Padma Shri 2023 Winners: Tamil Nadu Snake Catchers Vadivel Gopal, Masi Sadaiyan Get Fourth-Highest Civilian Award

Chennai, January 25: Expert snake-catchers from the Irula tribe in Tamil Nadu, Vadivel Gopal, and Masi Sadiyan, were conferred the Padma Shri – the country’s fourth-highest civillian award – on the occasion of the Republic Day 2023. Padma Awards 2023 Full List: Check Names of Recipients of Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri on Eve of India’s 74th Republic Day.

The duo, despite their lack of formal education, travel across the globe for catching snakes as well as to teach snake catchers. They use old and indigenous techniques, inherited from their forefathers, to catch the reptiles. Padma Awards 2023: Mulayam Singh Yadav Awarded Padma Vibhushan Posthumously; SM Krishna, Zakir Hussain, Sudha Murty Among Awardees.

In 2017, the duo was taken to Florida for a pilot python detection project funded by the Florida University. Both Vadivel and Masi caught more than 27 pythons there.

(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on Jan 25, 2023 11:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).