Spatial Distribution and Demoraphic Characteristic of Gujjars in Jammu Division: A Case Study of Rajouri and Poonch Districts

Abstract

The spatial distribution of ethnic groups and tribal population is an interesting area in which the social and cultural geographers and sociologists are increasingly probing. For the ethnic minorities, especially for the transhumant and migratory people land and forest are the source of life. The present paper is an attempt to examine the spatial distribution and demographic characteristic of Gujjars and Bakarwals with special focus on their population and settlement in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir State of India. To identify the Gujjars settlements in the Rajouri and Poonch district. The socio and economic backwardness of the Gujjars and Bakarwals is a function of rugged topography, hilly terrain, prejudices, orthodoxy, illiteracy and the traditional mode of life. There is a conspicuous shift from transhumance to agricultural and non-agricultural sectors among the Gujjars and Bakarwals. The spatial distribution of ethnic groups and tribal population is an interesting area in which the social and cultural geographers and sociologists are increasingly probing. For the ethnic minorities, especially for the transhumant and migratory people land and forest are the source of life. Although transhumant tribal people vary widely in their customs, tradition, culture and impact on the land, all consider the earth like a parent and revere it accordingly. In their opinion, 'Mother earth' is the centre of the universe, the core of their culture, the origin of their identity as a people. The land connects them with their past (as the home of the ancestors), and with the future. In this way ethnic group's indigenousness carries with it a sense of belonging to a place. In their opinion land cannot be given or taken away. We belong to the land. Our spirituality, our culture and our social life depends upon it. At the heart of this deep bound is a perception, an awareness, that all of life-mountains, rocks, rivers, animals, plants, insects, people are inseparably interconnected. In their society, material and spiritual words are woven together in one complex web, all living things imbued with a sacred meaning. According to Hayden Burgers "the earth is the foundation of tribal and indigenous peoples; it is the seat of the spirituality, the foundation from which our culture and language flourish. The earth is our historian, the keeper of events and the bones of our forefathers. Earth provides us with food, cloth, shelter and medicine. It is the source of our independence, it is our mother, we don't dominate her, and we must harmonize with her. In the developed world, land is in the hands of private individuals, corporate investors, or the state and can be disposed of all the will of the owner. For tribal people like the Gujjars and Bakarwals of the Jammu and Kashmir state land, especially pastures are held collectively for the community in which the families have customary and traditional rights to graze their cattle, goats and sheep. According to indigenous law, man kind can never be more than a trustee of land, with a collective responsibility to preserve it. These people, still in harmony with the environment around them, don't isolate themselves from other livings, nor consider one creature superior to another their philosophy of life is 'from every one according to his capacity and to every one according to his needs'. The present paper is an attempt to examine the spatial distribution and demographic characteristic of Gujjars and Bakarwals with special focus on their population and settlement in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir State of India. The main objectives of the present paper are as under: To identify the Gujjars settlements in the Rajouri and Poonch district, the geo-climatic and socioeconomic factors responsible for the spatial distribution of Gujjars settlements in the region. To prepare an initiary of the resource base (land, pasture, forest, water and minerals) of the Rajouri and Poonch districts and discuss the transhumant patterns of the Gujjars and Bakarwals, To analyses the characteristic of the Gujjars population and the main hurdles responsible for socioeconomic transformation of the Gujjars and Bakarwals. To suggest a suitable strategy for the social wellbeing, economic prosperity of the Gujjars and Bakarwals of the region to make the resources sustainable and to enhance the resilience characteristic of the physical endowments. The socio and economic backwardness of the Gujjars and Bakarwals is a function of rugged topography, hilly terrain, prejudices, orthodoxy, illiteracy and the traditional mode of life. The Sedentrisation of