Tamil Nadu state government has allowed Jallikattu event to be held in the state but with various rules, regulations and a set of standard operating procedures to keep the spread of coronavirus in check.
The government in its guideline said that the number of players taking part in the event should not to be more than 150. It will be mandatory for the players to provide Covid-19 negative certificate. In addition, the number of spectators not to be more than 50% of the gathering. All these sports must be held only in open grounds and 50% of the total capacity of visitors alone will be allowed to watch the sport. All visitors will be checked with thermal scanners, must wear masks compulsorily and follow physical distancing
Jallikattu, in the simplest of terms, is a sport conducted as part of Mattu Pongal, the third day of the four-day-long harvest festival Pongal. The Tamil word ‘mattu’ means bull, and the third day of Pongal is dedicated to cattle, a key partner in the process of farming. Bulls get more importance over cows for bulls help farmers to plough their field, pull their cart loaded with goods, and inseminate cows, in turn resulting in production of milk, offspring and preserving indigenous species. Usually, thousands of youths take part and try to control bulls but this time the participants will be limited. In Jallikattu and Manjuvirattu (another type of bull sport), only 300 participants will be allowed to take part and in Eruthuvarattu only 150 will be allowed to participate.
