Socio-economic Condition among the Hajongs of Lakhimpur District, Assam

A Study on the Socio-economic Condition among the Hajongs of Lakhimpur District, Assam

JYOTI HAZARIKA 

Department of Anthropology, Dibrugarh University, 786 004, Assam

Email: jyotihazarika1989@gmail.com

Keywords: Production, Consumption, Hajong, Rice beer, Dry fish.

Abstract 

The socio-economic problem of the ethnic groups of a country is a major concern of the present time. For the development of the socio-economic condition of the people in general and the ethnic groups in particular apart from the government efforts, positive initiation of the socio-economic organizations is most important. This study attempts to assess the socio-economic condition among the Hajong population of Lakhimpur district, Assam. The paper highlights the types of occupation, the standard of living, literacy rate, etc. 

The Hajong is one of the numerically small tribes of Assam who belongs to the Mongoloid race and linguistically falls under the Bodo sub-group of the Tebeto Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are scheduled as a tribe in the two autonomous hill districts viz Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills of Meghalaya. Apart from the two hill districts, there are a good number of Hajong population scattered over the plains of Assam in the Brahmaputra valley.

The study reveals that the economic condition of the Hajong population under study is very poor. Most of the people (39.22) are a daily wage earner. Government service is rare to find. They have no agricultural land. Manufacturing goods by bamboo and wood, weaving cloth, preparing rice beer and dry fish are also a part of their economic life. Their houses are small in size and have no personal boundaries. In the village, there are no electricity facilities. The village people used to drink water from cowering and tube-well. They are not so much concern for their health.

INTRODUCTION:

The Hajong is one of the numerically small tribes of Assam and like most of the tribes of north-eastern India, they are of Mongoloid origin. There first settlement in India was in the Kamrup District of Assam and this was their home for a long time. They form a Sub-Section of the Bodo-Naga section under Assam-Burma, a group of Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. They are spread all over Assam with the main concentration in the lower Assam, across North-East India and Bangladesh. At present their population is more than1, 00,000 in India. The hajong population is mainly found in Goalpara, Dhemaji, Darrang, North Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Dhubri, Chirang, Nagaon, Kamrup, and Tinsukia districts of Assam, Garo Hills in Meghalaya and Sylhet and Mymensingh districts in Bangladesh. The Hajongs also found in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

           India is a meeting place for the different tribe of the world which has the second largest tribal population in the world, next to Africa. North-East India is regarded as the homeland of a large number of tribe and caste and has a higher tribal population in comparison to that of the country as a whole. There are around 537 tribal groups spread all over India which is belonging to different socio-economic, demographic and cultural backgrounds. Most of the tribal population of North-East India generally belongs to Tibeto-Burman ethnolinguistic group and live below the poverty line and depend on forest resources for their livelihood.

               Assam is the land of various tribes and all tribes have their own ethnic identity, languages, and dialects and belong to different racial stock and prevailing a great diversity regarding the wide range of regional, ecological, ethnic, socio-economic and cultural variation but unfortunately, this region has not attracted much attention of the anthropologists. As a result, not much study has been done. In this paper, an attempt has been made to assess the socio-economic condition of the Hajong people living in the Nakari Hajong Gaon of Lakhimpur district, Assam. The paper also highlighted their demographic profile, types of occupation and economic performance etc. 

Material and Method:

           The present study was carried out among the Hajong population of Nakari Hajong Gaon, located in the Lakhimpur district of Assam to assess their socio-economic condition. In order to get reliable and complete primary information, a comprehensive field investigation was done by using Standard anthropological methods and techniques. The observation, particularly the non-participant observation method, interview and household survey methods were used for obtaining both qualitative and quantitative data. In-depth personal interview method was used to generate the required mass of data regarding economic status, daily income, the standard of living etc.

Result and Discussion:

Table no 1 shows the age and sex wise distribution of the population under study. There are altogether 90 households in the village with a total population of 385, out of which 185(48.05%) are male and 200(51.95%) are female. The highest number of male population25 (13.51%) belong to the age group 26-30 and in the case of a female, it is in the age group 21-25 years of age. The number of male above 45 years of age is higher (14.05%) than female (11.5%).

The educational status of the Hajong population under study has been apparent from the table no 2. The table shows that males are more educated than the females; it is 79.46% and 71.5% respectively. The highest number of educated males are in the category V-VII (24.86%) and highest number female (27%) educated are found in the category VIII-X. The only one male qualified master degree whereas it is absent among the female.

Table no 3 shows the types of the family found among the Hajongs of Nakari Hajong Gaon. It is clear from the table that the inclination towards nuclear family is much higher than joint family. There are total 90 families out of which 81(90%) are nuclear families and only 9(10%) are joint families. There are 73(81.1%) families consisting of 2-5 member and 3(3.4%) families consisting 9-10 member. (Table no 4).

Table no 5 shows the distribution of the population according to the occupation. It is apparent from the table that most of the village151 (39.22) are daily wage earner out of which are male and78 (42.16 %) are male and 73 (36.5 %) females are the driver. Only 12(6.48%) males are government service holder.

The possession of material by village people of Nakari Hajong Gaon has been apparent from the table no 6. The table shows that 26 families have a bicycle and only 4 have a scooter. Out of 90 families, only 4 families use LPG for cooking. As a medium of communication 7 families has a mobile phone, 7 families have TV, and 15 families have a radio. Only two families have gold chain and earring.

Table no 7 shows the number of domestic animals found among the Hajongs of Nakari Hajong Gaon. It is clear from the table that there are total 296 domestic animals in the village under study; the number of Chicken (120) is the highest among them.

‘Nakari Hajong Gaona small tribal village inhabited by exclusively Hajong population situated in the North-eastern direction of North Lakhimpur town and 5 k. m. away from the main town. The people of the village used to live in a very little land. Their houses are small in size and there are no personal house boundaries between the houses. The village people inform us that they have no agricultural land. Daily wage earning is the main occupation of most of the villagers. Both male and female work equally but sometimes their work is different from one another. They earn 120 rupees per day which are very less to fulfill all their primary needs. Women of the village under study rear goats, pigs, ducks, and hens etc., Hajong women are also expert in weaving. Moreover, manufacturing goods by bamboo, wood, and cane, preparing rice bear and dry fish, etc., are some other work done by the village people.

In the village, there are no electricity facilities. There is only one Cuwa for all the village people from where they carry water to drink. Rice is their staple food. Moreover, they eat rote with tea as their breakfast, but this habit is rare to find. They served guest by giving a glass of rice beer.

The Hajong people of Nakari Hajong Gaon generally depend on “ASSA” for their health and regarded her as a local doctor. Only in the critical condition, they prefer to go Saboti Medical. There is only one Anganbadi school (ICDS School) named primary Jyoti Kendra and except it, there is no educational institution in the village.

The Hajong people of the village worship god and goddess according to their own traditional way. They have great regard for the Tulsi plant. Though Hajongs are Animist like most of the tribes of northeast India, however, they consider themselves as Hindu’s although some of the traditional religious practices are found to be still prevalent. In the village, there is a Namghar and one Siv Mandir. They performed Bashu Puja, Radha Puja, Kartik Puja, Padma Puja etc. They observed three Bihu like Assamese people. They prepare varieties of Pitha(made by the rice grinding powder ).

The village is administrated by the Gaonbura (head of the village selected by village panchayat). Whenever he fails to take a decision the village panchayat to settle the problem. 

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, one alarming fact is noticed that the Hajong population of Nakari Hajon Gaon of Lakhimpur district, Assam suffering from the poor socio-economic condition and their health condition is not satisfactory. Proper education facility is not available in the village. On the other hand drinking, water facility is not hygienic. Thus for the development of their socio-economic condition and health status, there is an urgent need for proper implementation of tribal development policies by the government and special scheme should be implemented for their proper improvement.

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Bordoloi, B.N. 1987. Tribals of Assam. Director, Tribal Research Institute, Guwahati-28.

Das, Bhabesh, Hajong Loka Sanskriti, Ratnapeeth Prakashan, Dhupdhara, Goalpara, Assam.

D, N, Majumdar, A Note On Hajong Marriage and Customs. Tikrikilla, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya.

Taher, M. And P.Ahmed, 2002, Geography of North-East India, Mani Manik Prakash, Guwahati.

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