Jhum: At Rishi Valley
Kaustubh's very
encouraging email got me back to putting in place this post on discussions with
students pursuing ecology (at Rishi Valley). We discussed what (if anything!),
from my meager experiences in the region, I could bring in that would add value
for the students. We, after a not so long conversation, narrowed down on jhum
(shifting or slash and burn cultivation).
Share some of the
questions I faced below. Couple of these have been more pertinent and thought
provoking than those I have heard in my meanderings in the region. Some of
these are tricky and answers (as placed here) may appear a tad too simplified
but I understand the session served its purpose and we had a nice time!
Is jhum rice different from wet rice?
( ~ sure it is ....)
Are their varieties of rice in jhum?
( ~ of course, I am not aware of these
though!....)
Does government decide where jhum will be
done? How?
( ~ we discussed who decides and how this
has been 'affected' in recent times i.e. in Garo Hills this used to be a major
role played by Nokma (headman) and with privatisation of land (ingress of
orchards) need for this has come down significantly ....)
What else is grown besides rice and maize
in jhum?
( ~ we briefly touched upon how research
has shown a 2 acre crop to have 40+ crops; the range is vast - from tobacco to
mustard and includes my favourite pumpkin! I love the boiled pumpkin leaves
....)
Why is jhum not sustainable today?
(
~ we briefly discussed decrease in availability of land, shorter cycles,
interest levels of people, ….)
Why are young people not taking up jhum?
( ~ we talked of various factors like need
for cash in today's time while jhum is more tuned to self sufficiency, it being
one of the more back-breaking of cultivation practices, absolute lack of
support from government or rather government propaganda against jhum, .... )
If government officers who take decisions
are from same region why do they not support jhum?
( ~ this surely was a positive surprise and
we discussed how they could be from the same
tribe but brought up with ‘main-stream’ understanding of ‘development’ which
believes that jhum is the worst form of cultivation! They would want their
region to develop according to the ‘main-stream’ parameters. The school of
thought which believes that jhum is an evolved form of agro-forestry is a
minority! ….)
How do people hunt?
( ~ this was after we discussed that
hunting takes place in jhum fields and my interest in traps and snares and what
little I had seen of current and read of earlier practices in Saiha I put forth
....)
Do people hunt more since they get less
food from jhum?
( ~
people are putting up orchards and plantations in place of jhum and so neither
do they have the natural vegetation which provides habitat for wildlife (as
opposed to monocultures) nor do they put in as much time as earlier in the ‘fields’
so they end up hunting less ….)
Aren’t rat poisons very harmful?
( ~ this was in response to a point
were we discussed famine on account of bamboo flowering in Mizoram
(mautam); rat population had spiralled upwards in a crazy fashion and was
devouring the crops; to mitigate this steps were taken including distributing
rat poison – bath soap sized cakes ....)
What if the entire hill was planted with
rubber and headman shared crop like he did to the jhum plots?
( ~ frankly never had thought of this and
was stunned! I had made notes on annual burning practices, it being organic, practices
varying from tribe to tribe .... but this was surely more interesting! ....)
As Eugene Ionesco put it
: "It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question"
Images are from jhum field atTuipang; this was one of the more amazing days in Saiha. I recall the heat then!
Many
thanks to Rishi Valley, Radha, Santharam and Kaustubh for the wonderful time and for taking me to those
invigorating days ~
Earlier posts on Rishi
Valley :
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