Early this year, the Irula Snake Catchers’ Industrial Cooperative Society, a 44-year-old institution and India’s largest snake venom producer, was going through a turmoil with the state forest department sitting on its proposals to clear pending stocks and also delaying the permission to catch their full-quota of snakes.
TNIE published an article on their plight, which forced the government to take cognizance of the issue. Within a week, the department cleared the proposals to sell the venom and issued orders allowing irulas to catch the pending quota of snakes for the year.
Officials at the society told TNIE that this year the society made good sales and its members already caught 50 per cent of their quota and were waiting for orders to catch the remaining snakes.