<p>This book is about the presence of the absent― the tribes of Punjab, India, many of them still nomadic, constituting the poorest of the poor in the state. Drawing on exhaustive fieldwork and ethnographic accounts of more than 750 respondents, it explores the occupational change across generations to prove their presence in the state before the Criminal Tribes Act was implemented in 1871. The archival reports reveal the atrocities unleashed by the colonial government on these people. The volume shows how the post-colonial government too has proved no different; it has done little to bring them into the mainstream society by not exploiting their traditional expertise or equipping them with modern skills. </p>  <p>This book will be of great interest to scholars of sociology, social anthropology, social history, public policy, development studies, tribal communities and South Asian studies.</p>

Indigeneity and Occupational Change: The Tribes of Punjab

Singh, Birinder Pal

Reference

Routledge India

Indigeneity and Occupational Change

Sikhs in the Deccan and North-East India

This book is a major intervention in the understanding of the dynamics of internal migration in South Asia. It traces the historical roots of certain migrant Sikh communities to the south and north-east India; chronicles their social, religious and economic practices; and examines peculiar identity formations.   This first-of-its-kind empirical study examines the socio-economic conditions of Sikhs in the Deccan and the North-East who are believed to be the descendants of the soldiers in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army despatched to the two regions in the early nineteenth century. It draws on extensive ethnographic accounts to present the social realities of the different communities, including language, religion, culture, occupation, caste, marriage and kinship, and agency. It also questions the idea of Sikh homogeneity that many within the community have come to believe in, while revealing both differences and similarities.  The book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology and social anthropology, migration and diaspora studies, religion, especially Sikh studies, cultural studies, as well as the Sikh diaspora worldwide.

Throughout the last two decades, thousands of peasnts in the Indian Punjab have sacrificed themselves at the altar of the nation, feeding the teeming millions. This state, the harbinger of Green Revolution in the country, was the model for the rest of the nation for revoltionizing agriculture in a colonialized, traditional society. The volume also deliberates upon the critcal issues of the erstwhile Punjab, across the border, now called West Punjab. Four papers in this volume reflect upon the different aspects of the peasantry there. The two Punjabs are now afflicted with numerous ailments—social, economic, and political. The farmers are committing suicide. The economic returns from the over-exploited land are not rising in a proportionate manner to their expectations and expenditures. Globalization has added fuel to the fire. The governments in India and Pakistan are not dealing with these issues protecting the interests of the peasantry. The younger generation is opting out of agriculture and migrating abroad in search of employment and better life. What is the crisis that peasantry in the two Punjabs is confronting? What are its roots and its manifest forms? In this volume an attempt has been made to bring together ideas and arguments of activists and scholars from different disciplines specializing in sociology, economics, political science, history, and literature, all sharing their concern for peasantry. A large canvas of issues that have brought turmoil in the lives of peasantry like agricultural policy, globalization, indebtedness, poverty, suicides, caste conflicts, militancy, violence, migration, etc., have been deliberated upon in this volume.

Punjab Peasantry in Turmoil

Science & Math

Earth Sciences

Manohar Publishers

Violence as Political Discourse: Sikh Militancy Confronts the Indian State

Indian Institute Of Advanced Study, Shimla

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