Teli’s giving up ancestral occupation

BANKE: A growing number of people from the Teli community here are abandoning their ancestral occupation of extracting oil from oilseeds for more ‘modern’ and financially viable enterprises.

The Teli people are finding it hard to earn their livelihood from this traditional vocation alone due to the advent of modern technology. The Teli people are feeling the heat to abandon their ancestral vocation because it is no longer sustainable and financially viable as the market is flooded with factory-manufactured cooking oil.

People of the Teli community who are known by the surname Sahu are compelled to look for alternative sources of income as their ancestral vocation of extracting oil and selling it no longer sustainable.

The Teli people used to extract oil by using the traditional Kol or a wooden grinder pulled by oxen for extracting oil.

Ninety per cent of the Teli people have abandoned their ancestral vocation, said Hansaram Sahu who is the president of the Sahu Samaj, a community association.

Their population in Banke district is more than 4,000. The Sahus are listed as the Madhesi community. RSS