>>
>> Chan Mahanta wrote:
>> Thanks Ram.
>>
>>
>> Actually I was not thinking of importing to
USA at
>> all. Nor was I considering the finished goods.
Those
>> could be made by skilled carpenters and
builders. It
>> is the engineered lumber stock, made and sold to
end
>> users for whatever
>> purpose they can imagine. It could be a fine
>> product for use locally, considering that good
>> quality timber, if available, is like gold.
> >>
>>
>> But I am looking into it. Will see where it
might
>> lead.
>>
>>
>> c-da
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 12:54 PM -0600 3/4/07, Ram Sarangapani
wrote:
>> C'da, These are just fantastic. Love the
>> coffee tables. It must have been a lot of hard
work.
>> With reference to marjeting of bamboo
products,
>> years ago (I think around 1995 or so), a friend
of
>> mine from Guwahati wanted to market plywood
(with
>> compressed bamboo filling: ie two plywood sheets
and
>> inside would be this bamboo compressed pulp -
the
>> best I can describe). I took the samples (he
had
>> sent) to some of the local Houston people in the
>> construction business. Several of them were very
>> interested. There were several problems: (1)
the
>> price was way too high. (2) the resin that was
used
>> was a substance the would not pass US import
>> regulations (Not a fire retardant)
>> It didn't go thru, of course, but for those
>> interested in exporting bamboo products, these
are
>> some things I experienced first hand, and may
come
>> in handy. Further, for finished products,
some
>> of the places to try would be like Pier 1
Imports
>> (stores like that). As most people already know
>> supplies must be consistent and uniform, and
often
>> such stores may want varying quanties, sometimes
in
>> a hurry. One big problem for a many products
>> from India in the finish. Compare products from
>> China or Taiwan, Indian products may be
functional,
>> but definitely lack the finish. Your table
on
>> the other hand loked fabulous. --Ram On
3/4/07,
>> Chan Mahanta wrote:
>> http://flickr.com/photos/cmahanta-stl/
>>
>> 3 Images of Mboo ( copyrighted name) Cofee Table
>> from the workshop of
> > yours truly.
>>
>>
>> I just completed a coffee table that I made from
>> left over bamboo
>> floor boards, which are engineered from strips
of
>> glued and laminated
>> bamboo. I machined off the grooved bottom
surface of
>> the 5/8" thick
>> >> floor boards with a recently acquired 13" power
>> planer to a thickness
>> of 1/2", glued the two together to make an one
inch
>> thick board,
>> ripped off the tongues and grooves on a radial
arm
>> saw, planed the
>> thin edges off by clamping together several
boards
>> and voila: I had
>> 1" thick X 3.5" wide engineered bamboo lumber to
>> build furniture with.
>>
>> The bottom shelf is made from 3/4" thick medium
>> density fiber-board (
>> MDF) finished with bamboo veneered wall covering
(
>> expensive @ $
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