Bamboo has been identified as a key job-generating sector by the Planning Commission which has just finished coordinating a report on its technology and trade development. But a government strapped for cash is depending on existing programmes to push bamboo to its rightful place in the sun. The Planning Commission's National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development report, readied last month, is armed with an integrated action plan which seeks to give the fast-growing and eco-friendly bamboo a strategic role in rural development, poverty alleviation, handicrafts and industrial development.