AR Bhat
The cattle rearing community of high altitude region known as bakarwals derived its name from the Gojri word bakara which means goat or sheep. Bakarwal means shepherd, one who takes care of goats and sheep, being a nomadic tribe they migrate around a vast area from pir panjal to ladakh in Himalayan mountains of South Asia. They migrate from place to place seasonally for grazing of the cattle, they are mainly found in Kashmir region of India and Pakistan also in Northeast Afghanistan. This small community of people are facing an existential crisis in recent years struggling to maintain their traditional lifestyle due to changing forest landscapes, uncertain weather conditions and strict action from state government which prohibited bakarwals from staying in forest areas for short periods amidst their migration. The 3.4 million strong community of Jammu and Kashmir bakarwals primarily move around Kashmir forest, hills and camp at different locations and migrate time to time for grazing their cattle in summer and return to the plains during the winters and live a humble life at any place where they find fodder and water, this small community of people they don’t have any permanent place to call home. The changing landscape of forests due to modernization activities and illegal deforestation poses a serious threat to the community, today the tribe members fear for sustenance of their traditional lifestyle due to wild animal attacks on their cattle which is their main source of income, many a times wild animals attacked children and senior citizens of the group while they were grazing their cattle. The illegal deforestation forces wild animals to come out of the forest in search of food and water, this results in attack on cattle and bakarwals who were camping on the outskirts of forests.
In the winters the bakarwals move to warmer plains of Jammu for six months to protect their family and cattle from harsh cold of winters. It is extremely difficult to migrate from one place to another in the high altitude regions of Himalayas in winters, but due to uncertain snowfall in middle of summer and prolonged winters at the valley affects their lifestyle and left hundreds of families stuck on road sides with little food and almost no fodder for their cattle. The unforeseen and unseasonal snowfall and severe cold conditions in Chenab valley of Jammu and Kashmir in the month of June gave a tough time for the tribes who were mainly living in tents made of plastic sheets with almost no fire wood and food for both their families and livestock. The tribesmen are fighting against the tough conditions of nature for the survival of their family. Cattle dying due to no food and extreme cold affects their main source of income. In a good condition, a day of hard work would fetch a decent amount of money to take care of their family and cattle, but the changing landscapes and uncertain weather conditions directly affect their lifestyle and cattle, which challenges the survival of the bakarwals in recent times. The major concern and serious issue which is questioning the existence of the bakarwals is access to the forest lands, since they migrate periodically they settle on outskirts of forest for a short period of time, last year hundreds of families were issued with eviction notice stating they are illegally occupying forest, where they lived for decades, authorities even demolished their temporary shelters and made them homeless within the state, this is one instance. Earlier 33 bakarwal families of Jammu region was also given eviction notice in same scenario.
About the notice, Javaid Rahai the president of tribal association gave a statement few years back, “There is immense pressure on tribal families who live on state and forest land. The 33 families asked to vacate is just one of the cases which came to light, there are several other families who faced and facing the same threat because there are no law for tribal people, and there is no forest rights act. These people have no other option, there is a law for rehabilitation and state government can rehabilitate these people to an alternate location where they don’t have to face any such problems. If these people have no land to live where will they go? Crimes and violence against tribe people didn’t come to light, unawareness of these people are taken advantage of by the criminals. The harsh realities of the present day scenario is pushing the next generation to focus on getting good education to live a comfortable and an easy life, The administration has established community schools for tribal children in forest areas for the better future of the next generation. Despite many problems and difficulties of their traditional lifestyle, many are still determined to stick to their traditional life style. No matter what, few men are always committed to uphold the traditions even though the life is tough.
