Impact of Modernization among the Gujjar Community of Anantnag

Gujjars constitute a significant proportion of the population of the state Jammu and Kashmir. Gujjars form an important ethnic and linguistic group in Jammu and Kashmir and constitute 20 percent of total population of the State. Scattered in all most districts of the State, J&K Gujjars who are mainly Muslims stand out for their stately bearing, gentle demeanour, distinct attire and language. In the wake of modernization and homogenization that has led to transformation of traditional societies all over the country, the Gujjar tribe essentially a nomadic community is also getting permanently settled in colonies, taking to farming, businesses and joining government jobs on large scale. This has led to a kind of disconnect between the traditional and modern life style especially for the younger generation who are slowly moving away from their roots and have no idea about the ancient and rich historical lineage, cultural moorings and tribal origins. A detailed account of Gujjar history, culture and folk lore becomes all the more essential and important for the community Modernization is a process of removing imposed restrictions of one‘s culture in order to create an open broad concept of each way of society on its members. The most common conceptualization of modernization is a dimensional process of impact of new technologies and developmental process that has been occurring on every rapid pace in current times i.e. the increasing modernity, culture, language, education, lifestyle etc. facilitated by the new ways of life. The evidence for such modernization in recent decades can be found in the wide spread developed countries and societies or even abolition of regulatory backwardness and restrictions. Modernization is a multidimensional process of change that completely transforms the lives of individuals in the society.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Pandil (1954) in his study identified three categories of nomads as Bakarwals, Gujjars, and Baniaras. According to him, Gujjar and Bakerwals are quite close to each other by way of their dialect, ecology and social organization. They keep Buffaloes, Sheep and Goat, while Baniaras are the traders and the ones who act as links between nomadic and settled population. In the present paper the author attempts to highlight the impact of modernization on the tribal people (Gujjars) of District Anantnag. Manku, Darshan Singh. (1986), The Gujjar Settlements: Gujjrs, an ancient tribe traditionally

Many changes have been taken place in the livelihood activities since 1947. A cattle rearing is no longer the main occupation among them. Though few families still rear buffaloes, milk and milk products, except in the settlements near towns, are meant for domestic consumption. Mann, R. S and Vyas N.V. (1980), in their study ‗Indian Tribes in Transition‘, highlight the arguments of tribal conflicts in the process of tribal integration with the mainstream. They found that tribals are more attached to their traditional culture and not interested in accepting the modern mainstream values. Psychologically, these tribes are not prepared to accept these modern values and sometimes it became the hurled in the process of integration of these tribes with the larger mainstreams society. This study is very helpful to find out such factors which create any hindrances in the process of integration with mainstreams of tribal people. Singh, Gopal and Kamal Manohar. (1998) ―Social Transformation of Gujjar Tribe of Himachal Pradesh‖ in Tribal Development, A tribal society mainly differs from general society in their habitats, degree of isolation, social customs and beliefs. It does not mean that no interaction takes place across the boundaries of different societies. Interaction with other societies is certainly there, but it is limited and infrequent. Furthermore, a tribe is defined as a kinship group that constitutes a society. The members of a tribe consider each other to relate by ties of kinship. The restriction of kinship ties with in the tribal boundary is generally maintained by the law of endogamy. And this restriction strengthens and develops the tribal identity. Margay, Mohd, Bashir, (2003). Tradition and change: As a member of fact, Gujjar community have entirely been sedentarized and taken to agriculture and other economic activities especially in Jammu. Apart from agriculture, a large number of Gujjars have taken trade and commerce, besides being absorbed in the service sector. They are now permanently settled down in almost all towns and villages. The process of sedentarization is also the logical concomitant of the spread of education and an overall upgrading of standard of living. Whenever, a pastoral nomad achieves a satisfactory level of affluence or gets some education or both, the tendency to escape the hardships and uncertainties of pastoralism by adopting agriculture, trade or service as an alternative source of subsistence, become manifested.

METHODOLOGY:

The nature of this study is exploratory and descriptive because both primary and secondary data have been used. The Primary Data has been collected from 300 respondents from District Anantnag of Jammu and Schedule has been utilized for drawing precise inferences. The inferences were tabulated systematically for, in order to do analysis by simple percentage analysis. Secondary data is collected from journals, books, newspapers, published and unpublished work and websites.

The table 1.1 shows the age wise distribution of total 300 respondents 33.7% of respondents belong to the age group of (20-30) years. 32% of the respondents belong to the age group of (31-40) years. 29.30% of the respondents belong to the age group of (41-50). And 5% of the respondents belong to the age group of (above) 51 years. It is found that the majority of the respondents belong to the age group of (20-30) years.

The table 1.2 shows the gender wise distribution of the total 300 respondents. 98.7 percent of the respondents are Male. 1.3 per cent of respondents are Female. It is found that the majority of respondents are Male.

The table 1.3 shows the change in the occupational pattern of Gujjars. The above table further shows that majority of respondents parental occupation with 44% was pastoral works and only 01% of respondent‘s parents were in Govt. Service. The above table also shows the respondents occupation as it has been seen that majority of respondents with 42.3% have the occupation as domestic labour and 3% of respondents are in Govt. Service. The table shows the change which has occurred due to modernity the traditional occupation is going decrease day by day.

The above table shows that 70.3% of respondents are illiterate and the highest qualification of respondents is 10+2 with 2.3%. The above table also shows the educational qualification of respondents children, as it has been seen only 34% of respondents children‘s are illiterate and the highest educational qualification of respondents children‘s are Above Graduation with 01.7% as respondents responses. The above table shows the change in educational qualification which is low in parental times and has increased in during their children‘s times. All the respondents have the clear view that they are providing the education facilities to their children. They said that now a day‘s almost all the villages have primary, middle school and high school and secondary school at the distance of 2-3 km. So we can say that due to impact of modernization and development now Gujjars are showing keen interest in the education for their children.

The above table 1.5 shows that 89.7 percent of respondents prefer modern methods and dispensary for curing any kind of disease or sickness and only 10.3 percent respondents prefer traditional methods of treatment for sickness respectively. Above table reveals that in case of sickness majority of the respondent prefer to modern hospital and dispensary. This table clearly indicate that Gujjars believe in modern services in case of their sickness they prefer modern service health care. It indicates that they are accepting a modernization as a phenomenon of development.

A set of special assets can also determine the standard of living, because these assets have the ability to link directly with the other people. These assets include radio, T.V, Motor Cycle, Car, Mobile Phone. Table (1.6) reveals that only 07% of respondents have access of motorcycle/car/Other. The assets. The above table indicates that due to impact of electricity the traditional part of life like radio has been replaced into mobile phone. With this regard mobile craze has accelerated respectively. This shows that Gujjar Community may not be highly educated but still they are maintaining their living standards and they are changing with the change in society.

The table 1.7 shows the awareness of respondents about educational schemes. It has been seen in the table that majority of respondents with 73.3% are aware about educational schemes provided by both central and state governments, like scholarships, uniform, books, hostels mid day meals etc. 26.3% of respondents do not have any awareness about the schemes.

The Gujjar community which was once a nomadic, semi-nomadic and now settled community have accepted new and modern values and have changed their life style and traditional ways of living. They are no more dependent on livestock. The pastoral works are now a minor occupation. Besides this they have got involved in variety of occupations. They got educated and few among them are pursuing higher studies. The traditional way of curing sickness has replaced by modern mobile phone. This became possible only when they get electricity and got exposed to modern cities and towns. In short Gujjars have adopted modern trends of life.

Manku, Darshan Singh. (1986). The Gujjar Settlements: A Study of Ethnic Geography. New Delhi. Inter-India Publications. Pandil (1954), Rao Gopala N. (1978). Land Alienation- A Menance of Tribal Economy, Tribal 10 : (4) Mann, R.S and Vyas N.V. (1980). Indian Tribes in Transition. Jaipur: Rawat Publication. Singh, Gopal and Kamal Manohar. (1998). “Social Transformation of Gujjar tribe of Himachal Pradesh‖ in Tribal Development: Appraisal and Alternatives. Ed. Gupta, S.K, V.P Sharma and N.K. Sharda. New Delhi. Indus Publishing Company. Margay, Mohd, Bashir, (2003). Tradition and change: from Nomad to Sedentarization, Jammu. Oberoi Book Service.

Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, Barkatullah University Bhopal