Tasar Silkworm Rearing in Rajdah

Rearing tasar worms is a precarious and fragile practice that the Santhal tribals and other villagers engage in, both because this has been their traditional occupation and because a good harvest provides them a much-needed economic support

Introduction

A fter spending about six months with a project, I realized that I seriously lacked a good understanding of the traditional tasar rearing practices. This ignorance became more pronounced when one of my colleagues Uday (Kagal) left the project; he was the only person, other than our team leader (Mithilesh ), who knew the subject well.

My six-month exposure (I joined in April 1990) in the development sector had altered my earlier belief that technology was the only thing that one should grasp in order to make a contribution to the process of development. Instead, I started seeing technology and its appropriateness in the backdrop of the socio-economic context of an area. Perhaps, this should be the approach to enhance the usefulness of technology and give a real impetus to development. Thus, I decided to learn the biological aspects of traditional rearing practices as well as to make a critical study of the socio-economic factors associated with it. As far as accessibility is concerned, Rajdah is quite remote, at a distance of 6 km from the Dumka- Bhagalpur road. I chose this village for my learning because it was part of the largest tasar rearing clusters in Bounsi block.