Rise in population of endangered \u2018Ban Raji\u2019 tribals of Uttarakhand<\/p>\n
B.D.Kasniyal<\/p>\n
Pithoragarh, June 17<\/p>\n
The number of \u2018Ban Rajis\u2019 or \u2018Ban Rawats\u2019, an endangered \u00a0declining tribal group of Uttarakhand, has started showing an increasing in\u00a0its\u2019 population in their localities in Pithoragarh, Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar districts.<\/p>\n
“We have conducted a survey in all nine villages of \u2018Ban Rawats\u2019 living in Pithoragarh,(Khirdwari village of Champawat not included)\u00a0 in December 2022, and found that\u00a0 their population that has been last counted at 850 in last census held in 2011 has gone up to 1079 in all 222 households of nine localities of Pithoragarh district,\u201d said Renu Thakur, Director of \u2018Arpan\u2019, \u00a0a local voluntary group working amongst the \u2018Ban Rawat\u2019 community from last 30 years.<\/p>\n
According to Thakur, their survey found 856 \u2018Ban Rawats\u2019 living in Didihat, Kanalichina and Dharchula sub-divisions of Pithoragarh district, 158\u00a0 in Champawat district while 65 people are living in US Nagar district of the state.<\/p>\n
“It could be called an increase in their birth rate as we could achieve it by making the community exposed to institutional deliveries like taking services of ASHA workers, taking mainstream medical services and persuing them to intimate with other communities in \u00a0their neighbouring villages,” said Renu Thakur.<\/p>\n
These better health measures in the localities of \u2018Ban Rawat\u2019 have helped check deaths of newly born at child birth.” Earlier, the \u2018Ban Rawats\u2019, did not show their newly born babies for months to everyone, due to traditional taboos, has now started taking help from ASHA workers in treating newly born babies,” said Thakur.<\/p>\n
Asked if the livelihood conditions of the tribe has also improved in all these years, Thakur said that the \u2018Ban Rawats\u2019, who only used to work in the agricultural fields as labourers have now started working as labourers in other construction sites but still work in\u00a0the agricultural fields in season, said Thakur.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Ban Rawat\u2019 community, who are considered descendents of the ancient \u2018Kirat\u2019 community ethnically are facing danger of existence due to been shy with the other \u00a0mainstream societies, as their language, culture, occupation and ethnicity are distinct from other ethnic groups of Kumaon region.<\/p>\n
According to Thakur, the population\u00a0 of \u2018Ban Rawat\u2019 community in Pithoragarh district was \u00a0371 in the 1961 census. Gagan Rajwar, a \u2018Ban Rawat\u2019 tribal was elected as first legislator from the community in the first ever election held in Uttarakhand in 2002 from Pithoragarh district. He was again re-elected in the 2007 state assembly polls.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rise in population of endangered \u2018Ban Raji\u2019 tribals of Uttarakhand B.D.Kasniyal Pithoragarh, June 17 The number of \u2018Ban Rajis\u2019 or \u2018Ban Rawats\u2019, an endangered \u00a0declining tribal group of Uttarakhand, has started showing an increasing in\u00a0its\u2019 population in their localities in Pithoragarh, Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar districts. “We have conducted a survey in all nine …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,33,91,59],"tags":[1343,1345,160,1344,1342,1341],"class_list":["post-3423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-national","category-uttarakhand","tag-arpan","tag-gagan-rajwar","tag-pithoragarh","tag-renu-thakur","tag-tribal","tag-van-rajis"],"yoast_head":"\n