Prawn seed collectors in Sundarban- Their Socio-economic & health condition and rehabilitation

Sundarbans, the world famous deltaic region, is situated just a few hours journey from Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal in India. It is also known as Sundarban Biosphere Reserve for its wonderful combination of man and biosphere relationship. In 1987, UNESCO has recognised it as a Natural World Heritage site. However, this mesmerising man and biosphere relation is now in vulnerable state due to habitat degradation and ecological imbalance. This delta area is not very promising when it comes to agriculture. The soil of this region turns saline in many areas, which is not favourable for agriculture. Hence, aquaculture is the second preferred livelihood option here. Most of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribal communities of Sundarban have opted prawn seed collection as their alternative profession. Usually, the women folk take up this profession and are also accompanied by their kids.

Brackish water has high potentiality to grow prawns, specifically Tiger Prawn (P.Menodon). Since the prawn cultivation is more promising and cash earning profession, the agricultural land is also used for its cultivation after paddy harvesting. They sell them in the market to the middlemen or intermediaries at low cost, who sell them at higher price later. So, there is not much money at the collection level. 

As said earlier, the prawn seed collectors are mainly women who are supported by their children. The children help them storing the seeds in a container. As a result, most of the kids drop out their school and some even never go to school. The parents also find it lucrative rather than sending their children to school. This results in lower literacy level in this coastal community. In the early morning, the prawn seed collectors start moving near sea side or river side. Since morning, they stay inside water for 8 to 10 hours in search of the fingerlings. After working for long hours, they can hardly earn 40 to 50 Rs per day. The process of collection is hazardous to their health. The females suffer from various gynaecological problems, skin diseases, eye problems.

Dragging of net by the women prawn seed collectors

They need to stay bend in an awkward posture for long hours in this process resulting into various physical problems.  Staying long time in saline water also caused severe skin diseases. They drag the nets forwards and backwards for spreading the net, which involves a lot of energy causing fatigue, pain and injury. Constant muscle contraction and stress on bones make them weak. Lower job satisfaction and high job demand also leads to lower back pain. Knees and shoulders also get badly affected in this profession. The prawn seed collectors also suffer from sleep disturbance as they constantly feel the discomfort during and after the work. The heart beat rate and blood pressure level also increases during the seed catching process. The continuous strenuous activities by these females lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). According to a study titled “A Study among some Meendharas of Sunderbans, West Bengal” by Department of Anthropology, Calcutta University, more than 70% of the female prawn seed collectors suffer from uneasiness in ankles and 67% suffer from pain in feet. Other body parts like wrists, elbows, upper back and hands also bear the pain as they have to walk through 0.46 metre deep sticky mud and salty water.

Apart from regular physical hazards, they are also constantly under threat of accidental attack by estuarine crocodiles and small sharks. Snake bites as well as injuries due to mangrove roots and sea shells are also common in their daily routine. This profession has also taken many lives and some got seriously ill.

Besides harming their own life, the prawn seed collectors also damage their surrounding environment and ecology. While collecting prawn seed, they destroy the mangrove plants without knowing the importance of them for biodiversity. During the process of prawn seed collection, juveniles of many other finfish species get trapped in the net. They throw away those other species as they are not remunerative. As a result, the growth of other finfish species gets hampered, which are very important ecologically.

The coastal region of Sundarbans is highly affected by the impact of climate change through coastal erosion, tropical cyclones and rise of sea level. Mangroves are important to protect the coastal region from the grudge of cyclone and land erosion. Unknowingly, the prawn seed collectors are destroying their natural friend mangrove which is constantly protecting them. Due to land erosion, some islands are in the verge of getting submerged under water and some like Lohachara has already gone under sea.

Sundarbans has a unique ecosystem and a rich wildlife habitat and mangrove ecosystem that offers both goods and services for coastal community. It is also helpful in improving livelihood options. For example, the fishermen community collect mollusc shells from mangrove and prepare lime. The local people use the twigs of mangrove plants as firewood. The high content of tannin in mangroves makes it a durable timber. The local fishermen also use it for stopper and float making due to pneumatophores of mangrove. Mangroves are also natural medicine for the coastal community whose extracts are used in the treatment of incurable diseases like AIDS. The Avicennia species have great tonic effect.  

Mangrove is also protector of different juvenile aquatic species and serves as a habitat for several types of terrestrial fauna. It is also a source of nutrients that helps the sustenance of many complex food chains. So, the prawn seed collectors should be made aware of its benefits so that they stop destroying the mangroves. But, only awareness is not the sole solution of this issue as most of the families in the region survive with this profession only. So, until an alternative livelihood option is provided to them, the destruction process will not stop.

SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) is working for the biodiversity conservation of Sundarbans since last few years. In this endeavour, the organisation is offering alternative livelihood training to the prawn seed collector women so that they can afford to run their family. Some of these are given below-

1.       Training on scientifically cultivating Beetle Leaves.

2.       Training Programme in poultry keeping, duckery and goatery.

3.       Training for the culture of crabs and fishes in tidal fade ponds.

4.       Training programme in horticulture, nursery and culture of ornamental plants.

5.       Training on preparing different spices.

6.       Training on different aquaculture techniques.

SEED has started a non-formal Education centre in Sagar Island and four in Jharkhali Island to provide basic education to the children of this community.

Dr Kalyan Acharya on a regular helath check up visit

Apart from this, SEED also plans to offer treatment to these women who have been in this profession since long. They need to be in healthy physical condition to look for a better future in the coming days. The organisation is running health centres in both the islands to offer basic health support to them. They were trained to treat themselves in basic health issues like cough, cold, fever or small cuts. Dr. Kalyan Acharya from SEED visits these health centres regularly to check their health condition.

Rehabilitation of prawn seed collectors is not only important for these particular women community but also for the biodiversity conservation of Sundarbans. 

Sushmita Mondal – A Struggler and Motivator for many Women in Sagar Island

Gender discrimination still exists and power still lies with the male members in various sections of the society although it has decreased in some parts of the country. When we think of developing a community, we cannot simply progress with educating and involving men. Women empowerment is the basic need for the development of a community as she plays vast role in the life of her children who are the future of a community.

Sushmita Mondal is one such woman from Sundarban’s coastal fishing community, who is playing a great role in the development of her community. In fact, she is the force behind the progress of several women of her community. But, her journey to become an inspirational figure was not so easy and she had to fight a lot of odds and oppositions before reaching this position. 

Sushmita Mondal

Sushmita was only 16 year old when she was married to a landless daily labour. At this tender age, she started her conjugal life at Radhakrishnapur village of Rudranagar Gram Panchayat in Sagar Island (Sundarban, West Bengal).

Belonging to a scheduled caste coastal fishing community, Sushmita’s father had 7 children, of which she was the youngest. Her father was not interested in educating her as she had older brothers who were supposed to get preference being the heir of the family. However, with support from her mother, the adamant girl completed her studies till class X. Unlike her other siblings, Sushmita was very intelligent and committed to her studies so her father also had to support her finally. But, her dream of higher studies was broken when her family got her married just after her matriculation.

Sushmita with her family members

Here, at her in-law’s place, another struggle was waiting to welcome Sushmita as her father-in-law married another young woman. Thus, her mother-in-law was left aside heartbroken and was losing interest in life. At this time, Sushmita became a strong support to her by motivating her mother-in-law and gave her a new lease of life. Her husband along with his brother separated from her father-in-law’s new family. Now, the challenge was to run the family without any support from her father-in-law. Her husband used to earn a very small amount as daily labourer and from fishing. It was tough for the family to survive as she gave birth to a daughter during this period.

In 2011, SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) initiated various developmental works in Rudranagar GP area in association with the local Gram Panchayat. So, the GP members thought to involve Sushmita in this progressive work since she was educated and needed work to support her family. She was introduced to SEED workers and she started attending various group meetings. After few meetings, she realised that her work interest lies in serving people and SEED can give her the platform. So, she became an active member of the organisation and started contributing in several developmental works.

She has played active role in forming women Self Help groups in Rudrangar GP and encouraged other women in handicraft work, entrepreneurship development etc. She formed the SHG group named ‘Radhekrishna’ in Radhakrishnapur village and generated corpus fund under ICZMP (Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme) West Bengal.  SEED sent Sushmita to Hyderabad to attend a National conference on community based approaches for inclusive growth (microfinance, livelihood promotion and social agenda) as a delegate from West Bengal. This visit gave her an opportunity to interact with people of different fields and she could thoroughly understand the importance of ICZM project. This exposure made her more confident and enriched her knowledge base in the development field.

Sushmita with other SHG leaders

In Rudranagar GP area, there is a small section of Lodha community who are still far away from the other communities in terms of development. Initially, like other members of her community, Sushmita was also hesitating and was afraid to mix up with the Lodha community people, who were considered untouchables. Gradually, she overcame this fear and started mixing with them like any other member of her village. But Lodhas could not accept her easily. She was abused and sometimes physically tortured also when she tried to mingle with the women of their community. Her own community people shooed her away for this and criticised her. But, she was determined to work for the betterment of the Lodhas so finally others had to give in. Even her family members were against her work but now they are proud of Sushmita. 

Sushmita with Lodha women and kids

With the support from SEED and local Gram panchayat, she has been able to make them understand values of education, healthy food and safe drinking water. Lodhas have also accepted her as their well-wisher and the tribal women have become her friends for life. Now, they co-operate with her in all developmental works like sending their children to the non-formal school set up by SEED. She has also managed to bring the adult women in various livelihood training programmes organised by the organisation.

Now, along with her family members, the whole Gram Panchayat members and villagers feel proud of her. With all these responsibilities in her shoulders, Sushmita is also devoting good time to her family and her five year old daughter, who studies in class 1. She wants her daughter to become well educated women in future, who can take forward her good works in more efficient way.

Mainstreaming of Santhal Tribe Children of Dalla Village in Maldah

Dalla is a small village in the Habibpur block of Maldah district in West Bengal. The village is about 42 kilometres away from Maldah town. It is one of the 291 villages in Habibpur block, which is mainly inhabited by the Santhal tribe community. The block has almost three sides surrounded by the international border of Bangladesh. Among its total population, about one third of Habibpur block has Santhal tribe. The literacy rate of this block is very low and most of them are landless agricultural labour.

Now, we will take you back to the late 90s, when SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) came to know about the plight of these Santhal tribes of Dalla village. The village is situated near Punarbhava River close to the Bangladesh border in Maldah. In 1997, when SEED entered the village, it noticed that most of the tribal kids were school drop outs and the main reason was annual occurrence of flood in this area. The Santhal tribe people of Dalla village were mainly dependent on agricultural labour work. The red soil of this area produces a variety of rabi crops including winter rice. But, during the rainy season, the Punarbhava River used to get flooded and the homes of the villagers would go almost under water. The poor people had no other option but to move out of the village and get temporary shelter in districts like Bardhhaman and Hooghly. They would temporarily work as agricultural labour with a minimal income. For these few months, they could not send their kids to a new school.That meant their children had to miss their school for months, which was not acceptable to school authorities. They were not allowed to admit in school after 6 months of hiatus. As a result, their formal education was in stake and their future was in dark like their parents.

With an aim to offer basic education to these children, SEED started four short term non-formal education centres. During the dry season, these schools used to teach about 150 children for six months. They were also trained in painting, singing and dancing.  

Santhal children showing their drawing at one of the 4 non-formal schools

Thus, they were not missing education even though they could not go to full time formal schools. An NGO named ‘Maldah Sanskriti O Samaj Unnayan Parishad’ extended its support in this noble cause and thus the intervention continued for the next three years till 1999. Lots of children were benefited and mainstreamed through these education centres and they could also explore the world like other children of their age.

Food Habits of Lodha Tribe in Sundarban- Health effects and Biodiversity destruction

Sundarban is a world famous deltaic region in West Bengal, which has been recognised as a Natural World Heritage site by UNESCO. This world famous biosphere reserve is now under threat due to various reasons and one of them is constant destruction of biodiversity. Biodiversity destruction is again caused by different reasons.

The tribal population in India consists of a good share of percentage of total population. So, their activities play a great role in the development and existence of the country. Lodha tribe is one of the primitive tribes of India, who can be largely found in the state of West Bengal. A total of around 100 families of Lodha tribe can be found in Sundarban islands. They are one of the most backward and aboriginal tribal group in the state West Bengal. As per the government records, the total population of Lodhas in West Bengal is 57012. Among them, 29, 360 are males and 27652 are females. The literacy level of the Lodhas is also comparatively very lower than others.

Lodha tribes are mainly hunters by profession and they live in close association with forest ecosystem and environment to supplement their daily requirement of food. They depend on the forest economy by hunting animals like lizards, toads, snakes and different types of birds. They collect jungle produce like Babui-grass tubers, roots and nuts. Their regular meal consists of flesh of small animals, fish collected from rivers, birds, eggs, wild fruits and roots. However, their main dietary content is animal flesh and birds for which they kill lots of birds and animals daily. This causes a great loss in biodiversity.

Nutritional status can be calculated by dietary, anthropometric, biochemical and clinical methods. As per the statistics, Chronic Energy or hunger Deficiency (CED) among the Lodhas in West Bengal is 45.2%. They are facing extreme nutritional stress that may have severe health consequences pertaining to morbidity and mortality. To reduce the rate of CED among the Lodha tribe, an urgent proactive nutritional supplementation and intervention is required. This dismal health condition in this tribal community is due to various reasons like poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, lack of safe drinking water etc.

The socio-economic condition of the Lodhas in Sundarbans is very poor. They are yet dependent on hunting for food and livelihood and not skilled in agriculture. People of other class keep cleaning the forest for agriculture so Lodhas go more deep inside the jungle for hunting. Though some of them have started working as agricultural labour, most of them still illegally hunt animals like tigers, deer, lizards, toads, snakes etc. They trap turtles illegally and sell them in the market and also eat them sometimes. They also catch crabs from riverside, which is their main profession. Crab is also their regular food item along with other small animals and birds. Their usual non-vegetarian food habit and livelihood practice has become a huge threat to biodiversity of Sundarbans. Regular intake of non-vegetarian food also affects their behaviour and nature. The poachers also use them to kill rare species of animals illegally. As a result, they have become characterised as criminal tribe. The continuous destruction of forest produces and animals cause ecological imbalance and invites natural disasters like land erosion and flood etc. in Sunderbans.

As per the definition of World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of complete mental, physical and social well-being and not only the absence of disease or weakness. The poor nutritional status also results in high maternal mortality rate. Their food habits cause low haemoglobin (anaemia) among the pregnant women. Both the pregnant as well as lactating women in Lodha community are found having average calorie as consumption of balanced nutrient is lacking.

Rice is the main food grain for the Lodhas but daal (pulses) is rare in their meal. They collect honey from jungle risking their lives but cannot consume as they need to earn money by selling this honey. The non-vegetarian food which they take regularly lacks in fibre whereas vegetarian food is rich in fibre. These fibres help in providing vitamins and minerals to the body. The fibres also protect human body from heart diseases and stones by mutual action of cholesterol and bilirubin. With regular intake of fibre foods, they could avoid constipation and other related diseases like appendicitis, piles, hepatitis, hernia and varicose veins.

Regular high intake of animal flesh and birds increases the risk of heart diseases and cancer due to the saturated fat contents of it. Whereas meat should not be more than 10% of total daily calories, the Lodhas 90% food is non-vegetarian. They also do not clean the meat properly before cooking as they do not have idea about proper hygiene. This may lead to other diseases.

Considering all the above factors SEED (Society for Socio-Economic and Ecological Development), started a ‘Community Kitchen’ for the Lodhas in Rudranagar Gram Panchayat area of Sagar Island, Sundarban.

Lodha kids and adults enjoying healthy meal at community kitchen

The aim of this was to attract the Lodhas towards vegetable food items so that they do not indulge only in animal flesh items. It also aimed to keep them away from alcoholism. They used to intake country made cheap alcohols to control their hungry throughout the day when they go for catching crabs and other animals. It also developed a community feeling among them. For a period of three months, the community kitchen offered healthy mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. For the first time, they could taste the various pulses and vegetables. Thus, they could avoid hunting animals and destructing forest resources.

However, we need more concrete plan and intervention to make it a permanent practice among the Lodhas. Once, they realise the importance of biodiversity conservation and good benefits of taking balanced diet, the Lodhas can also be part of this mission of biodiversity conservation. For this, they need alternative livelihood option and education.

Child Marriage to Teacher of Children

Uma Barui

Child marriage is not acceptable by the law of our country as well as by the educated society but it is still prevalent in various parts of the country. The reason is lack of knowledge, poor economy and lack of education.  

Uma Barui, a daughter of Sundarban’s Sagardeep block is another victim of such early marriages. Her father was a poor landless labour of scheduled caste community in Rudranagar Gram Panchayat area. Being the eldest child, her father got her married early at the age of 16 years. When other girls of her age were planning to go to good colleges, Uma had to plan her marriage. The poor father of Uma was not able to support her studies after class X. He just wanted to get her married to a good family so that he can plan for his other children.

At 16, Uma started her marital life with a man of coastal fishing community, who had to support a family of 7 members. Her husband was also an agricultural labour, who used to spray fertilisers in the field. They could hardly start their conjugal life when the hell broke on Uma. While working in the field, a bag full of fertilisers fell on her husband’s shoulder and he immediately broke down. The spinal cord got distorted and he got bedridden. Their economic condition was not strong enough to support good treatment for this poor man. Uma tried her level best to support her husband in this crisis and went door to door to seek help for his treatment. But, his recovery was almost impossible.

At this juncture, SEED also started its intervention in Sagar Island’s Rudranagar GP. As Uma was already seeking help from everywhere, she approached SEED to help in her husband’s recovery. Dr. Kalayan Acharya of SEED came forward offering his helping hand. He gave his best to recover her husband and offered free treatment for almost 6 months. But, he was already in comma and was not responding to any treatment. Uma’s husband finally lost his struggle with life and passed away after one year of this incident. The girl, who was keeping hope against hope, finally lost all her hope and took the life of widow. Everyone in the village sympathised her but they blamed her bad luck for this.

Uma with her second husband

SEED volunteers and some community development members in the 

village came with an idea to give her a new life. They thought of getting her remarried to her husband’s younger brother. She was just 17 and it would have been very tough if she had to live the life of a widow for the rest of her life. But, in a village where people have their set social mind set, it was not easy to convince all for this widow remarriage. However, Panchayat representative Manoj Barui took initiative to approach the elder members of the community to convince for this almost impossible task. After days of meetings and discussion, all of them agreed considering her young age and her father’s poor financial and social status. Her in-laws also agreed as she was very humble and sweet in nature.

So, within two months of her husband’s death, Uma was remarried again and that too in the same family.

Uma teaching the kids 

But, that was not the solution as her new husband was also agricultural labour and was not able to earn enough to support his whole family. This is when SEED approached Uma and her family and offered to train her in teaching as she was educated enough to teach small children. SEED was running a non-formal school, where they needed a teacher, who could support another existing teacher. So, Uma was trained in teaching at Loreto Day School in Kolkata and joined the school in her village as a regular teacher. She is now getting Rs. 5,500 every month and is the highest earning member in the family. She has a daughter with her second husband who comes with her in the school.

Now, Uma is 23 and a self-made woman, who balances her family and professional life very efficiently. Apart from teaching in the school, she offers her service for the community development. She encourages girls in her village to go to school regularly and advises parents to not marry their daughters at early age like her. She knows the evils of child marriage and importance of education so does not want another Uma to suffer like her.