Barter system is alive here

A donkeys life

Bartering has come a long way in India from exchange of goods for goods in ancient India to online bartering in the information age.

But the traditional method of bartering is still prevalent here.

Exchanging salt for ragi practiced here is an example. Donkeys are still used for transporting salt.

The ‘traders’ trade the salt for ragi from street to street. A tin container serves as a measure. One-and-a-half tins of salt is exchanged for one tin of ragi.

Traditional job

There is a community which has been traditionally selling salt to earn their livelihood.

They source the salt from Chennai in trucks and store it.

They then take it on the backs of donkeys of the from street to street and barter it for ragi. The ragi thus collected is sold in nearby towns.

Now that it is harvest season, bartering is brisk, and the salt is always carried on donkeys as hiring tempos is expensive. The cost of rearing a donkey is minimal as they survive by eating whatever they find in their surroundings, says salt trader Thimmaiah.

Fall in demand

In recent times, the villagers have started using iodised salt, which is available at subsidised price in fair price shops. As a result the demand for salt sold on donkey’s back is on the decline. But they continue the tradition despite the decline in demand for salt.

There are other hawkers who carry bartering with other items. In ancient times when money was not invented trade as a whole was on barter system. This continues to some extent in Srinivaspur.