Photo essay: Bakarwals of Jammu & Kashmir

Bakarwals and Gujjars are the third largest ethnic group after Kashmiris and Dogras inhabiting the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. According to the 2011 census, the Gujjars and Bakkarwals constitute 11.9% of the state’s population – 1.5 million out of 12.5 million.

Traditionally nomadic communities, with their names indicating the livestock they reared (Gujjars reared cattle, Bakarwals reared sheep and goats – “Gau” means cow, and “Bakara” is goat”), the communities have adopted somewhat different paths.

The Bakarwals of Jammu & Kashmir are predominantly Muslims and their way of life, language and customs are strikingly different as compared to their counterparts settled mostly in the plains of the state. Most of the one million Gujjars live in mountainous areas where they now depend heavily upon livestock rearing and small-scale agriculture. On the other hand the Bakarwals remain nomadic, and traditionally migrate to alpine pastures with their flocks of livestock for the summers. But even for the Bakarwals this is changing, as a significant percentage have settled in the plains owing to the increasing hardships the migration entails.

As education has become important, this has also led to changes, since the practice of migration is the biggest impediment for those who want to ensure formal education for their children. According to a study, majority of the [tribal] population – the Gujjars and Bakarwals – in Jammu & Kashmir is illiterate. As per the data, 15 districts of the mountainous state which have a substantial Bakarwal population, have literacy rates less than the average literacy of 50.6% among the indigenous population (reffered to as ‘tribals’ in government terminology. The study further stated that the dropout rate of tribals is increases as the education level rises, from lower-primary to elementary level (29.8% to 62.7%.)

In recent years, many pastures have remained out of bounds for nomads because of armed conflict in Kashmir. They have no access to north-west highlands of Kashmir like Gurez and Kargil. Some Bakarwal nomadic families found alternative pastures in the upper reaches of Dachigam, the habitat of the Hangul (or Kashmiri stag) which is Jammu and Kashmir’s state animal and the flagship species of the region’s wildlife. This has put them in direct confrontation with the wildlife department who accuse them of causing damage to the habitat of the Hangul.