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'DONA'
MAKING
(Disposable
cups and plates made out of dried leaves & twigs)
Introduction: Butea
Monosperma
Local
name - Cheawla, Hindi name - Palas, Dhak belongs to
Papilionacene. It is a small tree found practically
throughout tropical forests in India. In Khajuraho are
it is scattered wildly on land with scrub also. It is
present throughout the area and grows naturally on
forest area and wastelands. The flowers of this tree
species yield a brilliant but very fugitive yellow
colouring matter. It is obtained in the form of a
decollation or infusion from dried flowers. The roots
yield red dye. Wood is reposted to be useful in the
manufacture of pulp for paper. The dried leaves are used
for wrapping beedies. The leaves are used widely for
making platters and cups.
Processing
The
leaves from palas tree are plucked and collected in
the house by the villager leaves used for 'donas' should
not be dry. Usually two leaves are stitched together
with thin (Azadiractaindica) neem sticks or bamboo
sticks. This process is being done by hand and raw
material i.e. leaves of palas are collected from jungle
by the farmers. At present only donas and patals are
being made, one person makes around 200 donas/day. It is
a seasonal activity and can not be carried out in
summer, due to shedding of leaves by the tree. In this
activity no infrastructure is required. Cost of
production of dona is almost nil, because only labour
can be counted, but as this activity is being carried
out for subsistence use and for upper caste on demand,
to whom the donas are supplied in exchange of some other
item, no proper cost of production can be calculated.
Price of 1000 donas
in market = Rs. 60/-
This activity is primarily being done by caste 'Nai' in
villages and both male and females are engaged in Dona
making.
Mechanisation
A
hand press machine used to make dona's platers, cups,
thalis, etc. of different sizes and shapes, can be
introduced to the villagers to make it an income
generation activity. This machine is available with the
Khadi Gram Udyog, Bhopal on subsidy. Villagers can be
trained by the Khadi Gram Udyog can also be provided by
District Industry Centre, Chattarpur, under their scheme
of promoting small scale units.
It is expected that with the help of machine one person
can prepare 2000-3000 donas in a day, thus caring around
Rs. 150-200/day. To make it a community activity,
co-operatives on small scale can be set up, managing the
manufacturing, storing and marketing of dona's to the
near market, combined marketing of produce will minimise
the cost of transport per head and will fetch good price
if supplied in bulk.
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