The snake-charmer tribal communities in West Bengal can now expect a better life.
A state project will help the community breed snakes for venom
KOLKATA: The snake-charmer tribal communities in West Bengal can now expect a better life.
The state government, in association with a reputed non-government organisation and the Indian Bediya (snake-charmer’s) Federation has decided to adopt the Chinese model of setting up snake breeding firms in different parts of the state, with an aim to generate stable income for this community.
The project is currently at the planning stage, and according to the federation state president in West Bengal, Raktim Das, once the project is implemented, around one lakh snake-charmer tribal families will benefit from it.
He said the project would be the second of its kind in India, the first one being in Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu few years ago, which provided regular and stable income to the Irula snake-charmer community in the state.
According to Das, the snake-breeding firms would be run on a cooperative basis and the start-up cost would be born by the state government.
Reputed global NGO, Action Aid International, which has immense exposure and expertise in tribal welfare in India, has been approached to provide technical expertise for the project, and also to arrange for overseas funds.
“China was the first country to adopt the idea of snake-breeding firms and the system has been extremely successful there. If necessary, our experts will go to China to gain first hand knowledge of how the system works there and then implement it in West Bengal,” Das said.
According to him, after setting up the firms, people form the community will be given training on artificial breeding of snakes. “After that they would able to sell the venom procured at the firms to different government-approved laboratories. Snake venom is in high demand internationally because of its usage in life-saving medicines,” Das said.
He said the federation has already received in-principal approval from the state’s backward-class welfare department, which has agreed to fund the project.
The stringent wildlife conservation norms have made life difficult for the snake-charmer community. Because of this pressure on their traditional means of livelihood, they are increasingly taking to crime.
c_sumanta@dnaindia.net
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