Sustainability of Van Gujjar: A Transition of Muslim Pastoral Tribe in Himalayan Region

ABOUT THE BOOK The Book is about the forest dwelling tribes of Northern Himalayas who are in the process of resettlement by the Uttarakhand Government in India. This book discusses the sustainability issues of this tribe in the I context of vulnerability and livelihood strategies. The main theme and objective is to make available the literature pertaining to Van Gujjar tribes. Since this tribe is least researched tribe of the region so there is a literature available on them. Van paucity of secondary Gujjars are on the verge of cultural extinction due to resettlement plan and are undergoing new emerging livelihood strategies. This book has a readership of academicians and researchers who are working on sustainability and marginalized communities, displacement and resettlement of Tribals, Livelihood strategies and women empowerment in Tribal communities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Rubina Nusrat has her Masters in Social work from Aligarh Muslim University and Doctorate degree from School of Extension and Development Studies, IGNOU. She has taught at Masters level at Department of Sociology and Social work, Aligarh Muslim University and Department Of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia University. She has authored a number of papers in peer reviewed International and national journals of repute and contributed a chapter in an edited book. She has attended and presented papers in several seminars, workshops and conferences (International and National) related to Social sector. Her area of specialization is Social Inclusion, sustainability and Livelihood.

PREFACE The Book is about the forest dwelling tribes of Northern Himalayas who are in the process of resettlement by the Uttarakhand Government in India. This book discusses the sustainability issues of this tribe in the context of vulnerability and livelihood strategies. The main theme and objective is to make available the literature pertaining to Van Gujjar tribes. Since this tribe is least researched tribe of the region so there is a. paucity of secondary literature available on them. Van Gujjars are on the verge of cultural extinction due to: resettlement plan and are undergoing new emerging livelihood strategies.

This book elaborates on an overview of the Van Gujjar community in the context of time and space. It discusses about the sustainability issues of Van Gujjar. This book used the sustainable livelihoods framework to describe the livelihood context of Gujjar: a nomadic pastoral community dwelling in the foothills of Himalayas and drew out implications for Animal Husbandry activities. The sustainable livelihood framework sets out the relationships between the household asset base and factors that exert pressure on the asset base, including policies and institutional processes. It looks at livelihood strategies that are taken to achieve desired outcomes. In the paper, the vulnerability and risks are discussed from the viewpoint of the community itself rather than from an outsiders viewpoint. This framework also emphasizes on the interlinkages of the extrinsic factors. impacting the livelihood strategies of the respective communities, inferencing on the service delivery and concluding with analysis of opportunities. The asset base vulnerability enhances owing to the external shocks and trends. Animal Husbandry plays an important role in sustaining the livelihoods of the resource poor Gujjars in foothills of Himalayas. This book emphasizes on the marginalization of Van Gujjars.With the declaration of new. Protected areas and National parks have led to their eviction from their traditional habitat of Rajaji National Park in the Shivalik foothills and Govind National Park in their traditional Bugyals(grasslands), indirectly forcing them to give up transhumance that has been their way if living since centuries. With increasing international emphasis on the conservation of biodiversity, policies need to be devised out for the Van Gujjars so that they are able to benefit from recognition of their role in conserving livestock genetic diversity, promoters of valuable indigenous breeds of buffalo and indigenous knowledge and also about coping mechanisms from environmental stresses. The book corelates the changing values among Pastoralists of Himalaya in the wake of Globalization. It describes on the Gender roles in Gujjar community. This chapter discusses the triple role of production, reproduction and community workers played by the Gujjar women. It gives a detailed account of the pertinent factors that are leading to the empowerment of females of this community. An aspect of the book enumerates the strategies for sustainable livelihood. This book eventually highlights on the Indigenous knowledge's of Van Gujjars. It tries to explore as to how the biodiversity of Himalayas is retained through their indigenous knowledge and it could further be enhanced through their participation and management techniques.

**Contents and Sample Pages**