Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

Legal Identity and Natural Resource Management 91
treasure to be carefully preserved, we tried to probe what she could do with
it. She replied curtly, ‘In the future, occasions will come, and it will enable
us to achieve something in our life, which otherwise would not at all be
possible’. Another woman said that she was protecting the certificate as
she would her son. All of the women said that what had happened that
day would stand for all time, eternally (ithu kaalathukkum nikkum).
TRIBAL FISHER’S COOPERATIVE AND
FISHING RIGHTS
The fishermen in the surrounding hamlets claim traditional fishing rights
in the mangrove waters. They have traditional, strategic spots where they
get a good catch of prawns. These spots are used cyclically, the same site
being visited every 10 days. Only the traditional fishermen, who are members
of the fishermen’s cooperative society, enjoy the fishing rights, through
an annual lease. With their newly acquired legal identity, the women and
men of MGR Nagar have been able to form and register the ‘Irular Meen
Pidippu Sangam’, with the support of the District Fisheries Department.
Irula women form almost 50 per cent of this tribal fisher cooperative.
The major advantage they have gained from the cooperative society is
the legitimate right to fish in the mangrove water, which was previously
denied to them by the traditional fishing communities living in the surrounding
hamlets. It is pertinent that the results of a PRA exercise, ‘Livelihoods:
Matrix Ranking,’ conducted with groups of Irula men and women,
showed that fishing in the mangrove backwaters was the most preferred
job among the major livelihood options available to them.
Another major gain is that they have become members of a Tamil
Nadu state-level Irula network, called the ‘Irula Thozhilalar Sangam’ (Irula
Labour Organisation). Through this network, the Irulas of MGR Nagar
receive traditional fishing boats and nets for fishing. These assets are given
to the households on a joint ownership basis. Both husband and wife are
involved in fishing, and work as a pair in the mangrove waters. The support
of different organisations contributed to completely eliminating groping
by hand in the mangrove creeks, a method that meant immense drudgery
for Irula women. Until 1999, all Irula women gathered prawns and fish,
mainly prawn juveniles, by sitting immersed for long hours in the