The Raji Tribe of Uttrakhand in Globalized World: In a Changing Perspective

Impact of globalization is universal and its impact can be observed in all the aspects of life viz. economic, social, cultural, political, finance, health, nutrition and technological dimensions of the world. In present era of scientific innovations the process of globalization has brought the Raji in contact of outside society. Raji is one of the five tribes (Raji, Bhotia, Tharu, Jaunsari and Buxa) of Uttrakhand state in India and it possesses the status of PVTGs (Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups) as declared by the government of India. The Raji tribe is one of the smallest tribes of India and is educationally and economically backward tribe of Central Himalayan region of Pithoragarh and Champawat districts in Uttarakhand. This tribal group constitutes around 679 individuals (0.27%) of the total Tribal population of Uttarakhand state. They are in a transitional stage between hunter-gatherer and a pre-agricultural economy. The paper is the outcome of the field work conducted in the state of Uttrakhand and the findings of the Workshop held on “Interaction between Tribes and Anthropologists” organized by Anthropological Survey of India, N.W. Regional Centre, Dehradun in March, 2012 among the Raji tribe. In this paper the authors have tried to explore the impact of globalization on the Raji tribe of Uttarakhand. Globalization has knocked at the life of Raji tribe but it is in its initial stage and one can easily observe the impact of Globalization on them. Altogether they have been affected by the impact of globalization and they are interested much to adapt the impacts.