Role of Socio-religious Beliefs in the Conservation of Natural Resources Viz a Viz Modern Education and Technology: A consideration from Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract

Socio-religious and traditional beliefs play an imperative role in the management and conservation of the natural resources and the environment. Facts findings were made through the process of personal interviews with elders and elites of the different communities residing in all the 08 tehsils of Poonch District. Group discussions with colleagues, visits to socio-cultural and religious places, discussions with traditional priests and women folk were also taken into account. Additional information was collected from the existing literature. It was discovered that modern science and technology has succeeded in bringing the destruction of the earlier system of resources management and conservation. Through the alien’s moral and technological education, the cultural practices that sustained the environmental resources have got eroded. The resultant effect was the reckless destruction and unsustainable utilization of natural resource. Most of the resources have been destroyed to critical levels. Thus the socio- cultural and religious practices that has conserved and maintained the environmental resources in the past need to be revisited.