Anupam Paul

Sharmila Joshi

Text Editor

large_01.1_Shut-your-trap-Catching-rats-in-the-Santhal-Parganas.jpg

medium_01.1_Shut-your-trap-Catching-rats-in-the-Santhal-Parganas.jpg

small_01.1_Shut-your-trap-Catching-rats-in-the-Santhal-Parganas.jpg

thumbnail_01.1_Shut-your-trap-Catching-rats-in-the-Santhal-Parganas.jpg

01.1_Shut-your-trap-Catching-rats-in-the-Santhal-Parganas.jpg

Leta Paharia shows us some of the indigenous, home-made rat traps of the Santhal Parganas region of Jharkhand.  A small farmer of Ghaghri village in Sunderpahari block of Godda district, Leta makes these traps himself. So do many other older generation men of the Santal and Paharia tribes.
 
 The traps are kept in the paddy fields, or wherever grain is stored, and the Adivasis find them effective in catching the rodents. The devices you see in the video clips here are made of bamboo and
 
 sal (Shorea robusta
 
 
 )
 
 wood. There are other designs too in the rat traps made here. But these were the three I filmed when I visited Ghaghri in November 2016.

Shut your trap!

ତୁମ ଯନ୍ତା ବନ୍ଦ କର!

ঘাগ্ৰীৰ সেই দেশী ফান্দখন!

Ghaghri

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


ଆସନ୍ତୁ ଆପଣଙ୍କୁ ପରିଚିତ କରାଇବା

ପରୀକୁ ସ୍ୱାଗତ

ଆମର ସମସ୍ତ ବିଷୟବସ୍ତୁ ସବୁବେଳେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ପାଇଁ ମାଗଣାରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ରହିବ। ଯଦି ଆମର କାମ ଆପଣଙ୍କୁ ଭଲ ଲାଗୁଛି, ଆପଣ ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀ ଭାବରେ ଆମକୁ ସହଯୋଗ କରିପାରିବେ କିମ୍ବା ଆମ କାମ ପାଇଁ ଆର୍ଥିକ ଅନୁଦାନ ପ୍ରଦାନ କରି ଆମକୁ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିପାରିବେ।

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

Shut your trap!

Leta Paharia of Ghaghri village in Jharkhand uses various home-made devises – a bow-and-arrow contraption, traps that crush with blocks of teak, and traps that impale with bamboo sticks – to decimate rats

Related stories

Living on ravaged land

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Death of a carpenter

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit

A bitter harvest

Fate of a Mountain Trumps Fate of an Election

Illegal Mining's Ground Zero

Hanging by a thread

Visible Work, Invisible Women: an online photo exhibition

Life in the company of coal

Bhangaddih's women

Urgent Call

The Tubri competition

The Barefoot Conservator

No Free Kicks in Meerut

The wilderness library

A wedding in Niyamgiri

Visible Work, Invisible Women: To market, to market … (Panel 7)

Visible Work, Invisible Women: And gathering their lives (Panel 6)

Visible Work, Invisible Women: A lifetime bending (Panel 2)

Visible Work, Invisible Women: Bricks, coal and stone (Panel 1)

Visible Work, Invisible Women: Home again, home again … (Panel 8)

Kali: the dancer and his dreams – film

Films coming up on PARI