Gurezi Women On Way To Their Agricultural Fields | Gurez Valley | Kashmir

Respect The Great people of Gurez..the land of ancient Aryans or Dardistan is a land locked mountainous valley with a geographical area of 362.88 sq. km inhabiting population of 37, 992 persons purely of tribe Dard, falling within the Kashmir province . The valley is a typical case of disadvantaged regions due to its economic, social and regional specifities. The socio-economic conditions of the region are diverse and steered by inaccessibility, marginality, fragile ecosystem and harsh winter. Generally viewed as poor and remote community but strategic defence location has added glamour and source of affluence to the inhabitants. Livestock keeping and farming on limited patches of mostly unirrigated arable land forms the traditional subsistence economy
of the population. However, increased mobility with schedule tribe status, newly
diversified off-farm activities and external interventions in the form of rural
development initiatives and construction of road work and Kishenganga hydro
project have been contributing to the socio-economic changes, community based
paradigm shift, influencing cultural traditions and exerting pressure on natural
resource use pattern. Overall, the population is heavily dependent on nature and
exploitation of natural resources for goods and services to sustain their livelihoods.
Cultivators and livestock rearers constitute 45 per cent of the total workforce. Nearly
10 per cent are agricultural labourers, 20 per cent are working in household industry
and 35 per cent in other activities like army potters, poniwallas, trade, commerce,
construction and other activities .
Around 12 per cent of the total area (as per village papers) and only 3 per cent of
the total geographical area is available for cultivation, out of which 40 per cent is
irrigated. Broadly, the valley of Gurez comprises three imaginary zones, viz., lower
Gurez (Bagtoor belt), middle/central Gurez (or main valley of Gurez) and upper
Gurez (Tulail belt). Slight difference in agricultural practices and profound difference
in socio-economic status of the people is seen across the zones even though there is
no marked difference in climatological parameters. The population of the region was
37,992 persons with a population density of 104 persons per square km (2011
Census). The whole population area is rural and schedule tribe of Dard tribe. Sheena
(Dardi) is the main language spoken in Gurez along with Kashmiri and Urdu. The
Gurez valley comprises of 27 census villages, 10 panchayats, 2 blocks namely Dawer
and Tulail, one tehsil with Dawer as headquarter (HQ). The literacy rate of region is
about 59 per cent against 56 per cent literacy rate of state as per 2011 Census
(Government of Jammu and Kashmir, 2013).
The valley has a salubrious climate during summer and experiences severe cold in
winter. The summer period of June, July and August experiences maximum of 30o C.
Summer rains are uncertain and rare, making crop cultivation a gamble in the hands
of rains. The month of November marks the beginning of harsh winter with frost
which lasts upto March. During this period, temperature falls as low as -20o C. Heavy
snowfall of 5-10 feet, mild rainfall, severe cold and snowstorms are characteristic
features of winter period. At Rajdhan Pass (11,672 ft altitude) snowfall forces land
route of Gurez to remain closed for five to six months. accessibility/Marginality of Resources
Gurez valley has rich natural resources but access to these is a point of concern.
The village settlements in the valley are aligned on the banks of Kishanganga river
and its tributaries having enough flow to meet valley’s agriculture and other needs.
However, access to its water is constrained by topography. Another natural resource
base is limited available arable land which impinges development of Gurez in general
and agricultural sector in particular. The average holding size
in the valley was about 0.28 hectares per household, The holdings would become more marginalised if available land area is equated with 2011 population census. This marginalisation of valleys’ setting becomes more prominent in association with poor access to additional land area.
Steep slopes/ undulated topography and restriction imposed by security forces owing
to its strategic location along line of control (LOC) hampers in bringing additional
land under productive utilisation.
The valley is repository of rich forest resources; however, the people of valley
have limited access to these forest lands. Whatever is accessible has been a renewable
source of fodder, non-timber forest products, fuel wood, timber and other herbs of
rich medicinal values. Furthermore, the pressure exerted by rising population had led
to over-exploitation of accessible portion of forests resulting a potential threat to
biodiversity. This is substantiated by the fact that black cumin (Kala zeera), the
heritage wild flora of the valley, seems to be a species at risk due to its overexploitation.