Arunachal Is Reviving Its 1000-YO Art of Making Paper That Doesn’t Harm Trees
More durable than conventional paper, Mon Shugu holds a special place in the history of the Arunachal Pradesh’s Monpa tribe.
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In February 2020, Maling Gombu, a Tawang-based social worker and lawyer, wrote to the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) a statutory body dedicated to the development of village industries, about the potential of a 1,000-year-old paper-making craft of the Monpa tribe in Arunachal Pradesh that was languishing.
Taking note of his letter, the KVIC took appropriate actions. Following months of planning, which was abruptly halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the KVIC launched a Monpa handmade paper making unit on 25 December at an erstwhile abandoned government building in Tawang. Called ‘Mon Shugu’, this fine-textured handmade paper is an integral part of Monpa history.