Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

ABSTRACT Transhumant Gaddis who residing in the area Bharmour Tehsil in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh are extremely backward. They spend summer in their permanent homes in Bharmour and cultivate their lands. In winter, they migrate to lower hills along with their sheep and goat in and around Kangra hills. Gaddis of Bharmour have been given the status of a Scheduled Tribe by the Government of India and are entitled to certain financial benefits. The important economic strategies of people in the mountain regions seem to be the utilisation of the different biotopes at various altitudes Economy of Gaddis is agro-postural. Land, Livestock and the considerable knowledge of the skills necessary to exploit them effectively are the principal economic resources. Supplementary but nonetheless of considerable importance, is the income from non-traditional resource. The cash value of the products of village artisans is relatively insignificant as compared with the return from agriculture and pastoralism but products themselves are vital to the village economy. Although, agriculture provides the bulk of the staple food Gaddis themselves give major importance to sheep and goat rearing. There is no weaver caste in the village as such, however spinning and weaving is done in every household in the village. This is an important supplementary occupation among the Gaddis and both men and women engage in it. The woollen cloth required for preparing their woollen apparel is woven by the people out of the wool spun by themselves. Gaddis maintain a short-term ecological, balance with the environment by migrations and winter dispersal, whereby the intensity of utilization of pastures is adjusted to the carrying capacity of the different pastures at the different period of time, while the long-term balance between flocks and pastures is beyond the control of Gaddis. The Gaddis also maintain an approximate economic and political balance with surrounding areas mediated through market exchange, and the institution of Panchayat and Biradari. For the present form of organization to persist, the Gaddis must be in demographic balance. Since the Gaddis are partial isolate with in the larger population of the area, the factors involved in this balance are both biological and social.