With eyes closed, *Jayalakshmi wades in and weaves through the Great Salt Lake, in the Kovalam-Nemmeli backwaters, her fingers scooping up prawns and fish. From morning to evening, she fills prawns inside a bag punctured with holes at the bottom. For as long as she can remember, the 43-year-old, who belongs to the Irular community in Thiruvidanthai, Chengalpattu, has practised the art of catching prawns and fish, by hand.  “Everything depends on this aaru (the lake). We know exactly where the prawns are, beyond the thorns, snakes and seru(mud or mud flats ”she says. The salt burns her eyes and…

80 kilometres south of Chennai stands the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) — one of two big nuclear power plants in Tamil Nadu  — and its affiliate organizations. These organizations employ around 15,000 permanent employees, who mostly live with their families in the Kalpakkam and Anupuram townships, located approximately 5 kms from the nuclear plant. The distance is said to mitigate health risks from radiation. But they are not the only human resources of the plant. More than 4000 workers, hundreds of them migrants to the state, are employed on a contract basis every year in construction, housekeeping, catering, hygiene…