Changing socio-economic scenario among the tribes of Uttarakhand

An empirical study was conducted to understand the process of economic transition and its influence on sustainability among three mountain tribes of Uttarakhand, namely the Jaunsaris, The Bhotiyas and The Rajis. Though, the process of economic transition has necessarily evolved around the development, contemporary development measures could not ensure sustainable living of these tribes. Some of the major reason behinds this failure have been ignorance of age-old traditional economic institutions & pursuit, ecological specificity, cultural traits, indigenous resource use patterns, identification of actual felt needs, and non-participatory approach at the time of policy formulation and implementation. These lacunas have led the tribes toward unrealistic economic transition by disrupting their age-old economic institutions and practices, finally resulting into collapse of sustainability. Polyandry and Jajmani relations among the Jaunsari's, transhumance, pastoralist and international trade among the Bhotiyas and, nomadic, trade in night and wooden craft among the Rajis have become endangered traditional practices. There is an urgent need of rethinking on the consequences of economic transition that have taken place among these people and to incorporate specific tribe based social-economic, ecological and cultural issues into policies and programmers’ immediately to formulate a holistic strategy for their sustainable development.