Socio-Economic Dynamics and Livelihood Patterns in The Siddi Community

By : Karan Singh , Sushil Dalal

Page No: 150-161

Abstract
Siddis, the descendants of the Bantu community of Eastern Africa who were brought to India as indentured labour, are presently settled in Indian states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Hyderabad. In the state of Gujarat, this ethnic community resides in and around Sasan Gir forest. Though there are controversies about their time of arrival in India, the oral tradition and historical accounts indicate that these people were brought to India somewhere between 15th and 17th century as slaves. It is also unknown who brought them to this country although the oral stories of the Siddi people in Gujarat mention that the Nawab of Junagarh brought them in his kingdom about four hundred years ago for labour work. They do work in agriculture and related activities for their livelihood. The present paper is an attempt to find out socio-economic conditions and livelihood patterns of Siddi people living in the state of Gujarat. The present empirical research is based on the data collected through primary survey from the field. The analysis indicates that these people are now-a-days engaged in manual and labour work for livelihood because of the paucity of agricultural land. They are unable to use forest resources of Sasan Gir for their survival due to enforcement of forest laws in India. The level of education among this community is very low which is reflected in the occupational and income patterns in the population. In nutshell, despite the hardly nature if Siddis,their economic conditions reflect influence of their social position vis-a-vis other communities in the present socio-economic ambience.

Authors :
Karan Singh :  Associate Professor, Government College for Women, Mahendergarh.
Sushil Dalal : Associate Professor, Central University of Haryana, Jant-Pali, Mahendergarh.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/ATNAGI.2020.40.01.10