Van Gujjars are India’s legendary & colorful nomads, mostly Muslims, tending to their buffaloes in the green pasture land in the Himalayas or its foothills. Their entry into forests, their abode for centuries, is now being increasingly blocked in the name of environmental protection.
The New York Times brings this poignant story alive in a beautiful photo-essay Showcase: Traveling With the Van Gujjar Tribe. “The Van Gujjar have been living and migrating with the buffalo for more than 1,500 years. But in recent decades, their area has been absorbed into national parkland and divided into new states.
“Government agencies are throwing up roadblocks, with claims that the tribe has no residential status and that grazing causes environmental degradation. Slowly, the authorities are intimidating the estimated population of 50,000 to 70,000 to settle in villages, essentially becoming conservation refugees.” To read the NYT article please click here…
All this is posing a serious threat to their livelihood, culture and lifestyle. There is no proof that their forest-friendly life ever posed a danger to the flora and fauna. Interestingly, these Muslim Van Gujjars do not eat meat. During my treks in the interior parts of my home state Himachal Pradesh (and adjoining state of Uttarakhand), I often interact with these fascinating people.
Americans would understand better if we recall the Yellowstone incident. Yosemite Park, which, as Ken Burns has now made widely known, was cleared of its indigenous population before it ever became a park. Then Yellowstone was cleared of its population.
The Christian Science Monitor has another moving story on Van Gujjars…”Many Van Gujjar grazing areas have been incorporated into wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, and India has long followed a conservation policy of ‘no people in parks’ (except tourists). Since the creation of Rajaji National Park in 1992, park authorities have pressured the Van Gujjars who winter there to settle in villages and learn to farm.
“Despite years of protest, 1,390 families have been relocated from Rajaji to settlements, where buffalo herding is impossible and their nomadic culture can’t survive.” More here…
Here is a link to an NGO working among the Van Gujjars…
The Youtube video below captures the life of Van Gujjars…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.