BHUBANESWAR: Supporting the #whereisyourcottonbag campaign initiated by local communities, fashion designer Sabyasachi Satpathy through his Keembdanti brand has started a new line of designer cotton bags, which are inspired by Amar Chitra Katha stories.
The plastic ban implemented by the state government from October 2 had received a tremendous response from people from all walks of life. The usage of plastic has declined dramatically in areas where the ban is imposed. However, more work needs to be done to achieve complete riddance of the harmful substance.
Velocity MR, a leading market research and analysis company, conducted a study to understand the current usage of plastic and the effects of its ban in India. The study reflected that over 85% of the respondents were aware of the plastic usage ban and the harmful effects of plastic on the environment. However, the usage of plastic was still rampant in the country due to lack of alternatives.
Around 44% of respondents claimed that they faced problems due to the plastic usage ban, primarily due to lack of or costly alternatives available when shopping or disposing of garbage. However, 8 out of 10 respondents were open to the idea of reusable bags and alternatives for the plastic bags. The study also revealed that 7 out of 10 respondents believed that the ban is only on the usage of plastic carry bags and not on other variants of plastic like pouches, garbage bags and containers among others.
A campaign initiated by some local communities recently had showcased various alternatives which can be used to avoid usage of plastic. The #whereisyourcottonbag campaign strived to create awareness about the use of cotton bags instead of plastic. Under this campaign which is self-explanatory and meant to encourage people to use cotton bags instead of plastic. The newly designed cotton bags contain pictures of the characters such as Shiva, Savitri, Sati, Bhisma, Ram and Ravana among others.
On a brief interaction with Orissa POST, Satpathy said “One of most important issues faced by humans in present times is the sustainability of our environment. To avoid destroying our habitat further, we need to indulge in initiatives to preserve our environment. Initiating a new line of designer cotton bags which are inspired by stories of Amar Chitra Katha was a step in this direction.”
Amar chitra katha is one of India’s largest selling comic book series, with more than 100 million copies sold in 20 Indian languages. The series has more than 400 titles that retell stories from great Indian epics, mythology, history, folklore, and fables in a comic book format. Rudra Prasanna Rath, the initiator of the campaign, said, “The campaign which was started in the first week of July has received tremendous support. People from other countries like Abu Dhabi have also supported us. Sabyasachi supported our campaign by his unique initiative. We were awarded by nine Durga puja committees of the city for our campaign. Many other organisations are also using our tagline for promoting cotton bags in the state.”
Arindam Ganguly, OP