Intersections of Covid-19 within nomadic lives: nation-state machinations & pastoralism within the Gujjar & Bakarwal Tribe of Jammu and Kashmir

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Afreen Faridi (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

While the Indian government has promoted policy tools that enable

tribal groups to represent their interests and become collaborators in the policymaking

process, the tribal response to the state policy of marketisation & globalisation is nebulous

(Agrawal 2005). In this regard, there is a need to locate the extent of the ‘integration’ of

tribes into the mainstream mode of production to enable appropriate policy recommendations

for tribal welfare in the contemporary SDG paradigm. This shall be undertaken by situating

shifts in modes of production and reproduction within the Gujjar & Bakkarwal tribe of J&K

by locating changing structure of communitarian property and ownership rights.

The proposed paper shall analyse the implementation of the Forest Rights Act to determine

the transformation in spatial mobility & land ownership amongst pastoral tribes in the

‘modern’ nation-state & the predominant market system through the notion of ‘adverse

inclusion’ (Nathan & Xaxa 2012). Such an analysis would unravel the prospective impact of

colonialism & Covid-19 on both adults & children- through variance in land ownership

within nomadic pastoralists of Jammu & Kashmir living in border areas and within a conflict

zone in the era of a global pandemic. In the context of the lived experiences of the Gujjars &

Bakkarwals, the framework will be used to view the impact of changed federal structure in

the region post abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, impediments to spatial mobility

due to the pandemic, and the existence of sectarianism in national and regional politics.