With displacement concerns looming, the Gujjar community is demanding that the Forest Rights Act be implemented in Kashmir, so that they can remain in their homes , besides the community continues to remain behind in education and other social indicators compared to other communities including scheduled castes and OBCs.
Each year as the winter wanes in Kashmir’s meadows, a timeless journey sets itself in motion on the plains of Jammu. Families of Bakarwal nomads and their live-stock—sheep, goats and buffalo—are ready to set out for alpine pastures and good grazing; it’s a journey that continues from spring, through summer, and un-til the onset of winter. Despite careful planning and ample rations, these migra-tions are daunting, taking the shepherds across raging streams and snow-covered passes. Bad weather and wrestling wild animals are par for the course, but it’s nothing that quick thinking and a sure-footed stride can’t handle.
There are other problems though. Roads now intersect several of their migratory routes, with convoys of trucks and taxis carrying tourists taking a toll on their an-imals. Once revered for the spartan lives they led, the Bakarwals today have been reduced to fighting for grazing rights in meadows. Being forced to contend with habitation more than ever before, they often run the risk of their sheep being sto-len, their dogs being poisoned, and other, much worse, outcomes. Like so many of India’s nomadic communities, the Bakarwals too are being gradually squeezed out of their niche. Many have already embraced a more sedentary life, working as unskilled labour for road builders.
Although it is said that the crime was meant to deter the nomads from travelling down from the heights every winter, life gives them no choice. As winter sets in they arrive at the foothills for sheer survival, and just as regularly when the winter snows begin to melt in April, begin their long journey with their livestock back to the alpine pastures for grazing during the summer. They return in September as the weather worsens.
As nomads, they move to warmer places twice a year to greener pastures with their cattle for grazing. The families live in kothas, or huts made of hay, wooden logs and mud. These huts remain abandoned in the harsh winters, when the Gujjars make their way south to Jammu for warmer cli-mates. They walk for days or months together with their cat-tle and families.
For many years, though, some nomadic families have given up this tradition of migration, preferring to stay put in Kashmir for the whole year. Their huts are located in forests across Kashmir. In Wangidaru, some Gujjar families say they’ve lived in the village for 70 years, if not longer.
After the abrogation of Kashmir’s limited autonomy , the region is now being federally governed. Authorities have implemented all of India’s central laws in the region. But they have yet to implement the Forest Rights Act 2006, which is applicable elsewhere in India. If applied, the act could pro-vide Scheduled Tribe communities, such as the Gujjar com-munity, with protection against evictions, and give them rights over the use of forestland for living and cultivation.
In addition, India is a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which urges member countries to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples. That includes the provision to protect rights to the “lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied and used.”
With displacement concerns looming, the Gujjar community is demanding that the Forest Rights Act be implemented in Kashmir, so that they can remain in their homes.
Nomad activists have started a 500-km-long march from Kupwara to Kathua covering all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir. They are visiting tribal vil-lages, apprising people about the inclusion of upper castes as scheduled tribes and how it is going to impact their future.
The Gujjar-Bakerwal community continues to remain behind in education and other social indicators compared to other communities including scheduled castes and OBCs.
Under the ST status, the Gujjar-Bakerwals are getting 10% reservation in edu-cation and government jobs besides nine reserved seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
The government’s move to include Pahari-speaking people and other upper caste groups like Gadda Brahmins in the ST category has made them feel in-secure.
After recommendations by a commission to grant ST status to Pahari-speaking people, Kohlis and Gadda Brahmins, the Jammu and Kashmir ad-ministration has reclassified “Pahari-speaking people” as “Pahari ethnic group” to pave way for their inclusion in the ST category. The reclassification will avoid any legal hurdles since no reservation can be given on linguistic grounds.
The Gujjar-Bakerwal tribals say even if the government increases the ST quo-ta from the current 10% after including upper castes in the reserved category, they just cannot compete with them and eventually will be left out of educa-tion and jobs. This also means nine Assembly seats reserved for Gujjars and Bakerwals will no longer remain as their exclusive domain.
“It’s an assault on a community that is historically marginalised. It was be-cause of reservation that some of us were able to get an education and jobs. Now it appears they are taking it away after including upper castes in ST cat-egory,” one of the Gujjar activists said.
As per the 2011 census, there are more than 12 lakh Gujjar-Bakerwals living in Jammu and Kashmir. A large section of the two communities herd buffa-los, goats, and sheep. They are often on the move from one grassland to an-other for grazing.
The government has opened mobile schools for nomad children. About 40,000 tribal students are enrolled in these seasonal schools even as critics say many such schools exist only on paper.
Tribals say that given their background, how can their children who are get-ting an education while grazing cattle can compete with upper caste people if they are included in the ST category? Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent visit to the state , assured the delegation of Gujjar community that their rights will be pro-tected. But at the same time, Mr Shah announced ST status for Paharis and other groups. but how can they give scheduled tribe status to upper castes on the basis of their language?” asked an activist as he led a march in Ganderbal district.
Ahead of possible assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, ST status to Paharis and other groups is seen as a major political move by the Bharatiya Janata Party to win maximum seats in the state. The region was stripped of statehood and special status in 2019 and remains without an elected government for more than four years.
