The Irula tribes of South India are considered as the first tribes of our country with links to the oldest African Negrito tribe. These tribes are an encyclopedia of knowledge and their survival was threatened after the introduction and implementation of the Wildlife Act in the late 1970’s when the export of snake skin was banned in lieu of the role snakes played as rodent predators. The Irulas, 'people from the dark' are the pre Dravidian inhabitants of the plains and scrub jungles of Chinglepet District, near Chennai. The Forest Protection Bill of 1976 ended the traditional livelihood of the Irulas, who sold firewood, wax, and honey collected from the forests.
Until the 1970’s these aboriginal forest dwellers depended on the snake skin for their livelihood. The Act moved the sale of snake skin of certain species of snakes from schedule 4 to schedule 2 where in hunting and sale of snakes was awarded severe punishments. Not just this, The Irulas were no longer allowed to respond to calls for help in capturing cobras and other endangered snakes that wander into inhabited areas, leaving the serpents to the fate of being beaten to death by villagers, property owners or the police.
With the ban on the import of the snake skin, this tribe was virtually pushed to the brink of extinction in their natural habitat and they were forced to migrate from forests to the cities in search of a suitable livelihood. The recognition on Romulus Whitaker’s part, to use this inborn expertise of Irulas in handling snakes to profitably put to use helped establish the Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Co-op Society (ISCICS). Romulus Whitaker was then in the process of establishing the Chennai Crocodile Bank and with his help, the tribals procured a license of the establishment of a snake venom extraction center.
Functioning in pairs, often husband and wife teams, the Irulas spend hours and sometimes days looking for tell-tale signs. From a seemingly innocent faint scratch in the ground, they can identify the type of snake, the direction of movement and roughly how old the track is. Many of the commercially feasible snakes live in rat holes and have to be dug out - a procedure that, in the case of highly poisonous varieties, can take hours.
The Irula Extraction Cooperative Society integrated their proficiency in catching poisonous snakes with a project to make anti-venom serum. The cooperative has, since 1982, extracted, processed and dispatched venom from over one lakh snakes. The reptiles are milked for venom thrice during the three weeks that they are held captive. One notices a unique interaction between the man and snake since the snakes are not kept captive and are left in the wild after they are milked for their venom.
The Irulas are paid handsomely for their catch. According to Mr Dravida Mani, Secretary the project has helped rehabilitate over 250 Irula families. They are paid anywhere between Rs 200 to 1200 for every poisonous snake caught apart from bonuses. Thanks to this cooperation, the Irulas are promised a sustainable income of over 4000 Rs every month.
According to Mani, this application of tribal knowledge and technology to use wild snakes sustainably and generate income has encouraged the Irulas to expand this cooperation. He feels that a simple change in the law can drastically improve the lives of this tribe by ensuring financial security.
The process of extracting venom is a long and lengthy process involving lot of snakes, as only one to two drops of venom is extracted from each snake. For example, to produce one gram of cobra venom, 10 snakes are required and to produce the same amount of venom from viper, more than 750 snakes are required. The extracted venom is then purified and frozen and then freeze-dried and sold in the powder form to the laboratories across the country to produce anti-venom. The King Institute of Preventive Medicine located in Guindy is one such procurer of this raw form of venom which is then converted into anti venom. Every anti-venom vial is sold for around anything between Rs 440 to Rs 500.
The Wildlife Act has banned the export of snake venom to the international market. “If the ban is lifted, we can employ them all through the year”, says Mr Mani. He says that in foreign countries, the snake venom is used by the pharmaceutical companies not just for producing anti-venom but also for treatment of other diseases and the ban only hinders the economic development of the Irulas. A gram of snake venom fetches anywhere close to 6000 Rs abroad much higher than its worth in India.
The fact of the matter remains that what ever step the Indian Govt decides to take; the Irulas have already tasted success. Apart from helping the Irulas gain financial independence, the cooperation has helped serve as an important social center for them to meet regularly and discuss problems. Not only this, the cooperation serves as a model to help sustain the other tribes with similar knowledge. It is a source of pride and identity for these Irulas, a source of comfort in an age and time where tribal identities are constantly challenged.
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