“It was only decades ago that we could earn a profit from grazing our cattle and selling their milk. Now our cattle do not provide enough milk for sale. Earlier it used to be that a dangar (cattle) could help sustain a family, now it has all changed.”
Seated on a charpoy outside her dera (home), Husan Bano is telling us about the many issues plaguing the lives and livelihoods of her tribe — the Van Gujjars. Bano is part of Van Vaha, a small settlement amidst a forest area adjacent to the Rajaji National Park, in the district of Dehradun. Van Gujjars are known to be transhumant — i.e. a nomadic, pastoralist people who migrate with their cattle from lower plain areas to higher mountainous regions. However, the Gujjars of Van Vahan, like Husan Bano, are settled in one place and even practice small-scale farming. In recent times, the farming has only been able to support the growing of fodder for the cattle, with crops like chari (sorghum) and bajra (pearl millet).
Another member of the tribe, Sehan Bibi, also tells us that getting sufficient milk from her buffaloes to sell in the market has been a challenge of late. Her husband collects milk from the different households in their village of Kunnao, near Rishikesh, and then supplies it to the marketplace. “A few of my buffaloes lost their calves and do not produce any milk. Whatever little we get out of our cattle, we can only use at home,” she rues.
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The Van Gujjar community is an indigenous community whose primary source of living is dependent on transhumant migration of their cattle, mainly gojri buffaloes. The community shares a symbiotic relationship with the cattle as well as the forests on which both depend. Van Gujjars and their co dependence with the forests in the hills of Uttarakhand has always been rooted to benefit the larger ecosystem.
“Gujjars share many cultural ties with the forest ecosystems of Himalayas and Shiwaliks. Since time immemorial, they have been unaware of their own positive impact on the ecosystems, that happens due to their transhumant lifestyle. It has nurtured and conserved forest ecosystems; as for the Gujjars, their pastoral lifestyle has been considered nothing more than a way of existence by them,” says Ameer Hamza, president of the Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan (VGTYS).
The Sangathan works for the rights of the community over forest lands, which are increasingly threatened by the state in the name of development or conservation. Hamza founded the Sangathan in 2017 when many from the community were being evacuated from their deras, without any prior notice. “The janglat (forest department) termed us as encroachers, and started threatening people…all on the basis of the Rajaji National Park, which is now state-protected, so anyone can be termed as encroachers due to the national park status,” Hamza says.
The Van Gujjars’ collective struggle since 2017 has slowed down the destructive gait of the forest department, which termed the indigenous community as illegal occupants. The Sangathan is always working for the protection of the community in the states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, but the janglat remains a threat to the community, making sudden visits to their deras, rendering their situation and livelihood precarious.
This in turn has a cascading effect on the environment as well.
Take for instance, the Gujjars’ practice of building makeshift sheds (known as padavs) on their way to the hills. In these padavs, the branches/stems of a semal tree are planted in mud; it serves as an indigenous tool to skim milk. The stem later grows into a full-fledged tree with high ecological value.
“These trees can be spotted everywhere on the traditional routes of the Van Gujjars, barring the alpine meadows. The prevalence of semal trees all over these paths is an indicator of how something as simple as skimming of milk by Van Gujjars could have tremendous ecological benefits,” Hamza tells us.
For the Gujjars, the practce is simply based on what their ancestors followed, and so the present generations too have continued using the semal tree for skimming milk, with most being unaware of the impact these indigenous practices have on conservation and increasing of green cover.
The transhumant paths through which the community takes their buffaloes also aids the spread of other flora. Gojri buffaloes have also contributed towards the propagation of indigenous trees like gutail and bakli via seed dispersal. Trees like the semal have a plethora of ecological benefits and are very crucial for the thriving biodiversity of the young Shivalik range. “Rich tales of 'Jal', 'Jangal' and 'Zameen' are found in abundance in Gujjari folklore and folk songs,” Hamza notes.
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The restrictions imposed on the community by the forest department have adversely impacted the delicate balance between the environment, the Gujjars and the animals. Many of the places the Gujjars migrate to now fall within the zone of Rajaji National Park and are thus considered protected areas.
“We are told to not graze in the park land, so our buffaloes cannot get proper fodder to eat and this affects their ability to produce milk,” says Sehan Bibi. Extreme weather due to climate change has meant that the cattle fall sick more often, and medicine has to be procured from the cities.
The Van Vaha settlement is bounded on one side by the national park and on the other by a railway line. Shut in and having given up their migratory ways for over a century, the Van Vaha settlers have to use their farmland to grow fodder for the cattle. Attacks by wild animals from the surrounding forest are common.
Wazir Ahmed, a member of the Van Gujjar community from Kunnao village, tells us that the drop in quality and quantity of milk production in their cattle really isn’t a surprise given all these challenges they must navigate. “Now we have to feed our buffaloes bhusa/paral (dry fodder) purchased from the market. Earlier the buffaloes thrived freely, feeding upon the plants and grass of the forest. The seasonal migration used to keep their health in check, making them less prone to diseases. The forest department’s restrictions have also led to overgrazing in the vicinity of our deras,” Ahmed concludes.
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Even the grasslands within the areas allotted to the Van Gujjars are vanishing.
“In the name of Namami Gange, the plantations that have been promoted by the government negatively affect the ecosystem. Khanjupapdi, sagwan have been provided for forest cover but these plantations have killed the grasslands, as no shrubs or grass grows below them, and there is no space for the livestock to graze. The water level also shrinks due to the plantation of eucalyptus trees,” says Aman Chechi, a member of the Sangathan, on a visit to Van Vaha. In addition, an increase in the growth of invasive Mori (lantana weed) has greatly reduced the green pastures of the Gujjars as well.
Since the community is dependent on naturally occurring water bodies (with no access to running tap water while living in the forest), the falling water levels and erratic rainfall are a major cause for concern. Wazir Ahmed shows us a small stream which was once a proper khala (aquifer). Summers are more intense. It rains less frequently, but when it does, there’s a veritable downpour, causing the Ganga to flood. Needless to say, these are not conducive conditions for man or beast.
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Cattle grazing has been the traditional source of livelihood for the Van Gujjars. The milk from the buffaloes and other animals is used in their homes and also sold in the marketplace. However, the community has never received the full benefit of their labour. Instead, it is the “Lalas” — suppliers who procure milk from the Van Gujjars at relatively low prices — who profit.
"In the community, the milk economy is quite extensive and widely promoted. In many regions such as Kotdwar, Haridwar, Ramnagar, Rishikesh, Dehradun, etc, milk from the community is widely traded. Despite the economy being huge, it is historically dominated and hijacked by rich traders, sahukars or Lalas, and dairy owners,” Ameer Hamza explains.
This domination by the elite has been further enabled by the marginalisation of the Van Gujjars outside the scope of state benefits (for example, the community is not considered a Scheduled Tribe in Uttarakhand and cannot avail of reservations in the public sector). “This privileged class has historically exploited the community and still continues in doing so,” says Hamza, “"I sell my milk to the same Lala my grandfather did, owing to the simple reason that Gujjars never maintained any record of their milk supply. Only sahukars did that, entrapping the community into a vicious cycle of debt. The literacy rate of Van Gujjars being low increased dependence on these milk traders for purchase of commodities as basic as sugar. These traders purchase milk from community members at much lower rates than market.”
Van Gujjars have lived away from mainstream societies, which significantly increases their risk of being exploited. Historically, if they needed flour or other edible commodities, they would ask their Lala to secure it for them in exchange for milk. For a long time, their milk economy ran on the barter system. Slowly, with the advent of cash, and being unable to keep up with modern practices, the Gujjars started taking small loans from the Lalas for sustenance or marriages, again in lieu of milk. This led to a surge in intergenerational debt.
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Van Gujjars have historically migrated to areas where milk was scarce and demand was high. For instance, as a spiritual and religious hub, Rishikesh has always seen a high demand for milk, which the Van Gujjars have catered to. This indicates the space occupied by the Van Gujjars in catering to cultural needs through the milk they supply.
As milk is the primary source of income for the community, the Van Gujjars’ fear of anything that might endanger their livelihoods — be it eschewing the traditional trading system dominated by Lalas or climate change — is natural.
“The milk produced by the community has always been unadulterated. Even adding water to our milk is considered a taboo in the community,” says Hamza. “Our buffaloes freely migrate to bugyals (alpine meadows), unlike other cattle that are restricted to dairies. Hence their milk is full of medicinal properties, which needs to be thoroughly researched.”
Kushal Choudhary and Niharika Mehra are independent journalists. The authors are grateful to Ameer Hamza, Aman Chechi and Shamshad Gujjar, all members of the Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan, for their valuable help and support in facilitating this report.