Among the Sundarbans, which hosts the world’s largest mangrove forest, the monsoon used to separate. The weather is not only that activities related to it. Even in the first decade of the century, fisherman Swapan Kumar Mandal packed his evening with rehearsals. He used to manage Bishanupriya Opera, A Scholarly (Folk Theater) Troop which is distinctive in Bonbibir Pala, a folk theater form based on The Legend of Bonbibbiban’s guardian deity, which prevents fishermen and tiger attacks with honey time.
This year, however, among the members of the congregation, lead singers Shremonto Sheets and Khakon Sana are working as agricultural laborers. Once the fishing season begins, they are engaged in sea fishing. Some other musicians and actors will soon travel to Kerala to work in a fishing traler.
Mandal in its 50s says Mandal says, “The income less than fishing in West Bengal has left the fishermen of the state in a strict drainage. Folk music and drama are disintegrating due to migration. Also, television and smartphones are taking place for traditional outdoor recreation,” Mandal said in his 50s. A farmer-cum-corporator, he lives in the village, Gosa, which is the largest island in the Indian part of the Sundarban Delta landscape.
Small and marginal fishermen of Sundarbans are struggling to survive. , Photo Credit: Getty Images
Sunderban, Major fishing hubs of West Bengal, are made of mangrove forests, islands and chris-crossing rivers, creek and channels, home of about 250 fish species. It acts as the largest supplier of fish for the capital Kolkata, which has a population of six million, and where the fish is an essential part of the daily diet.
Nevertheless, small and marginal fishermen of the Sundarbans are struggling to survive. With a decrease in fish heaps, income is decreasing. This year, the mood is additionally sombre, with Hilsa, the golden crop of Bengal water, removing the mesh on a large scale.
“केवल 10% नौकाओं को मध्य-से-जून में जून में हिल्सा मिला। लगभग एक महीने के लिए कुछ भी नहीं था। जुलाई के अंत में, लगभग 10-15% नौकाओं में कुछ हिल्सा हौस थे। बाकी अन्य मछलियों के साथ लौट आए,” नारायण दास, दक्षिण 24-परगनास जिले के अध्यक्ष और एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, एक संगठन, An organization, a organization, an organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization, a organization.
Bengali favorite fish, a seller with Hilsa. , Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar
Walking south
The slave reduced the fish carrying, which is the effect of trawling, increasing pollution and increasing salinity in rivers for other reasons.
He says that laws stop downwards – in which fishing nets go to the floor of the sea – because it destroys seabed ecosystem. In addition, trawling is allowed only 12 knots from the coast, as coastal water is reserved for traditional fishermen. However, there is no mechanism for monitoring or implementation of these rules and therefore, there are mass violations.
Says Das, “We have seen travelers entangling downwards within the prohibited area of 12 knots. As a result, the seabed ecosystem has been damaged and inland fishing is badly hurt,” says Das.
The migration of fishermen from the Sundarbans began on a large scale after cyclone Ela, in 2009, the area was destroyed, especially by increasing the soil salinity in thousands of acres of fields and filled with saline water. While the fertility of the land has been cured over time, the speed of migration has remained due to the decrease in the collapse of the fish.
A beautiful fissure with his mesh. , Photo courtesy: snigdhandu bhattacharya
Take the case of Krishna Das, a 45 -year -old resident of Shibpur Paschim village of Kakddvip block. From this month, Krishna and his two brothers, Chaitanya and Prabir, will work in Kerala for the next 10 months, sometimes coming back home.
Since the last four years, they have been spending time in their beautiful people’s house – where their parents, wives and children live – only in the months of June and July, when Kerala implements annual trolling ban. “By mid -August, more than 200 men from our village will be in Kerala,” says Krishna.
There is another section of migrant workers that catch fish in Sundarbans by September, but go to Kerala during the lean period (October-March/ April) for fishing in West Bengal.
In Kerala, migrant workers who work on large ships, who go on fishing trips, last for one or more weeks, usually remain on the boat only when it is docked on the shore. Some live in cheap housing facilities, sharing small rooms between three to four persons.
A 2023 working paper that focuses on the migration of traditional fishermen from Sundarbans, Ponani and Bapor’s port in Kerala-A Migration Corridor has evolved over the last few decades-says that continuous-migrations of workers of other states are a major factors that help to help boat owners in Kerala.
However, migrant workers say “informal work system, non-standard forms of wage payment, lack of proper facilities such as housing and hygiene, and the absence of state initiative to protect their rights and rights”, says as co-writing by Roshan Menon, Tara Nair and Atanu Ghosh.
Disappearance
A Bonbi Temple in Sundarban. , Photo courtesy: snigdhandu bhattacharya
A Jadaavpur University’s research paper of 2024, titled ‘Ma Bonbibi: A Doves in the Soundarbunt of India in India & Bangladesh
Traditional folk art forms are mostly kept alive by amateurs, who do other things to acquire life. In Sunderbans, folk singers, dancers and theater actors usually depend on the gathering of fishing, farming or honey.
A Gosba, a resident of Gosba, who works with Bangalantec.com in Kolkata, a social venture for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, says that the migration is one of the major reasons behind the dissolution of folk art groups in the area. “A decade ago, there were about 20 Bonbibir Pala teams in our area. Now, there are only five,” they say.
Organization is working towards art form and promotion of art form, including using it for awareness campaigns on human trafficking. Experts say that migration-prone areas are also smuggled.
Sanayaz Ganguly the Theater Group kills Jana cultures, which has been working in Sunderban region for two decades. In the Patharpratima block of Sundarbans, their activities among teenagers today find most women participants. “Teenage boys are migrating to work. In addition, screen addiction keeps many young adults away from social activities,” says Ganguly. As a result, community-oriented folk art practices are disappearing.
Bonbibir Pala is not the only form of folk art affected by migration. Local music styles such as zari, saree and furnace also contain a decreasing number of doctors. Sourav Moni, a furnace singer from the Hingalganj block of Sundarban, says that seven years ago, a music troupe, Maji Malla, lost 70% of his regular participants due to the migration related to the work.
A Bonbibir Pala performance in Sunderban, West Bengal. , Photo Credit: Sayamindu Dasgupta/ Wiki Commons
What is Bonbibir Pala?
One of the most popular folk performances of Sundarbans, Bonbibir Pala is traditionally a part of the festival and parcel around the worship of the deity Bonbi in mid -January. But it is also done on other fairs and festivals throughout the winter.
In the darkness of the night, it was performed under the Makshift tent in the open grounds, the play lasts for about three hours and includes scenes that show the bonebi’s own hardcore-enemies, Dakshin Ray, which takes the form of a tiger and hunt fishers. Tools such as drums, tabla, shehnai and cymbals form background music.
The plays propagate peaceful co -existence with nature, and take a strong message against greed, recommend people to take only from the forests that are necessary.
blame game
Local people say that governments and politicians prefer to blame climate changes for Fisharfok’s stay, but avoid discussing how the river water is highly polluted due to uncontrolled discharge of industrial waste from Kolkata and its outskirts. Rivers have also lost their natural flow due to human intervention. For example, the Faraka barrage in North West Bengal is one of the major obstacles during the Hooghly River.
Fisherfolk does not see any immediate change in the situation. However, the DAS of DMF believes that among other moves, the Sundarban can prevent immediate acceleration of migration trends, monitoring and implementing travel guidelines in the main areas of Tiger Reserve.
Kolkata-based writers and independent journalists write on politics, policy, environment, human rights, history and culture in South Asia.
