CHENNAI: Scientists are working on vaccines for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in cows and finding cures for Bluetongue disease in goats and sheep. However, scientific advances like these rarely reach livestock farmers, who could benefit a lot from it.
In a bid to transmit information from academicians to farmers, a group of scientists and Tamil enthusiasts have come together to form the Tamil Society for Veterinary Sciences.
The society’s primary aim is to translate leading international research work in veterinary sciences into Tamil and ensure that common people benefit from it.
“When most research gets stagnated within the academic level and is written in English, people who need it the most, never gain from it. Through this initiative, we want to break these elite barriers, and make sure that top level development in animal sciences is available in a language and format livestock farmers can comprehend,” said T Ravimurugan, president of the society.
The society comprises animal experts from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and Department of Animal Husbandry, Tamil Nadu and Tamil experts from across educational institutions in the State. While the society was recently registered with nearly 300 members on board, it will be launched in February.
While the conference will be the first public event, members have already started contributing in various forms, he said.
“Many of the members have started translating veterinary science textbooks to Tamil. Leading research work too will be translated soon,” he said adding that the aim is to consolidate all veterinary and animal science concepts in Tamil.
While information is being translated from English to Tamil, the reverse will also happen, said N Kumaravelu, the society general secretary.
“There is rich collection of information on livestock, their roles in ecosystem and agriculture, their relationship with humans and breeding pattern, hidden in ancient Tamil literature. Ideas that have been lost over time, can be revived from Sangam literature and other manuscripts,” he said adding that many members of the society are already poring over pages of text to extract information.
Kumaravel says that along with information, one can also collate scientific words that are not in use anymore.
Translating technical research to Tamil and other regional languages, have been rather challenging, as many technical words used in English words do not have standardised regional equivalents.
He added that the society also plans to felicitate and honour researchers, who work towards ensuring that wisdom on veterinary sciences is available in Tamil. In a move to expand the community, the society will kick-start officially through an international conference to be held in February 2019.