New Delhi: Rupjyoti Saikia Gogoi, a 47-year-old woman who lives in the vicinity of Assam’s Kaziranga National Park, has been collecting discarded plastic waste from nearby area and turning it into traditional handloom products.
The Kaziranga National Park, a world heritage site, sees lakhs of tourists each year and a huge amount of plastic waste being generated in and around it.
To tackle the problem of plastic waste, Gogoi started a venture called the Village Weaves in 2004, reported The Better India. “While thinking of creative ways to use the waste, I decided to try weaving it like I would do bamboo. I followed simple techniques, and integrated plastic with cotton threads to weave different products on a primitive handloom,” Gogoi said.
She, along with a few other women, collects plastic covers, then washes and dries them to make handbags, doormats, table mats and other such items.
Gogoi opened a sales outlet named Kaziranga Haat in 2012 and has taken the method of weaving plastic across 35 villages of Assam, so far. She has trained around 2,000 women.
Flower documented as dried specimen photographed in Manipur
A flower named Smooth Uncaria (Uncaria laevigata), which has only been documented as a dried specimen in India so far, was recently photographed for the first time at Nambol in Manipur’s Bishnupur district. Dr Kh. Shamungou, an environmentalist, photographed the flower in his garden at Nambol.
Tabish Qureshi, a physicist at the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi who runs a website called www.flowersofindia.net, has been quoted as saying that it could be the first photograph of the living plant in India.
Botanist Dr Nidhan Singh of IB(PG) College in Panipat has identified the genus of the flower as Uncaria.
A large climber with elliptic leaves and prominent hooked spines, Smooth Uncaria flowers are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems like hypertension, light-headedness and numbness.
This traditional market in Assam has kept centuries-old barter system alive
The Jonbeel Mela, an annual rural market in Assam, has kept the centuries-old barter system alive. This year, the fair was held for three days, starting 21 January.
The traditional barter among the hills and plains tribe of Assam, with exchange of their indigenous food products, took place from Friday morning. The market was also attended by 18 Tiwa kings. Tiwas are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the states of Assam and Meghalaya.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also attended the market as the chief guest. Jur Singh Bordoloi, secretary of the mela committee, was quoted as saying that all Covid-19 protocols were strictly followed at the market.
Village in Manipur makes its own salt, calls it nature’s ‘best gift’
Marangphung, a small village in the Ukhrul district of Manipur, has been following a traditional knowledge system to process edible salt from a salt lake, reported the Imphal Free Press. The village, consisting of 50 people from the Tangkhul Naga ethnic group, is about 61 kilometres away from the Ukhrul district headquarter.
The locals call the salt lake nature’s “best gift” and believe that the salt extracted from it has many health benefits. “This locally found resource has been an ‘elixir of life’ for us and has helped us faced the nationwide lockdown with lesser impacts as we had reserved some amount for unforeseen events,” a local resident, who has not been identified, was quoted as saying.
Many villagers have also been using filtered saltwater to treat ailments such as sinus and gastric problems. This locally-processed salt has been in high demand, with residents from far off corners of the state visiting Marangphung to get it.
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