The Dying Japi

This is a story, knitted with realities, procured from door to door interactions. This is the story of Japi Makers (i.e the indigenous traditional headgear makers of Assam) of a district called Nalbari, which is one of the last existing Japi clusters in the world. Their occupation is on the verge of extinction and this documentary tries to find the reasons, and instigate some new throught provoking questions.

Background-
India has the World’s second largest Bamboo resource and the largest area under bamboo plants, with 136 species, 23 genera covering 13.96 million hectares.
The North East Region of India has the highest concentration of bamboo, accounting for 60 per cent of the total Bamboo resources of the country. The extent of bamboo bearing areas in the forests of Assam is 7238 sq. km as per the State of Forest Report 2011. Only about 2% of the extracted bamboo is utilized for value addition through handicrafts and other products. The State has formulated the State Bamboo Policy in 2003 and removed Bamboo from the category of trees to enhance production and supply of bamboos for industries.