The village of Oukhoo, situated just a few kilometres from Pulwama city in South Kashmir, has lengthy been often known as the ‘pencil village of India’. Roughly 90 % of the pencils produced in India originate right here. Nonetheless, the village’s once-flourishing pencil business now stands at a crossroads, fighting a extreme scarcity of poplar wooden—the first uncooked materials for pencil slats.

Inside certainly one of Oukhoo’s items, 24-year-old Nazrana Farooq is concentrated on trimming poplar wooden blocks into skinny slats. “Youngsters [across India] are capable of full their assignments and make notes due to the employees right here,” she says. “We really feel proud to make pencils for the nation. However because of the scarcity of uncooked supplies, our incomes are dwindling.” 

She provides, “If the federal government doesn’t begin poplar afforestation, we will probably be rendered jobless sooner or later.” 

The pencil-making course of is labour-intensive. Staff, a lot of whom are ladies, spend hours turning massive poplar logs into clean slats. The work begins with shopping for logs in bulk, that are then chopped, sliced into 5.2-mm-thick wood slats of particular dimensions (78×77 cm), and both sun- or machine-dried. These slats are then packed—800 per bag—and despatched for ultimate processing to items in Jammu, Chandigarh, and different components of India.

However the supply of those logs is dwindling. In 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities issued an order to take away roughly 42,000 Russian poplar bushes, which have been blamed for the unfold of an infection throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Researcher and botanist Junaid Quyoom contests this framing: “There is no such thing as a scientific proof that poplar bushes unfold infections. Quite the opposite, bushes are recognized to supply us with oxygen and enhance lung capability.”  

Mohammad Ashraf Matta, a 36-year-old contractor from Bandipora, says, “Poplars that flower in April-Might are believed to unfold respiratory infections. However it might simply be resulting from seasonal change. Individuals at the moment are planting apple bushes as an alternative. Following the federal government order, lakhs of bushes alongside riverbanks and pure streams have been minimize down.” 

Farooq Ahmad Dar, who has labored within the business since 2013, explains, “Rising a poplar tree takes roughly 20 years, and we’ve now misplaced most of them. The federal government ought to run consciousness programmes and inspire folks to plant poplars, or develop high-density varieties that mature in 5 to 6 years.” 

The affect of this uncooked materials scarcity is already seen. “In winter, we encounter extra shortages, typically resulting in work stoppages for a number of days. Earlier, we had substantial work. Now we’re reducing down our workforce,” Farooq says. 

Oukhoo was as soon as house to 17 pencil manufacturing items that employed between 2,000 and three,000 employees, each native and migrant. This quantity has since declined considerably. At the moment, solely round 9 of those factories stay operational. Ali Mohammad, a 43-year-old Oukhoo resident, says, “Earlier, these factories supplied us with jobs and revenue. However the state of affairs is altering. Many employees have already misplaced their jobs.”  

At current, Jhelum Agro Industries, one of many greater factories within the space, employs solely about 100 folks. Fatima Nabi, 27, is certainly one of roughly 30 younger ladies working there. “Most of us come from low-income households. Some are orphans. This work is how we assist ourselves and our households.” 

Naseema Begum, 25, who has been working on the Jhelum Agro unit for a number of years, says, “We’ve managed heavy workloads for a very long time. However now, the scarcity of uncooked supplies makes us unsure if we’ll have jobs tomorrow.” She factors out a deeper concern—lack of afforestation. “For each 10 bushes minimize, just one is planted. How can we justify reducing down bushes that assist us?” 

Regardless of these challenges, many nonetheless discover dignity of their work. “Our pencils have been exported to roughly 85 nations,” says Farooq. “We provide to Hindustan Pencils, the biggest pencil producer in India. There’s a 70 % probability that the pencil you might be holding was made in Oukhoo.” 

With no long-term resolution—such because the mass plantation of fast-growing poplars and constant uncooked materials provide—India’s pencil village may lose greater than only a title. It may price hundreds their livelihoods. 

—

Know extra

• Learn about the revolutionary methods Kashmir’s saffron growers are adapting to local weather pressures by way of indoor farming. 
• Be taught how deforestation threatens the Kashmiri willow bat business. 
• Learn how forest loss is threatening habitats and biodiversity in Dachigam Nationwide Park.