Gender and Environment: A Study of Selected Villages in Himachal Pradesh PDF

Article Gender, Environment Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) 335–357 and Social © 2015 CWDS...

Article Gender, Environment Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) 335–357 and Social © 2015 CWDS SAGE Publications Transformation: sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/0971521515594274 A Study of http://ijg.sagepub.com Selected Villages in Himachal Pradesh SE Richa Minocha1 U L IA C Abstract ER In Himachal Pradesh, 85 per cent of the female work force is in agri- culture and 60 per cent of the total work force in agriculture and allied M activities is female. Women are a storehouse of traditional knowledge M of agriculture (cropping patterns and rotation), conservation methods, O cuisines and medicinal plants. The current development scenario is C changing women’s lives for the worse. The degradation of the environ- R ment and the neglect of rural household needs have a great impact FO on biomass-based subsistence societies, with the women bearing the brunt of such changes. This article discusses how land acquisition for T O industry and hydro power, the non-profitability of and loss of interest N in agriculture and its consequent decline for all the above-mentioned reasons are affecting women. The article discusses why the state needs to address the displacement of women from livelihoods and also the declining social cohesion caused by reduced agriculture and reduced community feeling and increased commercialisation and penetration of the market. The article also discusses how Jan Abhiyan Sanstha (JAS) 1 Member Secretary, Jan Abhiyan Sanstha, Team Leader, Community-based Ecotourism Project, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. Corresponding author: Richa Minocha, c/o Minocha Niwas, Daizy Bank Estate, Jakhu Hills, Shimla-171001, India. E-mail: [email protected] 336 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) and other civil society organisations have been mobilising communities, especially women, to prevent acquisition of rich agricultural land and loss of ecology and livelihoods. Keywords Development, displacement, ecology, agriculture, culture, hydro power, traditional knowledge Introduction SE In Himachal Pradesh, climate change is evidenced in the melting of U glaciers, in the occurrence of frequent floods and droughts, the drying L of natural water sources and changing cropping patterns. Increased IA flood and drought conditions are affecting parts of Shimla and Kinnaur C districts. Monocropping has replaced the diverse crop rotation patterns. ER Various new hydroelectric power projects are being located in Kinnaur district including Tidong, Shongtong Karcham and Integrated Kashang M hydroelectric projects. The ecology of the district is under immense M pressure as Kinnaur has been stripped of its many chilgoza (pine) and O chuli (apricot) forests. C Globalisation, urbanisation and technological innovations are just R a few of the factors creating rapid changes around the world. These FO changes are felt in the lives of ordinary people in both urban and rural areas. For example, rapid change is often linked to migration, whether T forced migration, displacement or economic migration caused by O processes of ‘development’. Further, the effects of development are not N gender neutral. The relationship between men and women and the division of labour within the family are linked to development processes. For instance, in the rural context, the nexus between women and their natural environment is clearly manifested. The activity profile of rural women reveals the essentially dual nature of their economic role both in the farms and in the household. Research has shown that women have faced more drudgery after climate change-related changes and displacement caused by hydro power projects. Their difficulties in getting fuel, fodder and water increased; they lost earnings from forest, agriculture, common property and non-farm activities. They lost their right to livelihood and received no compensation. Hardly any jobs went to women. Exactly how divisions of labour relate to women’s well- being and gender equity is a difficult question. It requires a consideration Minocha 337 of labour not only as a means of survival but also as a cultural phenomenon which is implicated in identities and everyday power relations. Women and Agriculture in Himachal Pradesh The tasks performed by women are many and entail drudgery. Due to out-migration of men and tradition, women perform all agricultural operations except ploughing. In horticultural operations, their contribu- tion ranges from basin preparation, weeding, picking (of fruit), to cleaning of the orchard floor. In a study conducted in the Mahim and SE Kwarag panchayats of Kandaghat block in Solan district, Negi, Rana and Sharma (2000/1997) found that during the ‘peak agriculture season’ U a woman’s workday is usually 17 hours long. Some estimate that in L Himachal Pradesh women spend 30–40 per cent of their total time on IA dairying. Other estimates place this at 60 per cent. During off season in C the cold desert area, women take to weaving. The seasonal workload ER of male farmers exceeded that of women only during August, September and October, that is, during the marketing season. This is confirmed by M an assessment of workload on 1 hectare of land in the Indian Himalayas M (Shiva, 1991). In a year, a pair of bullocks works for 1064 hours, a man O works for 1212 hours and a woman for 3485 hours. The lack of afford- C able credit from the formal financial structure is the most crucial R constraint for women. Studies have found that one of the first mani- FO festations of economic affluence is the withdrawal of women from the farm (Sharma, 1980; Sharma, Bhati & Singh, 1991). The scenario for T the overworked woman has only worsened in recent years. O Bhati and Sharma conducted a survey of villages in 1996 and found N that women’s contributions based on the number of workers per farm house was 62 per cent and based on the number of hours worked was 61 per cent. However, no money actually accrues to women. Wildlands/Commonlands and Forests The various land settlements determined by C.G. Barnes between 1849 and 1852 and by J.B. Lyall during the period 1865–1872 in Himachal Pradesh resulted in the creation of new bounded village communities, with grazing rights in common lands, and land revenue as the prime determinant for access to forests. Tenants and non-landholders were left out of this new distributive system. Since the state viewed most local 338 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) rights in forests as incidental to proprietorship of the soil, it defined various categories of rights holders. The first class of rights holders was the proprietary body of the villages that had complete rights in the common lands held in proportion to the revenue they paid. The second class of rights holders comprised purchasers of the rights to wasteland from the first-class holders; they were not required to pay any revenue. Most of the recent settlers in Kangra including the tea settlers came under this category. The third class of rights holders was made up of revenue payers who had been accessing demarcated forests and wasteland for decades. In other words, their rights were not based on the ownership of property but that of use. The adverse impact on livestock maintenance can be observed where there has been an erosion of rights and benefits SE with a change in ownership and management. Inadequate communication U between the forest department and villagers leads to confusion. Legal demarcation between land types is often unclear (State of Environment L IA Report H.P., 2009). As Table 1 reveals, women are significantly involved C in grazing. They bear the weight of the problem as corporate houses and ER land mafias acquire grazing lands. M Table 1. Gender-based Percentage Share in Agricultural and Animal M Husbandry Activities in Himachal Pradesh O C Activity Percentage Share R Agriculture Men Women FO Ploughing 100 Land preparation and cold breaking 15 85 T Sowing and transplanting 28 72 O Gap filling 0 100 N Interculture 32 68 Weeding 6 94 Irrigation 50 50 Fertiliser application 55 45 Harvesting 29 71 Threshing and winnowing 42 58 Animal husbandry Men Women Tending cattle in shed 5 95 Grazing 52 48 Removing dung from shed 0 100 Fodder collection 7 93 Milking 4 96 Source: Mountain Women Development Centre Records (1995). Minocha 339 In her study, Agarwal (1992) found that the reduced availability of biomass led to girls being withdrawn from school, as long distances had to be travelled by them in the morning hours in order to collect fuel and fodder. The expectation from social forestry programmes in the state is that they should focus on planting multipurpose trees that cater to both fuel and fodder needs. A good starting point is to understand the relation between people and trees (environment) including gender roles. Both positive and negative impacts need to be further documented in terms of women’s time and their access to fuel and fodder sources. In Kinnaur, for example, women/girls are responsible for collection of fodder, fuelwood and medicinal plants. The sale of non-wood forest produce is however SE done by men to dealers or at trade fairs, thereby delinking labour from incentive/income (State of Environment report H.P., 2000). U L IA Indigenous Technical Knowledge C ER With their specialised knowledge of agriculture and horticulture, from M soil bed preparation to harvest and post harvest operations along with M appropriate crop rotation and methods of integrated pest management, O women are repositories of practical knowledge which is inherently C adaptable (State of Environment report H.P., 2009). Women shoulder the responsibility for family nutrition and have experience spread over R FO generations of dietary practices which contribute to good health status. They are also repositories of knowledge pertaining to women’s health T problems and child rearing. Likewise, women’s knowledge of livestock O management practices and understanding of forests can only enrich the N development process. Studies have documented that men prefer hard- wood varieties while women prefer fodder species (State of Environment report H.P., 2000). A disregard of this fact is in part responsible for the alienation of rural women from development initiatives in the area of forest management. Work Participation Rates and Sex Ratios in Himachal Pradesh Work participation rates in Himachal Pradesh reveal a distressing state of affairs. The percentage of main workers in Himachal Pradesh during 2001 was 48.3 per cent which declined to 41.1 per cent in 2011. 340 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) The decline is significant in most of the districts, varying from 21.6 decadal percentage change in Bilaspur to 2 per cent in Kinnaur. In Shimla district, the decline is 15.9 per cent. While in 2001 in the state, 79.1 per cent of the total male workers were main workers and only 20.9 per cent were marginal workers, in 2011, 70.4 per cent of the total male workers were main workers and as many as 29.6 per cent working males were marginal workers. In the case of females, main workers declined from 48.3 per cent in 2001 to 41.1 per cent in 2011 and marginal workers increased from 51.7 per cent in 2001 to 58.9 per cent in 2011. In the census, a person is categorised as ‘Marginal Worker’ when she/he has participated in any economically productive activity for SE less than 6 months during the last one year. But in Census 2011, marginal workers have been classified further into two categories: (a) those U who have worked for three months or more but less than six months L and (b) those who have worked for less than three months. Hence, even IA if a person has worked for only one day in a year, she or he is classified C as a marginal worker. ER Female foeticide is another issue of grave concern in Himachal. A decreasing trend is observed not only in the overall child sex ratio M but also in the rural/urban differentials in the state. In the 1971 census, M Chamba and Kinnaur were two districts where both the total and the O rural juvenile population sex ratio was more than 1000. In district C Chamba, even in the urban areas the female to male ratio in the 0–4 age R group was 1000, during 1971. After 1971, not even a single census, and FO district has shown the sex ratio in favour of females. The intent of the Pre-Natal Determination Test Act is to prevent the misuse of foetal T sex determination, but instead of focusing on the agency that conducts O the test, the focus is on foeticide itself. In Himachal, the need is not only N to sensitise couples but also to ensure that licences of clinics and doctors, against whom complaints are registered for conducting sex determi- nation tests, are taken away and not restored. The overall sex ratio in districts like Shimla are low (896 females per thousand males in 2001 and 915 in 2011) revealing that Himachal cannot throw all the blame on adjoining states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Folk songs still sung widely in different parts of Himachal convey that the situation of women is not as good as projected, especially if one sees it in an abso- lute and not a relative context. In addition, Indiastats.com shows that the growth rate of violence against women is on the rise in the state. The child sex ratio increased slightly from 896 in 2001 to 909 in 2011 in Himachal Pradesh. However, the declining trend continued in the districts of Chamba, Mandi, Solan, Sirmour, Shimla and Kinnaur where Minocha 341 development projects, such as, mining, hydro power and/or town and country planning are on the increase. Even in 2011, the child sex ratio remained as low as 875 females per 1000 males in Una, 876 in Kangra, 899 in Solan and 887 females per 1000 males in Hamirpur (Census 2011 Analysis Workshop, 2013). Gender and Environment Displacement has adverse effects on women and children. The reason to view women as shock absorbers is their responsibility for sourcing SE food, cooking as well as child care. Reports from a number of countries show women spend considerably longer hours and make more effort U to gather wild foods and fuel, to travel around to shop more frequently L for more affordable small quantities and to bear the brunt of the stress IA involved in comforting, coaxing and disciplining hungry or unhappy C children. It is important to note that neither the impact on women’s ER care work nor the shift into the informal sector will be picked up by M conventional crisis monitoring exercises or poverty surveys, as neither M sector is fully recognised and measured in standard economics practice O (Folbre, 2006; Hoskyns & Rai 2007; Razavi, 2011). Feminist groups’ C analysis explores the linkages between unpaid (women’s) work, R migration policies, plunder of natural resources, political elites without FO accountability and globalised capital. Feminists interlink the energy crisis, food crisis, care crisis, climate crisis and economic crisis, and T plead for re-embedding the economy in social relations and sustainable O relations with nature (Wichterich, 2009, p. 1). Just as in other development N arenas, women in development-induced displacement and resettlement usually receive fewer benefits than men. When women displaced from the Kibale reserve (Uganda) were finally resettled, they still reported increased stress because they no longer had individual gardens to provide food for their families (Feeney, 1998, p. 103). In 2010, a Joint Action Committee (JAC) was formed opposing the proposed cement plant on the Keran–Chambi belt near Sundernagar in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh. The 173-hectare site will destroy lush, thick forest groves of vast varieties of trees, plant, shrubs and herbs, which yield grass for farmers, and where thousands of species of birds, animals, leopards and reptiles live. The jungle also conserves over 21 water sources feeding many villages and is less than 4 km from Bandli Wildlife Sanctuary. Experiences of Darlaghat in Solan district 342 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) and Barmana cement plant in Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh reveal that because compensation payments went to male heads, collective assets of the family became cash owned by male household heads. Greater dependence on their husbands reduced women’s power within the family. Studies reveal that less involvement in decision-making could lead to conflict (sometimes violent) (Pandey 1998, p. 104). Because women’s access to resources was often mediated by men, they faced problems in being counted in order to get pre-resettlement resources and hence in receiving allocations afterwards. In Himachal Pradesh development policies, the building of big dams, taking over of forest and agricultural lands for industrial enter- SE prises or restrictions on the local population regarding the use of forests and common property resources (Minocha, 2005, p. 38) have meant U a loss of control over basic resources by both local women and L men. With few local options available, they are forced to enter the labour IA market, locally or as migrants. Oustees of the Pong dam built in 1960 C over the Beas River in Kangra district and the Bhakra dam built in ER 1963 over the Sutlej River in Bilaspur district have still not been reha- M bilitated. With the erosion of traditional livelihoods and few local options M available, women were forced to enter the labour market as migrants O (Rao & Rana, 1997, p. 1309). C R FO Case Studies of Two Villages T In Shimla, Mandi and Kullu districts, a number of mega hydro power O projects and mining plants are coming up, and others are being planned N which will lead to submergence not only of fertile lands, sulphur springs and rich biodiversity but also the associated local cultures including Himachal’s unique festivals, folklore and dance, indigenous theatre and rich cuisines thriving on the natural resource base. This is happening in total disregard of the fact that agricultural communities have been flourishing in the valleys of the Sutlej and the Beas over centuries. Studies have indicated that the impact of snow melting in the high Himalayas will lead to flood disasters in Himalayan catchments. Impacts will be observed more in the Western Himalayas as the contribution of snow to the runoff of major rivers on the western side is about 60 per cent compared to 10 per cent on the eastern side (IPCC, 2001). A survey of Malana in Himachal Pradesh revealed that as the people of Malana did not have any written titles to their lands, it was easy for Minocha 343 corporate and government representatives to take away their lands at throwaway prices. In the focus group discussions, people from Malana said that no stakeholder analysis was conducted in the village. Moreover, the promises made to the people, such as, that the roads will be brought right up to the village Malana were not kept (Minocha, 2012). The Case of Malana Village The Malani or Kanet tribe has for centuries believed that they are pure and distinct in comparison with people outside their village. In order to SE preserve their ethnicity and unique cultural and environmental ethos, they believed that their founder deity had sought to separate them from U the outside world by proclaiming that outsiders were impure and given L IA to greed. Hence, the tribe followed its tradition of homogeneity within and kept itself distant from outsiders. Thousands of years ago they say a C couple of artisan families (Lohar) had been invited to settle in the village ER but were allocated an area different from where the original inhabitants M lived. They were later recognised as residents but called lower caste M people who had to stay away from the deity’s main quarters and were O hence treated as impure like the outsiders. C Malana is believed to be the oldest existing village in the world R practicing democracy. The village, situated in a distinctly remote and FO secluded part of Himachal Pradesh, developed a unique socio-cultural life almost independently, based on the people’s sense of environmental T ethics evolved through centuries (Minocha & Chatopadhyay, 2007). The O Malana River is a tributary of the river Parbati which falls into the river N Beas within the catchment area of the Upper Beas Basin in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. The Malani tribe lives in a secluded part of this river valley at a considerably high elevation of about 2,500 m (8,000 ft). The existence of this tribe, comprising hardly 1000 people, was dis- covered in the 1860s when A.F.P. Harcourt, the Magistrate of erstwhile Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti districts arrived here in 1868 on a reconnais- sance survey mission before preparation of the first gazetteer of this district. He visited this village twice, first in 1868 and then in 1870, and studied numerous aspects of life and culture of this apparently strange tribal community, and compiled a reasonably detailed account in 1870 (Harcourt, 1872 reprint). Since then, over more than a century, several environmentalists, anthropologists and amateur photographers paid visits to this amazing world of the Malani tribe but little study of their 344 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) society, culture and economy could be done because of the complete apathy and unfriendly attitude of these people towards outsiders. Long after Harcourt’s visit, Collin Rosser, a well-known British anthropologist visited Malana and described in his village study article published in 1974 that Malana is essentially a ‘hermit’ village. It has developed an almost fanatical sense of difference, village cohesion and intense group loyalty. All who do not ‘belong’ are treated with virulent suspicion and even contempt. No matter how open and friendly one is to them, this suspicion can only be allayed, rarely dispelled completely. At the first favourable opportunity, it bubbles again to the surface and erupts like a volcano.1 Earlier in his 1952 article on Malana, Rosser (1952) wrote that the remote village of Malana was well known in the SE Kullu region as the home of ‘a different kind of people’. The severe U physical isolation of Malana, he added, led to its social organisation— L the striking impression of a small, compact community, standing alone IA in a tangle of mountains. C In Malana, only the head of a household is allowed to vote: the prin- ER ciple being ‘one vote per house’. No woman has a vote and women are in fact not allowed in councils/elections. The low-caste Lohar may be M present—they sit apart—but do not belong to any chug and therefore M have no vote. After the two elders are elected, one from each chug, they O join the group of permanent members on the platform. An elder may be C re-elected if thought satisfactory by his group. The essential qualifications R of a jesta or councillor are that he must be married, must not be physically FO maimed or deformed and he must have been born in the village.2 The Malani governance systems are intact, along with their own T deity Jamlu,3 and a unique language, Kanashi, which is not spoken out- O side the village. Reaching their habitat has traditionally been difficult. N A hydro power project got approved in Malana. It is located about 24 km from the Bhuntar airport and about 500 km from Delhi by road. Construction of the plant, stage 1, began in January 1999 and several contracts for civil works were in place. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) supplied major electromechanical works. The plant was com- missioned in July 2001. Later, Malana II was given to the Everest Power Company by the Himachal Pradesh government and has been under execution since 2004. The rule of modern-day democracy had to be established. So in 2007, a united community which got divided earlier on the issue of whether the hydro project should be allowed was now divided on whether to vote for the Congress or the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in the Himachal Pradesh state elections, when it voted for the first time. The same continued during the Indian General Elections in 2009. Minocha 345 Himanshu Thakkar of the organisation SANDRP (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People) wrote in February 2008 that the power project should not be validated because the project makes the rather shocking claim that there was no alternative to it, a statement which was clearly wrong and unacceptable. A project of such magnitude should have shown that it has followed the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), but neither has the project shown it nor has it followed the WCD recommendations. The environmental impact assessment of the project is not available in the local language to the affected people. The claim that there will be no adverse downstream impacts is not supported by a study of the downstream biodiversity and SE its relation to flows of water over at least two years. The claim in the project report that the direct beneficiaries of this project (apart from the U project proponent) shall be the villagers of Malana village, which is a L small village of about 500 families situated on a plateau of Chandrakhani IA mountain at a height of about 12,000 ft, is totally wrong and misleading. C The people of Malana village, the oldest example in Himachal Pradesh ER of local self-government, will only be adversely affected by the project; M it will not receive any benefits. Malana is situated directly below the M dam, and so will be directly impacted by the changes to the river caused O by the dam as well as by the dam’s construction. C I conducted a focus group discussion and interviews in the village. R The previous Kardaar (manager of the deity’s temple) of the village said FO in his interview that the situation in the village changed after state elections began to be held in the village in 2007. The Congress wanted T the hydro power project to have a road to Malana sanctioned, but the O BJP who won the 2007 elections did not want it. The villagers were N cheated into giving permission for the Malana hydro power project; their thumb expressions were taken on sheets of paper which said that the villagers had no objection to the project. The Kardaar said that his father was instrumental in getting electricity to Malana, and that the people have not really been against development. The scenario changed with the arrival of the project; when they said that compensation received for land was not enough, they were told that their titles were not clear and hence they had to be happy with what they got. Jeremy Veverka writes that during the period 2006–2008 while they were filming their documentary, Malana: Globalization of a Himalayan Village (Dark Hollow Films),4 a negotiable road from Jeuri (the nearest road head from Malana) had reached the riverbank just opposite the 346 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) village, and locals and experienced trekkers could make the journey by road in just 30 minutes. The Malani now had access to the market and many were happy they could get inexpensive Chinese-made clothes rather than have to spend months making their own, and could also now get packaged snacks and soft drinks to supplement their traditional cuisines. Whiskey made by multinational conglomerates now flowed freely in the village. Mass-produced cigarettes were in ample supply. Satellite dishes popped up and TV programming packed with commer- cials helped villagers pass the slow days of winter. Goods came wrapped in plastic so they would not deteriorate in the damp climate. Many villagers dissatisfied with the dictates of the hakum, or traditional village SE court, could easily go down the valley to fetch the police and have a government officer intervene in any dispute. Business intruders were U happy to get new markets. L After elections were held, the state government found it easy to IA enforce the UN’s cannabis eradication policies. Through this and other C changes, globalisation took over a homogenous and isolated people ER who had been fiercely independent for thousands of years; this once independent de facto village-state is now firmly in the grasp of the Indian M government and the globalised world. Electronic communication too is M now possible from Malana. Modernity has come to Malana but at what O cost? Plastic garbage litters paths and water ways and some of the youth C who were interviewed said that this was how they had always seen R Malana and that they had never heard of cleanliness or environmental FO ethics. However, some of them, pointing to Deo Tibba, a mountain range visible from Malana, say that their deity/founder Jamlu had said T long ago that the permanently snow-laden high peaks would melt in the O coming years in proportion to the levels of greed among the Malani N community and to the levels of environmental pollution and wreckage. The promises given to the villagers before setting up the power project have not been kept. The village still lacks proper drainage, toilets, good schools and free electricity that were promised in exchange for their land and independence. While no alternative livelihood options have opened up for the people of Malana, state police come in droves to destroy the cannabis fields. Big pharmaceutical companies instead could have been brought in to purchase and use Malana crème or hashish for manufacturing medicines. On the one hand, villagers are building houses out of concrete now because the Forest Department forbids them to cut trees which they have culled for lumber for thousands of years, while on the other hand hundreds of trees have been hacked down for the power projects. Tourists visiting the area do not contribute Minocha 347 to the local economy as Malana tradition forbids them to serve outsiders. Rest houses that have come up in Malana are being run by people from neighbouring Kullu or by Nepalis. While men are allowed to get wives from outside, provided they are willing to undertake the hard life involved and work long hours taking care of livestock and fields, women are not allowed to marry outside the village. But more recently some women have married men from outside Malana, who are running hotels/guest houses in the village, as also people employed in the power project. This has led to fragmentation in society. Households from which women have married outsiders, some of them settled in Malana, are better off economically but low in social status. And what does this scenario hold for women? Patriarchy is making SE deep inroads, as society is now keen to impose restrictions on women’s U movements and their freedom of choice. Many women are now seeking L support/intervention from the police and judicial courts in neighbouring IA towns. Two women from the present Kardaar’s family told the author C researcher that the position of women had probably deteriorated with ER the advent of the power project and with the approach of modern influ- ences and changes. Their deity gave the same powers to both men and M women as both had the right to choose their partners as well as to leave M them if they had problems, and the collective assets belonged to women O and men alike. Women however had no right to vote for the Malana C council or for taking decisions. But the power of the deity depends on the R faith of the people in him, which now is considerably reduced. Other FO women who were interviewed in the village said that life in Malana was hard for women. They started working at 6 am and went on till 9 pm. T An extremely perceptive and vocal woman who happened also to be O the present Pujari’s (priest’s) wife told the author that a lady from her N husband’s family had married in Rasol (another village not very far from Malana) and was later instrumental in getting their undivided land acquired by the hydroelectric company. She said the amount they got for this land was `  3.75 lakh per bigha5 which was hardly anything. She said women now carried mobiles and went to courts to solve their marriage disputes but that had not made it better. Earlier, Jamblu, their deity, had given them the right to take the initiative to get their marriage disputes solved amicably through the deity’s representatives or even to leave their husband. In the name of development, the curse of the modern world had begun to destroy their traditional culture and social practices as well as eroded their livelihood base. The author spoke to many women and girls and it emerged that middle aged women in the village were far more perceptive and vocal in 348 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) spite of their illiterate status. Young girls who have had some years of formal education appear to be lacking consciousness regarding their distinct culture and heritage. Hence, while many of the older women suggested that they were different and the outside world should either let them be or give them special recognition, the younger ones believed that they were no different from women anywhere who were interested only in a livelihood and prospective husbands, and did not think very much about the fuss that was being created of their culture and deity. It was the middle-aged women who mentioned the social cohesion, the camaraderie among women that existed when Jamblu had more influence in society; gender segregation and barriers in society had come SE up only over the last 10 years or so. Some of them said that they only recently realised the impact of not having a vote within the traditional U administrative structure ordained by the deity, when their voices did not L count in the decision regarding setting up the hydroelectric project in IA Malana. Earlier, lack of representation had not been an issue as it was C not about titles or representation; their labour and hard work had enabled ER them to call the agricultural fields, the produce and the sheep and goats their own. And although Jamblu had not aided women’s representation M (hereditary or elective) judicial remedies were not denied to them in M order to seek justice against men or other women. O C R FO The Case of Sunni Tehsil in Shimla District and Karsog Tehsil in Mandi District T O The findings of a model village survey of Shakrori in Shimla district6 N were used to make a case against the setting up of Lafarge cement plant in Shakrori’s vicinity, by a grassroots level society Jan Abhiyan Sanstha (JAS). The census of India (1961) brought out a series of village studies. The selection of villages from each state was avowedly purposive, the object being as much to find out what was happening as to see how villages less likely to change were changing. Thirty one villages were selected for survey in Himachal Pradesh including Shakrori in Shimla district (Singh, 1961). The report reveals that the village was rich in floral diversity, ecology, agriculture and had a unique culture based on its ecology and agriculture and a very rich cuisine. The village commu- nity, the report says, is united by its rich culture. There were many customs related to birth, marriage and death, many temples dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, and the worship of Dano, a local deity who was Minocha 349 killed by the rishi Jamdagni, was widespread. Various legends and folk tales exist and many festivals other than Holi, Rakhi, Janam Ashtmi and Diwali are celebrated. These include Shivratri, Lohri, Vaisakhi, Nai Roti Ka Tyohar (after Vaisakhi or harvest and before the new crop is con- sumed, the first meal is served to unmarried girls and cows), Sair Sankranti and Mala Purnima. There is a unique way of celebrating each of these festivals. Each festival has strong ecological and social interlinkages. The Sair festival is celebrated mainly by women in the month of September during Sankranti,7 they gather near the springs/ water sources (panihaar) and worship them. They sing a folk song Sia in praise of Goddess Sita. Citrus fruits (locally called cholang), maize cobs, paddy seedlings and walnuts are used for worship. There is a strong SE ecological context to this festival as the prayers are intended for the U conservation of natural resources and the sustenance of trees that bear L fruit, and for crops to grow in plenty. Hence, Sita is worshipped in the IA village not as a spouse goddess but as a deity in her own right. The agro- C ecological linkages imply that as long as the water sources remain ER conserved, there will be walnuts and citrus fruits in plenty as also enough maize and paddy. Similarly, Mala Purnima during October is celebrated M to honour livestock, especially milch cows. The festival connects agri- M culture with livestock, as livestock dung is a resource in agriculture. O Ecology and agriculture in turn sustain livestock. In Shakrori, these C seasonal festivals documented in the 1961 report were being celebrated R with the same fervour when the author did her survey during 2006–2008; FO however, the people feared that these festivals linked with agriculture, ecology, communities and livestock would soon be something of the past T as a dam and cement plant were to come up in the area. O JAS and other organisations have contributed to effective movements N that succeeded in stopping the cement plant from coming up in this agri- culturally rich area. The two tehsils, Sunni and Karsog already impacted by a Kohl Dam power project would have been further negatively affected by the proposed cement plant which would have created havoc in the local ecology. The dam under the Kohl project is being constructed a few kilometres beyond Tattapani, an ancient pilgrimage site where the famous sulphur springs have been drawing people from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana during Makar Sakranti8 and Holi9; people from neighbouring panchayats also converge here during Vaisakhi.10 Tattapani will lose its hot water springs, along with the ancient Narsingh temple, as the settlement will be completely submerged under the waters of the Sutlej, after the construction of the Kohl dam. In village Thali in Karsog tehsil, Mandi district, there are at least 100 households that have 350 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) been affected by the Kohl dam project. In the village Shakrori in Sunni tehsil, nine families are directly affected by the construction of the dam. A new colony has been set up near Sunni town for the dam oustees who have lost agricultural land to the project. They have been protesting that they have only got tenancy rights in the land which has been given to them in lieu of what they have lost, that is, ownership of land. The state government has retained the ownership titles. Many of the shopkeepers/ entrepreneurs in Tattapani have received compensation and are happy with the money. However, the way the money has been utilised is a matter of great concern. A small movement had built up around the Kohl dam project which could not stop the project from happening but the protestors are keen on ensuring suitable compensations in land SE and residential space for the affected and displaced communities. U The Sutlej flows through the villages in Sunni tehsil in Shimla district L (Shakrori) and Karsog tehsil11 (Thali) in Mandi district rendering the IA soils fertile. A large section of the land in Sunni and Karsog permits the C cultivation of a variety of crops and vegetables leading to crop diversity. ER The popular one-year crop rotations under irrigated conditions in this area are maize–potato–potato, maize–peas–potato, soyabean–wheat, M potato–wheat, maize–peas–peas, peas–fallow–wheat, tomato–tomato– M cauliflower, cabbage–cabbage–cauliflower, capsicum–cauliflower, and O on unirrigated land are maize–wheat and maize–jowar. The important C kharif crops are maize, rice, tomatoes, cabbage, capsicum, paddy, mash, R potatoes, kulth (pulse) and the important rabi crops are wheat, jowar, FO peas and alsi. A variety of fruits grow in the area including citrus fruits, such as, lemons, oranges, papayas, guavas (Psidium guajava), jamuns T (Syzium cumini), louquat (Eriobotrya japonica), plums, bananas, walnuts, O mangoes (Mangifera indica) and daru (Punica granatum). The region was N chosen for intensive agriculture extension activities by the department of agriculture. Biodiversity and agriculture being rich in the area, there are strong associations between nature and culture, which are both rich. A few panchayats like Reog on the Shimla side of the area are still strongholds of folk theatre forms like Kariala which is on the verge of extinction; women in Sunni tehsil are the repository of traditional knowledge in terms of conservation measures, use of medicinal plants and traditional cuisines (Minocha, 2009). Of the various varieties of trees found in and around the village, the trees of pipal, bargadh, tuni, kharak, simbal, khair, kikar, mango, jamun, amb, shehtoot, lukhath, kachnar etc. are more common. Various plants with medicinal value are found in the Sunni region, such as, akhrot (Juglans regia), bel (Aegle marmelos), Minocha 351 ber (Ziziphus jujube), bichubutti (Girardinia hetrophylla), daru (Punica granatum), gulab (Rosa spp.), kachnar (Bauhina variegata), kashmal (Berberies aristata), kawarpatta (Aloe barbadensis), khajur (Phoenix sysvestris), mehndi (Dodonaea viscose), pipal (Ficus religiosa), sisham (Dalber giasisso) and tulsi (Ocimum sanctum). These medicinal plants are useful in curing various illnesses, such as, digestive disorders, headaches, inflammation, pains, pimples, paralysis, cough and cold, fever and eye problems of infants, children and adults. Except for one or two families who are landless, most of the families have agricultural land. Food habits and dietary practices are based upon an exaggerated belief in the effects of food or nutrition on health and disease. Traditional food cultures capable of sustaining life in specific SE environments have been tested, refined and distilled over thousands U of years, producing a repertoire of foods and processes. The food con- L sumption patterns in this area are such that there is a little prevalence of IA illness and disease. There is much variety in the consumption of green C leafy vegetables and pulses, and methods of preparation are rich and ER varied. Fermented foods are common and stems, leaves and flowers of various trees, and shrubs, such as, bargadh (Ficus bengalensis) and M kawarpatta (Aloe barbadensis) are cooked and consumed. The leaves M of kharak (Celtis australis) when given to cattle increases milk pro- O duction. If the cement plant had been allowed to come up, not only C would the resource base on which the traditional culinary and medicinal R practices are based have been lost or endangered but also the health of FO the people would have been greatly affected for the worse—respiratory and pulmonary diseases caused by inhalation of inorganic material, such T as, silica, mica, coal, asbestos etc. would have resulted. O When the JAS representatives made visits to Shakrori village during N 2007, fortunately the panchayat pradhan (president), a woman, organ- ised interactive meetings between them and the Mahila Mandal as well as interactions of the JAS members with some politically active men. Nagnu Devi, the pradhan, was impressive as a politically active person much concerned about the social, gender and environmental issues in her panchayat. She and some other women said that they were aware of the havoc the cement plant could wreak but did not know if they could do anything about it. JAS representatives through role playing, giving examples of places, such as, Darlaghat and Barmana in Himachal Pradesh, brought home to the women that they must gain confidence from the fact that they had an active female pradhan who took her own decisions and whose family supported her. The women understood that they had to organise themselves and get ready to protest 352 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) against the setting up of the cement plant, that they had to be the change and lead from the front, rather than leave it to the men. This indeed was a social transformation. However, although JAS mobilised women in Shakrori to unite and protest against the proposed Lafarge cement plant and the efforts went a long way in uniting communities, networks and organisations in the region to take a stand against the plant, the women are still not convinced that they have won. This, in spite of the fact that the environment appellate authority after establishing their protest as justified, gave a report against the setting up of the project. The women fear that as political will is in favour of the project, sooner or later the issue will come up again. Many of them express the view that they will resist it as vehemently as before as such a plant will be detrimental to SE their livelihoods. These women are hopeful that non-governmental U organisations and the state government will help them revive agriculture L in the area and also help apply suitable technology to revive the interest IA of youth in agriculture. C ER Conclusions M M In Himachal Pradesh, the culture and traditional knowledge related O to agricultural practices, ecological conservation and folk medicine C are/were an integrated whole. This culture has been for centuries R connecting people and conserving ecology and language. The traditional FO knowledge and its critical natural resource base are crucial as globalisa- tion is impacting the environment. Traditional cuisines and medicines T are important as they have ensured nutrition and health of the local popu- O lation over ages; the people depend on the ecological resource base and N hence it is important that the resource base be conserved. The strong ecological and cultural interlinkages and community bonding are already in decline in most parts of the state with the Government’s policies not being agriculture friendly and the youth developing a disconnect with agriculture and the ecology. Even in an egalitarian society like Malana’s, gender- and caste-based differences and inequalities exist. However, women in Malana did not think that their culture is unjust towards women and feel that it gives them a lot of space. For instance, they say that men and women had equal rights in bringing a marriage to an end and there was no dowry in their society. At the same time, they also wonder why in the structure ordained by their deity, widows are not allowed to re-marry while widowers can. Some of them say that if women were more active participants at council Minocha 353 meetings, the no-objection certificate (NOC) would have been denied and the power projects would not have come up. The claim is well confirmed in the case of Shakrori, described in the previous section, where it was the women who mobilised and stood firmly against the setting up of the cement plant. Women in both villages agreed that men are more in favour of cash incomes. The question is the same: Could government not have done better by women and their livelihoods and recognised their voices in matters of development? Cropping patterns have changed much in most parts of Himachal Pradesh. In Kinnaur, where earlier buckwheat (ogla, phafra) was culti- vated to a large extent, the main crops cultivated now are rajmah and apple. This reflects the trend towards commercialisation of agriculture SE and a reduction in crop diversity. Chilgoza and chuli forests in Kinnaur U are either lost to hydroelectric projects or replaced by apple plantations. L Apple orchards have moved closer to heights where it was not possible IA earlier due to continuous snow as in Chitkul. It has now started raining C in places which always received precipitation as snow, reflecting ER climate change. Loss of fuel, fodder, livelihoods and agricultural diver- sity and resulting problems faced by women are major issues of concern M for civil society organisations in Himachal in general and JAS in parti- M cular. JAS believes that quality health and education should reach all the O children of the state and women should have proper access to resources, C property, health care and a life of dignity. Civil society has to act as a R pressure lobby on the government to ensure that development projects, FO such as, mining and cement industries and hydroelectric power projects are not located where agricultural fields are rich and women’s liveli- T hoods are likely to be adversely affected. Moreover, public policy has to O ensure suitable rehabilitation for women and children where these pro- N jects have already been established. Displacement is on the rise in Himachal Pradesh with government policy preferring industry, hydro power projects and cement factories which have adverse effects on areas where agriculture has always flourished, and leads to the erosion of local subcultures, the ecology as well as women’s livelihoods based on traditional agriculture. In Himachal Pradesh, new policies, laws and mechanisms are being put in place to remove obstacles to economic growth. Environment and equity are being rendered non-issues. In March 2014, a notification brought about by the Congress-led state government did away with a series of NOCs or clearances required from several state-level depart- ments including the panchayats for setting up projects. There was no public announcement of this notification until the opposition leader and 354 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 22(3) former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal raised the matter, claiming the move would lead to private companies plundering the state’s natural resources. However, given the party’s stand at the centre, Himachal BJP’s posturing against the 2014 notification became opportunistic and pretentious, although it managed to draw much needed attention to a critical shift taking place in the state’s hydro power policy regime and the open plunder of natural resources. The long pending appeal that the right to give the NOC should rest with the Gram Sabha and not the Gram Panchayat is futile as this power is being taken away from even the Gram Panchayats. SE Notes 1. As one Kullu villager said to Rosser: ‘Malana is like a walnut. It has a very U hard shell outside but is pleasant enough once cracked open.’ ‘This’, Rosser L writes, ‘was true’ but one of the greatest difficulties he faced in penetrating IA the formidable social barriers that surrounded the village was in steering a C neutral course through the political currents in the village. Malana is united ER against all outsiders and its social structure provides a good case of extreme social integration. Nonetheless, there has been a constant struggle for power M between the three hereditary leaders (the Karmisht/Kardaar (God’s temple’s M manager)), the Pujari (priest) and the Gur (‘mouth-piece’ of the god). In O addition, eight non-hereditary functionaries are elected based on the dual C territorial division. (The eight clans are politically divided between the two behr, four belonging to Dhara behr and four to Sara behr. Within each behr, R FO the clans are grouped in pairs and each pair is called a chug. Thus, there are two chugs in each of the territorial divisions of the village. Each chug elects two representatives to serve in the village council. These eight individuals T make up the jesta section of the council). Within the severe limits imposed O by the overall cohesion, there is an interesting concept of opposition and N balance between the two behr, and a good deal of political intrigue. 2. In 1987, a documentary on this village, made by Ramesh Pathania, a resident of Kullu, was telecast on Doordarshan. This was the first visual recording of everyday life in Malana village and its customs and traditions. Profes- sor Guruprasad Chattopadhyay, through a series of adventure-oriented field studies during 1988–2007, attempted to explore some aspects of the life of this tribe for a systematic understanding of their sociocultural and socio- economic systems and the way they are drifting away from their original cultural heritage under the rapid influences pouring in from the outer world. Amlan Datta has directed a two-hour-long film on Malana called Bom-Aka: One Day Ahead of Democracy, in 2011. A remote village in the Himalayas, isolated from outside civilisation for thousands of years has been fostering a divine existence, in harmony with nature and a unique model of democ- racy of consensus. The hidden treasure of their governance has been trust Minocha 355 and they have been selecting not electing! They have also been producing some of the best quality hashish. In the 1970s came some white men who taught them how to rub the crème and drew them into the hashish trade. Malana crème became world famous. 3. Jamlu or Jamblu refers to Jamdagni Rishi who has the distinction of being one of the Sapt Rishi (seven sages). Folktales from different parts of Himachal suggest that Jamdagni spent a considerable number of years along river banks in Himachal along with his wife Renuka. In Malana, the former ruler, referred to as Rakshas or demon by the people is believed to have worked out a settlement with Jamdagni. The Rishi was to take care of the administration while the language Kanashi of the demon was to continue to be spoken. SE 4. Veverka brothers (2010). Malana: Globalization of a Himalayan Village (Documentary). www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeNAHbys4mU U 5. A unit of measurement of land. 5 bigha = 1 acre (0.0809 hectare). 6. The survey was initiated during my tenure at the Institute of Integrated L IA Himalayan Studies, and the compilation of data was done during my C.R. 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